Unfortunately, not all books on Amazon have the "look inside" feature. Apparently, judging from the note on those that don't to publishers, it requires the publisher's consent. But I've found very helpful the readers' reviews of the book, which tell not only their opinion but, more important to me, enough about the content to let me decide whether or not I want to read the book. Libraries are now beginning to put on their online catalogs both brief annotations, which summarize the content, and, more useful, at least to me, reviews from Library Journal and Publishers' Weekly. I have a list of books I think I want to read, based on what I've read on the cover flaps, but some I've crossed off my list based on the reviews. The News from Paraguay is one example; after reading the review, I decided don't have the "strong stomach" required for the "gripping and cruel" period of Paraguay's history described in that historical novel. Cindy --- "Joshua M. Swatosh" <josh@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I thought maybe this could be useful for those that > sometimes have to order > books on line first. > > Finding a needle in a haystack > > When it comes time to select a book to read, what do > you do? If you are like > most people, you look at the front and back covers. > Or you can search the > book?s index. > > That?s so low-tech. Now at Amazon, you can now > search inside books. > > For example, let?s say you want to know more about > stock market predictions. > Enter that phrase in the search box, and click the > GO! button. You will get > a list of search results, including excerpts from > books containing the words > you searched for. Click on one of the excerpts to > see the full page from the > book you selected. > > Note: If you are not a registered Amazon customer, > you will have to set up > an account before viewing book excerpts. > > TO VISIT THIS SITE, GO HERE: > tinyurl.com/8pvpn > > > One other useful web site is > > http://www.usedbookcentral.com/ > > > > __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail Mobile Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/learn/mail