Book Search really appeals to the historian in me. When I did work on early modern european history I was particularly interested in cultural practices. For example, what did it mean to be a "gentleman". And there were a lot of advice manuals telling men how to achieve this state - and we're talking 17th century - so self improvement books are not a new phenomena!
So, how does this relate to Book search? Well, by having access to primary textual material that may have only been available in limited numbers of library collections. I did a search on housekeeping and brought back works on American housekeeping from mid 1800's. Ease of access to this material saves an enormous amount of time and provides richer understandings because more material is available to be used. Really positive application of web resources.
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I absolutely love social history, too, Fiona. I've studied all kinds: revolutionary, political, military, 20th century, ancient, Asian, Western ... but I'm always most interested in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people.
I was at Te Papa, the wonderful National Museum in Wellington, earlier in the week (sorry had to brag). There are some fascinating exhibits, including interactive simulations of earthquakes, but I found some of the most interesting artefacts were the ordinary bits and pieces people brought with them when they migrated to NZ.
By the sound of your post, you might agree :-)
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