In such a new and expanding field, where do you go to find true enlightenment? You could go online and wade through countless blogs to find the latest search marketing wisdom. But books (remember those things that look like paper sandwiches) offer another informational avenue that have gone through the process of editing, fact-checking, and peer-review. Plus, you don’t have to worry about dropping them or throwing a thousand dollars away if you spill a drink on them.

Some books I currently have at my desk:

Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau
When you worry about duplicate content like I do, turn to this book to get you through the day. The same very short tale is rewritten ninety-nine times in various styles. The author was a member of the famous Oulipo group. Another favorite of mine by a member of the same group is A Void by Georges Perec. The book is an entire novel written without the letter e. Unique and original.

Google’s Page Rank & Beyond by Amy N. Langville & Carl D. Meyer

Written by fellow Carolinians, it is an extremely in depth look at the mathematics behind Google’s Page Rank. The book contains some very interesting tidbits, is extremely heavy on the math, and has a great section on why webpages are ranked by their popularity.

Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
Online advertising has its roots in direct mail advertising. So many of the principles of writing effective ad copy and ad testing can be found in this book. David Ogilvy wrote a gushing forward to the book calling the author “an indomitable analyzer and teacher of advertising”.

Professional SEO with PHP by Jaimie Sirovich and Cristian Darie
Comprehensive and well laid out, this book covers a long checklist of optimization techniques to take advantage of. One of the most up-to-date SEO books that contains a wealth of information. Kudos to the two seo-eggheads who wrote it.

Winning Results with Google Adwords by Andrew Goodman
Google’s head of webspam, Matt Cutts, recommended this book on his blog. Although the book needs a second edition, it was published in 2005, the book is solid and Mr. Goodman is an entertaining writer.

Super Crunchers by Ian Ayres
I picked up this book because I like the fact it was written by econometrician Ian Ayres. I have a degree in economics and it is a subject of great interest to me. Not a how-to book, but it gives you a good indication of where the future is heading as more data is collected about your searching and buying habits. Marketers, web developers, and statisticians are coming together to use the information age to their advantage.