In last week’s webinar on
Google’s hidden tools, I talked about the Google Books
Ngram Viewer. A phenomenally interesting tool from Google that analyses the yearly count of selected n-grams (letter combinations) or words and phrases found in over 5.2 million books digitised by Google. Data can be viewed from 1500 to 2008 making it a particularly insightful tool for marketers, researchers, sociologists, historians and many more professions.
To illustrate its power, I’ve put together 10 interactive charts which should whet the appetite. Don’t forget to click on the lines to highlight them!
1. Attitudes towards sex and marriage from the 1800’s
See on Ngram Viewer »
2. Our love affair with alcohol knows no bounds!
See on Ngram Viewer »
3. Battle of renaissance polymaths
See on Ngram Viewer »
4. I love my what?
See on Ngram Viewer »
5. Car accidents, car parks and car doors(!) on the rise
See on Ngram Viewer »
6. The rise and fall of opium and cocaine
See on Ngram Viewer »
7. 20th century struggles
See on Ngram Viewer »
8. Politics vs science vs religion
See on Ngram Viewer »
9. Coke vs Pepsi
See on Ngram Viewer »
10. The car – our favourite mode of transport
See on Ngram Viewer »
If you have any fascinating Ngram Viewer examples to share, we’d love to hear from you.