Google Books Ngram viewer visualises word trends from over 5.2 million books over the

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In case you haven't heard about the new Google Books Ngram viewer yet you better check it out now, it is without a doubt the coolest public data application Google has launched since Google Trends.

As you might know, Google has been busy scanning books for the past few years and its database now contains over two billion words from 5.2 million books published over the last 200 years. That's pretty cool in itself, however the Google Books Ngram viewer lets you search that database for the appearance of certain words and then graph them over time to reveal trends.

Check out the trends below, the Ngram viewer is basically a combined archaeology and anthropology research tool on steroids.

Ngram 1: Impact of television on violence

Mentions for the word 'violence' pretty much flatline until the event of the Television and then receive another boost with the arrival of video and online.

Ngram 2: Literature proving climate change?

Looks like there has been a steady increase in 'flooding', 'landslide' and 'tsunami' mentions over the past few hundred years but we only recently started talking about climate change.

Ngram 3: More and more problems but no solutions

You have to wonder what all these problems are people are writing about but there definitely seems to be less and less solutions.

Ngram 4: Adoption of major media channels

The below chart nicely shows the growth and decline in popularity of different media channels over time.



Ngram 5: Adoption of major modes of transport
Oh well, the days of the horse are definitely over but the car is experiencing a bit of a revival, exceeding second world ware level.



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