Amazon Hacks Author: Paul Bausch Pages: 280 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates ISBN: 0-596-00542-3 Summary: A power users guide to Amazon.com Review Date: 20 December, 2003

As the World Wide Web has grown, and online shopping has become more and more widely accepted, Amazon has established itself as a clear leader in the online retail space. Not content to rest there, however, Amazon.com has gone one step farther by opening up its content and services via an XML Web Service leading to endless possibilities for the enterprising user. Whether you're a regular user, or a developer looking for ideas, O'Reilly's Amazon Hacks serves as a very helpful guide to getting the most out of the Amazon experience.

I was excited when I first learned that O'Reilly would be adding an Amazon book to its Hacks series. Being the geek I am, I had wanted to dabble with Amazon's new XML Web Service API, and Amazon Hacks looked to be a handy guide for doing just that. But the book turned out to be much more that just a developer's guide to the Web Service API, as it covers many aspects of the entire range of Amazon's services. As a whole it provides what could well be called the "Power User's Guide to Amazon.com"

So what's covered? A full listing of the book's hacks is available at the book's website. The hacks are divided into the following 6 chapters:

• Browsing and Searching
  This chapter introduces the fundamental unit of Amazon hacking, the ASIN, and explores several ways to search for and link to Amazon content, from tweaking urls, to browsing a text-only Amazon, to setting up address bar shortcuts in Internet Explorer.
• Controlling your Information
  For the new Amazon user, having the website recommend products based on past purchase can be impressive (or a bit scary, depending on how you look at it). This chapter discusses the various ways to customize your Amazon experience, such as setting preferences, making wish lists, and getting local movie showtimes.
• Participating in the Amazon Community
  Here you'll find tips on interacting with everyone else in the Amazon market, both by contributing to Amazon content, and utilizing the same. Coverage includes working with reviews, creating guides, working with Listmania! lists, and purchase circles.
• Selling through Amazon
  This chapter will be helpful for anyone looking to open up shop in the Amazon Marketplace or in Amazon auctions. The chapter also covers setting up an Honor System donation system.
• Associates Program
  This chapter describes the Amazon Associates program, wherby you can make commissions by driving traffic and purchases to Amazon.com from your website.
• Amazon Web Services
  Finishing out the book is an introduction to the Amazon Web Services XML API. Here you'll learn how to programatically access Amazon content. This chapter provides introductions to using the XML API in various programming languages, offering numerous examples and recipes for doing so.

The "Hacks" format is fun and informal. Each hack is a self-contained recipe exploring one of the various features available from Amazon, or detailing a clever way to work with Amazon's content. The book is arranged such that a reader could peruse it cover to cover, or hop around to what interests them.

The book expects its reader to be somewhat web-savvy, and comfortable with tweaking URLs. To get the most out of the book, you would want to be familiar with at least one web-scripting language (the book contains examples in PHP, Perl, VBScript, and Python). Familiarity with HTML, XML, and XSLT will also be very helpful. Having a web host where you can upload files and scripts to try out some of the hacks will also be useful. But even if you're not into the programming thing, the book still serves as a very good end-user's guide to getting the most out of Amazon's services.

Any book based on a rapidly evolving Internet property like Amazon is bound to start showing its age on the day it's printed. There are certainly new features that Amazon will release (such as its search within books feature) which aren't in the book, and there are likely some things that will change, but the book is still a valuable tool for anyone looking to get more out of their Amazon experience.

As a side note, one interesting thing I noticed in the copy of the book I have is that in the upper corner of each page there is a small greenish square, usually used (in Hacks series books) to indicate the current hack number for each page. While the square is there on every page, the hack numbers are not. Your milage may vary.

The Bottom line: If you're looking to get more out of Amazon.com, Amazon Hacks is a great place to start.

Overall Rating: 8/10