Genealogy Books – A Popular Research Tool? - MyHeritage.com

13 Oct 20105 comments

Genealogy Books – A Popular Research Tool?

Ever wondered what the best selling books about genealogy in the Amazon online bookstore are?

And what about their popularity? I mean, we speak often about the growing trend in genealogy research but how is that reflected in Amazon book sales?

Let’s look at Amazon.com first.

The top book in the genealogy research category is ‘The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy’

Surprisingly, that book is also number 7 in the Parenting and Family Reference category and number 6 in the Online Searching Category. That hints that genealogy really is one of the most popular research activities online.

Taking a deeper look though we see that the book is only the 13,784 most popular book on the whole Amazon site at the moment, hardly an impressive statistic despite the millions of books available.

You can click here to see the full list of top-selling genealogy research books on Amazon.com

Now let’s look at Amazon in the UK.

The top genealogy research book at Amazon.co.uk is “Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy: The definitive reference guide to tracing your family history”

That book does much better than its counterpart in the US. For instance it is number 3 in the Sports and Hobbies Reference category and is number 5,856 out of all books available on Amazon.co.uk

That having been said, just when you think that genealogy research may be more mainstream in the UK, the 2^nd highest selling book is an ethnographic fieldwork book targeted at the anthropological reader.

You can click here to see the full list of top-selling genealogy research books on Amazon.co.uk

So what does it all mean?

What these statistics tell me is that outside of the effect that the TV Show "Who Do You Think You Are?" has had on the genealogy research market in the UK, there's probably no "Bible" (for want of a better word) of genealogy research.

That probably has a lot to do with the amount of research tools and information that are available for free online.

What do you think?

Do you have a book that you think every genealogist should have on their bookshelf?

If so, we'd love it if you would share the title and author with us.

Posted by Kim on October 13th, 2010 - 01:24

Tagged as: Amazon, Books

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Karl-Michael Sala
October 13th, 2010 - 07:41
Years ago, on Amazon.com & elsewhere, I wrote a review for the classic pre-WW1 German Empire Gazetteer known as Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-Lexikon Des Deutschen Reichs. It stands as the ONLY review of that huge book. That review & that book have helped many an amateur & professional German Genealogist.

I offer a 50% discount on your initial USA, immigration or Euro-German research retainer.

karlmsala@msn.com
George Geder
October 16th, 2010 - 20:02
I deal primarily with African Ancestored Genealogy. As such, here are two books that I recommend:

Black Roots: A Beginners Guide To Tracing The African American Family Tree; By Tony Burroughs; ISBN13: 9780684847047

Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity, Revised and Expanded;
By Dee Parmer Woodtor; ISBN-10: 037570843X

Both of these books are excellent for ANY genealogist or family historian. Highly recommended!

Peace,
"Guided by the Ancestors"
Kim
October 16th, 2010 - 23:48
Thanks for the suggestions George.
genealogyforum
January 5th, 2011 - 03:43
Genealogists need to be good listeners and ask good questions throughout their lifetime. They also need to be aware that they were born to be the keepers of the information.
Adalgisa
March 17th, 2012 - 05:00
Welcome to GeneaBloggers! I love your list. I didn't get to SNGF as I was away this weekend, so can I piggy-back on yours? #1: I'm not too bad, as I'm tniryg to limit how many genealogy blogs I subscribe to, but I had over 100 after being unconnected for two days. #3: I'm tniryg to not talk too much about my blog to my family unless they initiate conversation, as I'm afraid of boring them. #8, #9, #10: Yes, yes and yes. #11: Almost laughed out loud at this one. Folding laundry is a great time to listen to at least part of a podcast, and to try to avoid #12, listen to those genealogy podcasts while making dinner.