Google has announced the launch of "Featured Notebooks" within its NotebookLM application, an initiative that offers ready-made knowledge collections prepared in collaboration with a select group of authors, researchers, and prestigious media organizations.
The company explained that this new feature aims to demonstrate the full capabilities of the NotebookLM application to both new and existing users.
Instead of starting from scratch, users can now explore a variety of topics through notebooks containing high-quality sources, such as complete books or specialized reports, that have been pre-loaded.
These new notebooks arrive loaded with original source materials and provide automatic summaries and notes on the main ideas presented.
Additionally, users can engage with the content in innovative ways. The tool allows them to ask questions directly to the AI and receive answers based exclusively on the attached sources, complete with precise citations to ensure reliability.
The experience also includes unique interactive tools, such as "Audio Overviews," which deliver podcast-style audio discussions between AI "hosts" about the notebook's content.
It also incorporates "Mind Maps" that help in visually outlining the core themes of a topic.
Collaborations with Leading Voices
To launch this initiative, Google partnered with prominent entities to ensure high-quality content. The initial list of notebooks includes diverse works such as:
- Longevity tips from the book "Super Agers" by author Eric Topol.
- Analysis and forecasts for 2025 from The Economist's annual report.
- An advice notebook based on "How to Build a Life" articles by author Arthur Brooks in The Atlantic.
- The complete works of William Shakespeare, aimed at students and researchers.
- Science-backed parenting tips from the popular "Techno Sapiens" newsletter.
A Future Vision for Knowledge Sharing
This development follows a recent update that allowed users to share their notebooks publicly, a feature that has seen over 140,000 public notebooks created in the last four weeks alone.
In this context, Steven Johnson, Editorial Director at Google Labs, stated that these featured notebooks are not just a product demo but also "a glimpse of a possible future where thousands of expert-created notebooks on every imaginable topic are available for anyone to add to their own library."
For his part, Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, expressed his excitement about partnering with Google on its pioneering work, noting, "The books of the future won't just be static text; they will talk back to you and evolve with you."
