The use of the word hacks in the title bothers some people. The news media has misused the term hacker by using it to refer to crackers. Crackers create and send viruses to attack your computer; break into computer systems to steal data; and take over your computer for nefarious deeds. Hackers are “innovators who explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, create useful tools, and come up with fun things to try on your own.” Hackers are the good guys.

Amazon Hacks is not a beginner’s book! It’s for power users, web site authors, programmers, and any one else who wants to know more about the under-belly of Amazon.com.

I own several O’Reilly titles although this is the first book in The Hacks Series that I’ve read.

What Does Amazon Hacks Cover?
Amazon Hacks contains Credits, Foreword, Preface, six chapters, and an Index. Credits gives brief background information on the author and contributors, many of whom work for Amazon.com. The Amazon.com Technology Team wrote the Foreword, which gives a brief overview of technology at Amazon.com. The Preface gives the organization of the book, the conventions used, and contact information for the author and publisher.

Chapter 1: Browsing and Searching discusses 12 hacks. It covers the Amazon Standard Item Number (ASIN) – where to find it and how to use it. Many of the other hacks use the ASIN. It also tells you how to browse Amazon.com in a text only mode or with alternate devices besides your computer. It has some hacks specific to the Internet Explorer and Mozilla browsers.

Chapter 2: Controlling Your Information discusses 14 hacks. It’s one of two chapters with a Best Practices summary. Most Amazon.com users will find it useful. It includes just a few scripts. It covers Your Recommendations, 1-Click Buying, Group Accounts, "About You", Wish Lists, Setting Email and Messages Preferences, Movie Showtimes, and Event Reminders.

Chapter 3: Participating in the Amazon Community discusses 22 hacks. This chapter has a few hacks of general interest. It has many hacks telling you how to integrate Amazon.com with your web site. It covers the following topics, among others: Writing a Review, Linking to Reviews, Creating Guides and Lists, and Purchase Circles.

Chapter 4: Selling Through Amazon discusses 10 hacks. If you have a few books or CDs you want to sell this is the chapter for you. It explains how to use Amazon.com as your store. This short chapter covers the Amazon Marketplace and Amazon Auctions.

Chapter 5: Associates Program discusses 17 hacks. It’s the second chapter with a Best Practices summary. This chapter tells you how you can refer visitors to your site to Amazon.com and make a little money. It tells you the conditions under which their purchase gets credited to you. This is the chapter to read before you set up your web site. Covered topics include Build Associate Links, Sell Items from Your Site, Sell Items with Pop-up Windows, Create Banner Ads for Your Site, and Create an Online Store.

Chapter 6: Amazon Web Services discusses 25 hacks. This is the most advanced chapter in the book. It’s for developers who want to “build full-scale desktop and server applications on Amazon’s Web Services API” (application program interface). The first four and a half pages provide a general introduction then the chapter moves into very specific technical tasks. Covered topics include Work Around Products Without Images, Cache Amazon Images Locally, and Add Cover Art to Your Digital Music Collection.

You won’t find a CD-ROM inside the book. After all, if you use Amazon.com you have an Internet connection and will be able to download up to date information and program code directly. O’Reilly’s web site contains sample hacks and the code examples from the book. Amazon’s web site contains the Web Services Developers Kit. (See Web Resources below.)

Using the Book
While reading the book, I felt like I was reading messages on a computer mailing list. Some areas of the book move from basic introductory material to advanced information and techniques with smooth transitions. Other areas delve right into advanced information. Sometimes I felt a little lost. However, by skimming the whole book first and then carefully re-reading the material I believe I have a basic understanding of everything.

The author did assemble tips and hacks from a large variety of sources and put them into an organized framework. He assumes you know how to use your computer and can browse the web with no problems. He also assumes that you know how a program looks even if you haven’t actually done any coding before. Most hacks use Java Script. He gives you the HTML code to add capabilities to your web site, but you need to know enough HTML to incorporate it on your pages and catch any errors.

If you use Amazon.com, you can learn some useful tricks without doing any coding. However, if you want to make money, you’ll really benefit from putting Paul Bausch’s suggestions into practice.

I’ve been using computers for over 20 years and I kept wishing that this book had a glossary. I kept running into terms I haven’t seen before, such as ‘programmatically’ and ‘API’.

I really enjoyed reading the background information about Amazon.com in this book. However, since I haven’t set up a web site, I can’t tell how well the scripts and html coding work.

Web Resources

O'Reilly Resources
Visit O'Reilly's Catalog, where you can view the Table of Contents and the entire 18-page Index. You can also examine the following Sample Hacks and Code Examples:

• Hack 3: Jump to a Product Using Its ASIN
• Hack 4: Create Shorter URLs
• Hack 9: Power-Search for Books
• Hack 12: Add an Amazon Sidebar Search to Mozilla
• Hack 14: Fine-Tune Your Recommendations
• Hack 52: Sell What People Want
• Hack 63: Rotate Through Several Keyword Banners on Your Site
• Hack 80: Program AWS with Perl
• Hack 95: Create an Amazon AIM Bot
• Hack 96: Compare International Sales

Sample Excerpt: Hacks 11 and 69 were featured the day I checked the site.

You can download the complete set of code examples in the book from O'Reilly.com.

Amazon.com Resources
Visit Amazon.com for complete information on its Web Services.

You can download the Web Services Developers Kit, read reviews and FAQ’s (including some good definitions), look at sample applications and check out the XML Scratch Pad and Seller Pricing tools.

Vital Statistics
Title: Amazon Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools
Author: Paul Bausch
Publication date: August 2003
Publisher: O'Reilly
Series: Hacks
ISBN: 0-596-00542-3
302 pages
Retail price: $24.95 US, $38.95 Canadian, £17.50 UK Amazon.com price: $17.47 (It qualified for free Super Saver shipping on December 8, 2003.)