Heard anything about ancestry books at Amazon.com?

Question

I received an email from Amazon about these books - almost 300,000 last names to choose from - such as "The Smith Name in History" by Ancestry.com. Have you heard anything about these? Are they bogus? The reviews on Amazon are really mixed. They're $30 each for a paperback.

Answer 1

I doubt, seriously, that your ancestors are mentioned by name in any of these books, if that is what you are looking for.

You can order any of these books thru your public library on an inner-library loan, for reading, without shelling out $30.00 and shipping & handling.

This way you can determine whether or not it's worth the money.

Judging from the sample page, the info is full of generalizations and statistics, which can be found on the internet or other public domain sources, including ancestry.com.

It reminds me of a history book,  with  records of immigration statisitcs of a certain name.

I, personally, would not purchase any book of this nature, without  viewing the contents, first.

Post your unusual/rare names here.

Anyone with a genealogy site membership can find the meaning and statistics for you, in less than an hour.

Answer 2

I have only found one book that has any of my family and it was written by my cousin. He gave me one for free.

So unless you know that a book is about your specific family, I wouldn't buy one.

Want to find some of these surname books done back in the day when they traveled to get the information?

Go to www.google.com and look at the top for the drop down menu and then look for books. On the next page put in a surname and a location(helps narrow the search results) and you will get books with that surname mentioned.

Answer 3

These strike me has a hoax. It simply seems like too much money for a paperback.