Google Labs created a device that allows you to about 5.2 million digitized books for a single word in less than a second. Let's go over that again, 5.2 million digitized books, less than a second.
Why is this important? Well, let's say, like I did in college, you're studying the use of the word "monomania" in American culture. You'd get an image like this:
Monomania is a term that became extremely popular extremely fast. Invented in the 1820s, it grew in popularity with the reform of insanity and the creation of the asylum in the 1830s. Panic in the lead up to the Civil War represents the pinnacle of fears regarding monomania.
Let's say you're looking to compare the major sports in American culture for the last 200 years?
Baseball is a more published term than football? Soccer is more written about than hockey? No one cares about lacrosse?
What if you're interested in Melville studies:
Anything interesting here? How about nobody talked about Melville until 60 years AFTER he wrote Moby-Dick? Does his peak in popularity in the middle of WWII have to do with fears regarding dictators and the end of the world? Is the book more popular than the author?
This is a cool toy, but what's the lesson here?
You have resources regarding search and information that no one could have imagined 20 years ago. Become fluent in these resources and you will find success.
Someone once said that knowledge is power. That's wrong. The ability to find the right knowledge is power.
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