genealogy. In that moment, if you haven't done such searches before you become one the ten million that will look for the first time this year. Should you get serious you'll find that much of the supporting detail for searches is more often found in books than on the net and a substantial portion of what you'll need may only be accessible in first person records in city, county and state archives. In other words what is easy to start can turn into a complex and demanding job. As you move in that direction you'll find yourself more and more interested in the printed records you can refer to while working on line.

Not so many people become good at such research but they do seem to have several characteristics in common. They are inevitably inquisitive and smart. Most dead ends are simply routes we haven't yet mapped. Patient people in time discover that the seeming dead-end to and from their Uncle Jack can be resolved through his wife, his regiment, his job, even his politics. There may even be an empty place on the inlaws' family tree where Uncle Jack is perching just waiting to be discovered. In time, with additional information, you may connect him and yourself back to long forgotten villages in Europe, Asia or Africa. Wherever it takes you it's ultimately a voyage of self-discovery.

For some the challenge will be to unearth complex 19th century family history. For this America offers some excellent printed resources. County bibliographies were common and a hundred and twenty-five years later provide extraordinary if not always entirely accurate information. The publishers were happy to include thousands of names so that thousands of people would want to buy the book that mentioned them.

So whether you are a once-and-done genealogical searcher or someone who will spend the rest of your life on and off spelunking genealogically for years to come these AE book dealers potentially offer interesting material and in many cases assistance and advice on your quest for personal discovery.

Who would have thought that the best way to know yourself might be through web searches and possibly web purchases from a book selling site such as AE's Books for Sale.

Click here for the November AE Comet.