Google gives Google Books a facelift and interactive search function after 15 years

Google has given the web version of Google Books a makeover. The service, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this month, now looks clearer and shows more details with each book. Google is also introducing an interactive way to browse the book catalog via images.

The information on the renewed Google Books is now more prominently placed in different boxes, which makes the website more clear. Users can see the most important details of a title at a glance, such as the genre, the publication date and any literature awards the work has won. There is also a separate box with extensive information about the author.

Also new are the tabs that allow you to navigate faster to reviews, a webshop or another edition of the book. This also houses the new Similar books section, which presents the user with a list of similar works.

Search inside makes it easy to search for specific words or phrases in a book, both throughout the work and within a specific chapter. Simultaneously with the revamped Google Books, Google is also introducing an experimental interactive search function. Here, by clicking on images from Google Arts & Culture, users are presented with books on the subject in the photo. Google calls the feature a “funny way to browse the collection.”

The new design of Google Books is currently only available on the American site, so not yet on Google Books. Users can also switch between the new design and the classic version of Google Books at any time.

The Google Books Interactive Experiment