Autocomplete: The Book

by Justin Hook

Every time a browser autocompletes our search query, it's showing us what millions of other people all over the world are searching for. This curious collection showcases the very best of the often strange yet 100% real autocomplete suggestions offered up by popular search engines, compiling them into one hilarious, fascinating, and mildly disturbing volume. Each page contains one search and its 10 best autocomplete suggestions, including the most and least common, from "Why is Ryan Gosling...eating cereal?" to "If the Earth is round...why are shoes flat?" With easy-to-read spreads and playful black-and-white line art throughout, Autocomplete provides a nearly unfiltered look at what people actually search for when they think no one's watching.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published May 7, 2019

Reviews

[Tucker Almengor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to Chronicle Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

This is one of those books that is completely insane and pointless but that you still love. From the creator of Google Feud, this book is full of random google searches and drawings. It was fun, simple and enjoyable. If you're looking for a quick, little, fun read, pick this up!

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[Beth Cato · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

The title sums up the book: it features a few hundred pages of Google autocompletes, many of which make you worry about the very nature of humanity. (I only know there are 224 pages because the online data says so; for some odd reason, the book lacks pages numbers, which annoyed me when I wanted to make note of some pages to share with my husband.)

The humor very much falls under the category of, "Well, that escalated quickly." I found this to be a book best read in small bursts to brighten the day, otherwise the content blurred together. This is also a book that I don't think will age well--many of the references are very late 2019--but it'll be sure to induce some smiles and chuckles for a few years yet.

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mildly amusing book, Autocomplete: The Book puts to print some of the absurd autocompletes supplied by Google searches in response to what is popular at any given time (this makes the book dated almost immediately, though may provide an interesting record of what was on people’s minds in the late 2010s). All in all, though, it’s nothing too deep.

Originally compiled for Justin Hook’s online game Google Feud, of which I had not heard, the suggestions can be, by turns, humorous, disturbing, or just plain weird. In Google Feud, you are tasked with guessing the 10 most popular suggestions supplied by Google for the second half of a google search, “Sports are…” or “Why can’t I…” for instance. In The Book, we are simply given lists of these suggestions without context, along with some fun cartoons illustrating some of the more bizarre ones. While it may be all just for fun, this leaves the book feeling a little autocompleted itself.

Without commentary, any analysis is left to you. It could be helpful to annotate what exactly is meant by things like “what is better... pubg or fortnite” or “I mistook... my wife for a hat.” Thus, it is unclear if the compilers are aware that the latter is a paraphrasing of the name of a well known work of nonfiction by Oliver Sacks and not some particularly random trending topic. But would that be explaining the joke too much? Still, Google is such an omnipresent force in the media, these autocomplete suggestions may be influencing how people are viewing the world, so maybe I can’t help but read too much into it.

[Sean McGurr · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gift book by the creator of Google Feud (think Family Feud based on internet searches instead of surveys), there are dozens of internet searches shown here. Occassionally amusing, sometimes thoughtful (watch the searches change each decade from "Is 10 a good age to..." to "Is 90 a good age to..."), and sometimes sad and depressing, Autocomplete gives you an insight into how others are using the internet. Some made me feel old as I didn't know some of the K-Pop band names or what a BBL is (Brazilian Butt Lift, fyi). This is probably a fun book to have as you and some friends sit around a table and share.

[Tracy Poff]

The book is a something of a sign of the times, I suppose. I'm happy to have it in my collection, along with other books showing our developing relationship with technology, but I doubt that I'd ever want to sit down and read it cover to cover, or do more than flip through it occasionally, at most. I'd say this is the kind of book you might buy someone as a gift, but not one you'd ever buy yourself.

This review is also available on Barba Non DB

[Exapno Mapcase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone who has done a Google search has seen some interesting suggestions brought forth by Google, and now the most popular subjects have been put in one handy collection. Some are funny, some are sad, and some are just downright weird.

Free review copy.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many chuckle-worthy moments. Not as funny as I had hoped.

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect mix of humor and pathos.

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.)

So you know the deal: every time you type a search term into your browser, be it Google or Yahoo or Jeeves or whatever (who are we kidding, Google), the algorithm makes a valiant attempt to predict what you're going to type before you type it. You know, autocomplete. This guess is based, in part, on what its millions of other users are searching for, providing a window into the soul of humanity - for better, worse, and everything in between.

Honestly, flip the book open to any random page and it's likely to be relevant to your life in some way, shape, or form. "should i tell my dad ... he has dementia"? Check. I've asked myself that question probably three times so far this week, and it's only Monday. (The most disturbing suggestion? "should i tell my dad ... i'm sexually attracted to him?") "can you sell your ... eggs?" Yup, thought about that one too. (And my brother actually sold his soul, to a second-grade classmate. We still laugh about that one. I think he got five cents.) "is america ... a free country?" If you're googling that one, I think you already know the answer.

Autocomplete: The Book is a rather disconcerting mix of humor and pathos, absurdity and earnestness, light-hearted fun and life-or-death seriousness. It's hard to look away, like a car accident or an oompa loompa presidency. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wish you'd had the foresight to pitch this idea to a publisher.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2019/06/28/...

[Vava · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good breather in between reading novels. It contains common search terms people look up in Google. The entries range from the funny (i.e. I ate an entire onion) to the strange (i.e. where is it legal to own a fox) to the downright creepy (i.e. can a dead person call you). I give it 3 out of 5 stars. Thank you to Chronicle Books for my review copy.

[Virginia Bush · Rating 5 out of 5]

A humorous look at common Google searches, this book is highly interactive and fun to look at with friends and family.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure Justin Hook could have come up with some more creative Google searches than these.