Welcome to MegaBookSearch.com
MegaBookSearch.com is a meta-search engine that simultaneously searches multiple
bookselling websites on the internet. On the right-hand side you can see an overview
of the book databases that are searched. You can optionally exclude websites from the
search by disabling the corresponding checkbox. Simply enter your search
criteria in the form above and click the search! button. While the search results
are being retrieved, you can see the results appear on the
overview page.
When all the results are retrieved, they are presented in a single table on the
list page.
Here you can sort the results by any field by clicking on a column header.
If (partial) contents of a book in the search results is available at Google Book Search,
then direct links to its contents will be shown.
You can view a collection of items with images on the
gallery page.
The results are entirely stored in your browser, so when you are sorting the results the
browser does not need to contact the server. This allows you to analyze the results faster
than with traditional meta-search engines.
We aim to make this website user-friendly and fun to use. We hope you will enjoy the
functionality on the website and that you find the books you are looking for.
Please feel free to contact us
to let us know your questions, suggestions and opinions.
FAQ
This page displays the answers to the most frequent questions we have received.
If, however, you cannot find the answer to your question here, please
contact us and we will get back
to you.
What is MegaBookSearch.com?
MegaBookSearch.com is a meta-search engine that simultaneously searches multiple
bookselling websites on the internet. As a frequent book buyer you might be
familiar with most of the major bookselling websites on the internet.
Visiting and querying each of these websites can be quite time consuming.
At MegaBookSearch.com you save yourself a lot of time as you are effectively
visiting and querying all major book selling websites simultaneously.
What makes MegaBookSearch.com different?
The concept of meta-searching book databases is not new. There are several
other book related meta-search engines such as
BookFinder.com,
AddAll.com and
ViaLibri.net.
MegaBookSearch.com is different because it is extensively driven by web 2.0
technology (JavaScript and AJAX). The initial design objective was to
utilize these modern techniques in such a way to minimize the amount of
internet contact between your browser and the web server, i.e. saving you
time. This is made possible by storing the pages and search results in
the memory of your browser. This is why you see the pages appear almost
immediately when you select a page with the menu. Similarly, once the
results are retrieved you can sort and view the results in different ways
without any internet contact between your browser and the web server.
How do I use MegaBookSearch.com?
Simply enter your search criteria in the form above and click the search!
button. While the search results are being retrieved, you can see the results
appear on the overview page.
When all the results are retrieved, all the results are presented in a single
table on the list page.
Here you can sort the results by any field by clicking on the column header.
Alternatively, you can view a collection of items with images on the
gallery
page.
What are these links to Google Book Search?
Google has worked together with many libraries in an ambitious project to
scan the contents of books. Google has made much of this content available
through their Google Book
Search website. Not all books have been scanned or have been made available
for the public to view, but if such content is available then MegaBookSearch.com
will show a link to the contents on the list
page. In most of these cases the books are only partly viewable. This feature is
only available for results with ISBN numbers. When searching for a specific title
using the ISBN field in the search form, then a possible link to Google Book
Search is only shown in the top part of the screen, as all results are considered
to have the specified ISBN number. Please note that the contents shown at Google
Book Search may be of a different edition/printing than the book offered in the
search result.
How do I buy a book listed in the search results?
To purchase a book listed in the search results, simply click on any of the
corresponding title, image or "info/purchase" links. The link will take you
directly to the book detail page of the website which lists the book. From
here you will be able to add the book to a shopping cart or order form.
In some cases you will be able to send an inquiry in case you want to know
more about the book. MegaBookSearch.com in not involved in the process of
ordering, payments or shipping and hence is not responsible for problems
that may arrise between buyer and seller. Furthermore, MegaBookSearch.com
cannot be held responsible for the availability of a book or the correctness
of the book descriptions.
For what price does an item sell?
The prices of all retrieved items are converted to a single currency and
displayed on the list
page. Please do not rely on these price values because the exchange rates
used on this website might be be out-of-date. These single currency price
values simply serve as an approximation. The correct prices are displayed
at the end of each description. Please also note that the prices exclude
shipping and handling costs.
Why does MegaBookSearch.com not work in my browser?
It could be that JavaScript is disabled in your browser as MegaBookSearch.com
requires that you have JavaScript enabled. Another cause might be that
there is a compatibility issue with your particular browser. MegaBookSearch.com
has been primarily built and tested for Internet Explorer 6+ and Firefox 2+.
If you encounter any problems or bugs on MegaBookSearch.com, please
contact us, specify your problem,
inform us which operating system and browser you use and we will get back to
you.
Why does the back-button in my browser not work as expected?
You will probably have noticed that when you press the browser's back-button
that you are taken to the website prior to visiting this website instead of
taking you back to the previous page or search result within this website.
This is because MegaBookSearch.com is implemented as a Single Page Interface
(SPI). In other words, the main content of this website is loaded only once.
Clicking the menu to view a different page or re-sorting the results does not
actually load a different page. This is why you will not see the URL in the
address bar of your browser change. The advantage of this SPI strategy is that
the website responds faster than traditional websites. The down-side, however,
is that you cannot us the back button to return to a different page within this
website. You will find similar problems when using your browser's refresh/reload
button. We hope that you get used to these disadvantages and that they are
out-weighed by the advantages.
Why does it take so long before the results are visible?
The results are not shown on the list
page untill ALL queried book databases have responded. The total amount of
time it takes before all the results are shown is dependent on the last book
database to return results. Simply put, some of the book databases are
generally slower than others and some are momentarily slower due to heavy
traffic.
Cannot find the answer to your question or problem here? Please
contact us and we will get back
to you.
