mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
It has happened to all of us: you read a book years ago, and have forgotten the title, author, really everything except that it had to do with hot air balloons and a volcano. Well, now there’s a free What’s That Book service to identify such mysterious tomes. The site was founded by a former Google Answers Researcher who answered over 2000 questions (many about books) on the now-defunct Google Answers service.
Although the site is relatively new, there are some impressive identifications: American pope novel?, Satanic cult with weird staircase, and Titanic researchers survive alien attack are just a few.
The website AbeBooks.com can also help you remember a long-forgotten book. There is a section called BookSleuth where you can post a description of the book–and whatever else you can remember about it–and the ‘community’ will give title/author suggestions for you. It also is a free service.
posted by cmk on 2-15-2007 at 3:52 pm
I tried this service to locate a book I read 20 years ago and could not relocate. I had the vaguest details-detective, pet cheetah, post apocalypse, SF Bay Area-and in an hour they found the book.
Pulling Through by Dean Ing.
Amazing!!!
posted by TechSupport on 2-16-2007 at 11:04 am
Oh I immediately knew it was 21 Balloons! I love that book…the krakatoa post the other day actually made me think of it.
posted by Sass on 2-16-2007 at 11:43 am