Google Books is a real good place to search and find books about various topics, you can search through a index of more than 7 millions books archived by Google and preview chapters from several books too.

Just like other Google products, Google Books too is actively developed to make it better. The Google Books team just released a new update to the books search engine, adding several new features to it.

Also Read: Google Book Downloader

Here are some of the features that make searching books at Google Books much more easier and better.

Thumbnail View – Users can now search and browse the books using thumbnail or cover view, in which all the books will be listed out as they are in a photo gallery.

Embeds and Links – Users can now embed a preview of a full view of the book on their own websites and blogs.

Improvised Book search – If you are looking to search for content within a individual book, Google Books will now highlight the search term within the book and include a image from the part of the page where the search term appears.

You will also see a Previous and Next button to browse through the search hits quickly and easily.

Drop Down Menu for Content – Google Books has also added a drop-down for the content that will allow you to quickly browse and jump to different chapters within a book, or articles within a magazine.

View Plain Text Version of Books – Users can now view the plain text versions of public domain books.

Page Turn Button and Animation – In addition to scrolling through the book, you can now also click the page turn button at the bottom of the screen, even if you haven’t yet finished the page.

Improved Book Overview Page – On the Overview page you’ll find an assortment of useful data about the book, including reviews, ratings, summaries, related books, key words and phrases, references from the web, places mentioned in the book, publisher information, etc.

These changes definitely make using Google Books much more easier and better. What are your thoughts about the recent changes in Google Books? Let us know through your comments.

New Features On Google Books [Official Google Books Blog]