{"id":5,"date":"2003-11-19T04:56:31","date_gmt":"2003-11-19T04:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.georgethomasclark.com\/?p=5"},"modified":"2010-07-23T20:51:36","modified_gmt":"2010-07-23T20:51:36","slug":"navigating-the-amazonian-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating the Amazonian Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFind Hitler Here<\/em>,\u201d I said to the computer expert.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s right there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot the old, out-of-print edition with the swastika on the cover. The current edition, with Hitler\u2019s menacing portrait on the cover, the one you designed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expert, who in his living room has two monitors as large as respectable television screens and four hard-drives for each, tentatively scrolled up and down the page on Amazon.com, squinting through glasses at the frightening price of the old publisher\u2019s hardcover edition, then the link to the equally offensive price of the bygone trade paperback. He clicked that link and again faced the old edition\u2019s swastika cover. While he rubbed his chin, his girlfriend and three cats, stirred by the search, stopped purring and began watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is it, honey?\u201d said his girlfriend. \u201cI want to see your design online.\u201d<\/p>\n

He examined the old publisher\u2019s data about book dimensions and ISBNs, and continued to roam the screen in confusion until I said, \u201cAll right, click on \u2018All Editions\u2019. That\u2019s the only way to get there from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, there it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt scares me when a guy like you can\u2019t find the official, in-print edition,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have any trouble starting from your web page.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you were guided from there. This time you started in a much bigger place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, and certainly tomorrow, everyone interested in buying and selling books must learn to navigate the Amazon universe, which is already a marvel of commerce and variety, and by the hour becoming a more essential reference tool in bookstores and libraries. I just returned this evening from the large and art-filled Beale Library in Bakersfield, and had asked a lady at a computer to please call up Bowker\u2019s Books In Print \u2013 the official source of all books and ISBNs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have two books in print and want to see them in the official data base,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

As she grimaced, I stepped briskly away and up the stairs to the second floor where I asked another lady, who replied, \u201cWe don\u2019t subscribe to that anymore. We use Amazon.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how influential this commercial site has become \u2013 one of very few in any business offering enough information to be considered an official industry reference bible. Amazon\u2019s not quite as comprehensive as Books In Print, but it\u2019s available to anyone with Internet access.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fifty-one and was already in my forties when I timidly began using computers. I thought they were superfluous, for youngsters nursed in cyberspace or middle-aged folks with innate technological wizardry. Now, despite the headaches it sometimes incurs, I want to know what my computer is saying. I have to see what\u2019s happening. I need to find out what\u2019s on Amazon.<\/p>\n

But please, I keep writing the folks at that esteemed cyber kingdom, don\u2019t bury a live book under a dead one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFind Hitler Here,\u201d I said to the computer expert. \u201cIt\u2019s right there,\u201d he said. \u201cNot the old, out-of-print edition with the swastika on the cover. The current edition, with Hitler\u2019s menacing portrait on the cover, the one you designed.\u201d The expert, who in his living room has two monitors as large as respectable television screens…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,387,38,37],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nNavigating the Amazonian Universe - George Thomas Clark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Navigating the Amazonian Universe - George Thomas Clark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cFind Hitler Here,\u201d I said to the computer expert. \u201cIt\u2019s right there,\u201d he said. \u201cNot the old, out-of-print edition with the swastika on the cover. The current edition, with Hitler\u2019s menacing portrait on the cover, the one you designed.\u201d The expert, who in his living room has two monitors as large as respectable television screens…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"George Thomas Clark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeorgeThomasClark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeorgeThomasClark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-11-19T04:56:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-07-23T20:51:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fallback-website-image-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"George Thomas Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"George Thomas Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"George Thomas Clark\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9d4714bec6454ae4cacd87e09567283e\"},\"headline\":\"Navigating the Amazonian Universe\",\"datePublished\":\"2003-11-19T04:56:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-07-23T20:51:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9d4714bec6454ae4cacd87e09567283e\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Amazon.com\",\"George Thomas Clark\",\"Hitler Here\",\"Media\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/\",\"name\":\"Navigating the Amazonian Universe - George Thomas Clark\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2003-11-19T04:56:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-07-23T20:51:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Navigating the Amazonian Universe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/\",\"name\":\"George Thomas Clark\",\"description\":\"An author who fuses fiction, history, and current events\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9d4714bec6454ae4cacd87e09567283e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9d4714bec6454ae4cacd87e09567283e\",\"name\":\"George Thomas Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo.svg\",\"width\":\"1024\",\"height\":\"1024\",\"caption\":\"George Thomas Clark\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"George Thomas Clark is the author of Hitler Here, a biographical novel published in India and the Czech Republic as well as the United States. His commentaries for GeorgeThomasClark.com are read in more than 50 countries a month.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeorgeThomasClark\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/author\/gtc\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Navigating the Amazonian Universe - George Thomas Clark","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Navigating the Amazonian Universe - George Thomas Clark","og_description":"\u201cFind Hitler Here,\u201d I said to the computer expert. \u201cIt\u2019s right there,\u201d he said. \u201cNot the old, out-of-print edition with the swastika on the cover. The current edition, with Hitler\u2019s menacing portrait on the cover, the one you designed.\u201d The expert, who in his living room has two monitors as large as respectable television screens…","og_url":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/","og_site_name":"George Thomas Clark","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeorgeThomasClark","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeorgeThomasClark","article_published_time":"2003-11-19T04:56:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-07-23T20:51:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fallback-website-image-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"George Thomas Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"George Thomas Clark","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/"},"author":{"name":"George Thomas Clark","@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9d4714bec6454ae4cacd87e09567283e"},"headline":"Navigating the Amazonian Universe","datePublished":"2003-11-19T04:56:31+00:00","dateModified":"2010-07-23T20:51:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/"},"wordCount":500,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9d4714bec6454ae4cacd87e09567283e"},"articleSection":["Amazon.com","George Thomas Clark","Hitler Here","Media"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/","url":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/","name":"Navigating the Amazonian Universe - George Thomas Clark","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2003-11-19T04:56:31+00:00","dateModified":"2010-07-23T20:51:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/navigating-the-amazonian-universe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Navigating the Amazonian Universe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/","name":"George Thomas Clark","description":"An author who fuses fiction, history, and current events","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9d4714bec6454ae4cacd87e09567283e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9d4714bec6454ae4cacd87e09567283e","name":"George Thomas Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo.svg","width":"1024","height":"1024","caption":"George Thomas Clark"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"George Thomas Clark is the author of Hitler Here, a biographical novel published in India and the Czech Republic as well as the United States. His commentaries for GeorgeThomasClark.com are read in more than 50 countries a month.","sameAs":["https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeorgeThomasClark"],"url":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/author\/gtc\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1621,"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}