Last updated 06-30-2026
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Talk to Books
Talk to Books was a Google Research experiment that let you ask natural-language questions and get answers pulled from passages across a large collection of books. You typed a question or statement, and the system returned relevant book excerpts instead of standard web search results. Google has shut the service down, but the site still hosts an archive of sample queries.
The project launched in 2018 as part of Google's Semantic Experiences initiative. It used neural language models for semantic matching and retrieval, showing how conversational queries could surface ideas buried in published books rather than blog posts or forums.
Researchers, students, and curious readers used Talk to Books to explore topics through book-length context. The experiment informed later semantic search features inside Google products such as Shopping, Maps, Gmail, and Hangouts.
Ask questions in plain English and get book passages back, not web links
Searches across a large corpus of published books using semantic matching
Archived sample queries still viewable on the shutdown notice page
Part of Google's 2018 Semantic Experiences research alongside Semantris
Demonstrated neural retrieval models that later shaped other Google products
Surfaced authoritative book passages instead of noisy web results.
Let anyone explore ideas through natural-language questions at no cost.
Showcased early semantic retrieval research from Google.
Service is discontinued and no longer accepts new queries.
Results showed book snippets without full surrounding context unless pages were available in Google Books.
Is Talk to Books still available?
No. Google states that Talk to Books has closed down effective immediately. The books.google.com/talktobooks site now shows a shutdown notice and links to archived sample searches rather than a live query interface.
Was Talk to Books free to use?
Yes. Talk to Books was a free public Google Research experiment. It did not require payment or a subscription while it was active.
When did Talk to Books launch?
Talk to Books launched in 2018 as part of Google's Semantic Experiences project. Google announced it alongside Semantris, a word association game built on similar language model technology.
What did Talk to Books search?
Talk to Books searched passages from a large collection of books indexed by Google. Results were book excerpts matched to your question through semantic retrieval, not general web pages.
What should I use instead of Talk to Books?
Google points visitors to bard.google.com for a conversational AI experience. Talk to Books itself is no longer accepting new queries.
Who built Talk to Books?
Talk to Books was a Google Research experiment tied to the Semantic Experiences team. The site footer links to Google AI and the Semantic Experiences research hub.