thepurplebook: the definitive guide to exceptional online shopping

By Sandy Amazeen Nov 30, 2005, 18:21 GMT

Online shopping just got a whole lot easier. Mendelsohn has ferreted through mountains of retail websites, over 40,000 in fact, to sort out 1,600 of the best places to find what you are looking for. The format is nicely thought out beginning with the introduction which lays out the icon key in addition to simple tips to make online shopping a fun, easy and safe experience. Listings include some of the cornerstones of internet retailing such as Amazon.com but of greater interest are the lesser known companies offering up everything from Hawaiian shirts to barbeque.

Each chapter heads off with a list of helpful URLs, section icon legend and a key word index that allows the user to search out a specific area of interest. Take Crafts & Hobbies for example, in the key word index you can quickly locate sites that specifically carry art, scrap booking or dressmaking supplies. It is this specificity that makes this book helpful as anyone who has spent hours going through assorted search engine listings can relate to. Sites are listed in alphabetical order by their URLs with contact phone numbers plus icons showing shipping options and user friendliness. A short synopsis about the site is provided along with information about the specific products that site carries.

Product, Company and URL indexes located in the back of the book make finding stuff a breeze and set this volume above the rest. Additionally there are ample pages provided for personal notes along with a submissions and feedback page. Think of thepurplebook as the “yellow pages of the internet” only a lot more entertaining then the yellow pages ever thought of being.