Books aren't dead yet! In fact, they're becoming more accessible than ever because of projects such as Google Print and Amazon's Inside the Book which offer the digitalized, full-text of thousands of books. Since you can actually search and view the content of included books, the likelihood of finding just the right book for you is really much greater.
But as Gary Price points out in his recent article, "Going Under Cover with Book Search Tools", they don't make it easy to limit your search to ONLY full-text books. That's okay because Gary helps you out with several strategies for searching.
Also keep in mind that Amazon online books can be searched via their A9 search engine. Just add books as a column and you'll see all the book results in one place.
Another option to use for Google Print is a new bookmarklet by the Distant Librarian. Just drag the bookmarklet link to your favorites, and with one click up pops a search box that will limit your search to full-text Google Print materials. That's easy! [Spotted on Librarian in Black.]
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