Gemini Notebook can now treat eligible eBooks you've bought on Google Play Books directly as a Source.
The most intuitive use might be:
“Summarize this book for me.”
But today, don’t learn summarizing.
Learn a more practical step instead:
Before asking what the author says, select only that one book.
Why select only one source first?
Because Gemini Notebook lets you keep many sources in the same Notebook.
For example:
A management book.
Your meeting notes.
A company proposal.
A PDF file.
Several websites.
Of course, that’s very convenient.
But if you ask:
“How should this management issue be handled?”
AI might combine info from several sources in one answer.
The answer might look complete,
but you won’t necessarily know:
Which part is really the author’s viewpoint?
Which part comes from your meeting notes?
Which comes from another document?
So don’t rush to mix sources at first.
Step 1: Keep only the book selected
In Gemini Notebook’s Sources area, you can choose:
Which sources to use for this question.
Assuming you have one management book,
uncheck all other sources.
Keep only:
This one book.
Then ask:
“According to this book, what does the author say a manager should do when employees repeatedly make the same mistake?
Please summarize only the content explicitly supported by the book.
If the book doesn’t directly answer this, tell me there’s insufficient source and do not add the author’s viewpoint.”
The goal of this first round is not to:
Solve your problem.
But rather:
Clarify exactly what the author says.
Step 2: Click on citations
Gemini Notebook’s answers include Source Citations.
These are references to the original sources.
According to Google's official explanation, these citations link directly to the text, images, or related content in the source.
Hover your mouse over the Citation,
to preview the quoted passage.
Click the citation,
and you can jump directly to the exact location in the source to check the full context.
So don’t just see the AI answer:
“The author suggests the manager first identify the root cause.”
and write it down blindly.
Click the citation.
Go back and check:
Did the author actually say that?
Are there conditions attached?
Is it only applicable in certain situations?
This step might take just ten seconds.
But it turns:
“AI says the author said it.”
into:
“I actually see the author wrote this.”
Step 3: Then re-select your own data
After confirming the author’s viewpoint,
for the second round, re-select your:
Meeting notes.
Work notes.
Proposals.
Then ask:
“Now please compare the viewpoints from the book just discussed with my meeting notes.
Break the answer into:
Principles in the book,
My current real situation,
Where they do not align,
And finally suggest next steps I can check myself.”
Only now does the AI begin true:
Application.
The workflow is not:
Throw in book + my data + websites all at once → Ask AI what to do.
It is:
Book → Understand first.
Citation → Verify next.
Own data → Apply last.
Why not select all sources at once from the start?
Because AI is very good at organizing information.
This can cause a problem:
Different sources get combined into one smooth answer,
and you begin to forget those are actually separate matters.
For example:
The author says:
“First understand why the employee made a mistake.”
Your meeting notes say:
“This week, arrange retraining.”
AI might end up combining as:
“The author suggests identifying the problem cause first, then arranging retraining.”
That sounds perfectly reasonable.
But the second part:
“Arrange retraining”
may not actually be the author’s advice.
It might just be a plan your company already decided.
If you don’t separate the sources,
it’s easy to mix up:
Your own decision.
AI’s summary.
The original author’s viewpoint.
All blending into one.
Gemini Notebook is specifically designed for this approach
Google’s official description of Gemini Notebook Chat is clear.
It answers based on the sources selected in the Notebook.
You can check or uncheck individual sources directly.
In Gemini Notebook’s own chat, answers derive from Notebook Sources.
If the sources don’t provide enough info,
officially, the Notebook shouldn’t fill in answers with external knowledge.
That’s why:
“Selecting only one book”
is a very practical control method.
It doesn’t make the model smarter.
It just narrows the model’s field of view first.
You can copy this exact prompt
For the first round, with only the eBook selected:
“Please answer only based on the currently selected book.
Answer my question first.
Every important conclusion must link back to sources in the book.
If the book doesn’t clearly support an answer, tell me ‘This book doesn’t have enough evidence,’ and don’t fill in with other knowledge.
After answering, I will check citations one by one.”
This is not an official Google prompt.
It’s a workflow method organized by SasaDaily based on Gemini Notebook’s Source Selection and Citation features.
For the second round, use this prompt
After confirming the book’s content,
add back your notes:
“Now please use both this book and my work notes.
Please separate your answer into:
- Principles explicitly stated by the author.
- The current situation shown in my data.
- Where they align.
- Where they don’t.
- Next steps I should check myself.
This last sentence is especially important:
Do not turn my data into the author's viewpoint.
Because this is the easiest point to overlook with multi-source AI answers.
What if the book has no answer?
That’s actually a good outcome.
Gemini Notebook official FAQ explains:
If the answer isn’t found in the given sources,
The Notebook will limit its answer accordingly, not automatically fill in with general knowledge.
So if you see:
“Currently, the sources don’t have enough info to answer.”
Don’t think the AI is broken.
It’s telling you:
This is not a question the book can answer.
Then you decide:
Do you add a second book?
Do you include a research paper?
Or do new web research?
Knowing:
“The sources stop here.”
can be more valuable than a complete answer of unknown origin.
Remember today’s method in one minute
Next time you add a Google Play Books eBook to Gemini Notebook,
don’t immediately:
Select all Sources.
First:
Select only this book.
Ask what the author says.
Click citations to verify.
Then add back your own data.
Ask:
“How to apply this method to me?”
This way, you clearly separate three things:
What the author actually said.
How AI organizes it.
What you finally plan to do.
The ideal role for AI is not to mix all sources into one seemingly smart answer,
but to help you still find, when needed,
Where exactly this sentence came from.
Today, make a little progress with AI.
Learn one AI tip daily.
Save a little time daily.
Improve a little every day.
SasaDaily, growing with you.
