Searching Books without Topics
As I explain in Camp Logos, not all Libronix books are created the same. Some Libronix e-books are indexed according to topics while others are not. Topically indexed books imply that somehow, some way the pages of the books have been tagged according to the subject matter on them. Such books can be searched with the Topic Browser yielding more specific results than those books merely searched by word with the Basic Search dialog. In other words, would you rather find every occurrence of the word “suffering” in your library or where that “subject” is discussed in a meaningful way?
Resources such as the Early Church Fathers, Theological Journals and Max Lucado books have all been topically indexed. Does this mean that non-topically indexed books are useless? Obviously not. It just means we have to employ some creativity in searching them. I like using a proximity search. With this proximity search we simulate topics on the page. For example, RC Sproul’s book Surprised by Suffering is not topically indexed. So we need to search for multiple words close to one another. Here’s how to do it:
- Open a non-topically indexed book like Surprised by Suffering
- Choose Search | Basic Search
- Set the In box to your book
- Type a query like this in the box: suffer within 7 words purpose
- Click Search
This search finds all the places in the book where suffer (suffering, suffers, etc.) occur within 7 words of purpose. In essence we’re looking for the “topic” the purpose of suffering.
To get really powerful type this in the Search box: suffer within 7 words (purpose,goal,reason)
Now we’ll find every time suffer occurs within 7 words of purpose or goal or reason all with one search!
The proximity search is not quite as powerful as a topic search but it is much better than just searching for a single word.