Bram Stoker Books Get Google Doodle Treatment

Google today is celebrating the 165th birthday of author Bram Stoker with a homepage doodle that pays homage to his literary contributions.

But the doodle also serves as a way for Google to show off an August update to its Knowledge Graph feature, which includes images in a scrollable format atop search results.

Clicking on the Stoker doodle will bring you to a search results page for "Bram Stoker books," which includes a carousel of Stoker's works on top of the normal search results. Click a book and the search results below the carousel will switch to that book ("dracula book," for example). A quick summary of each search term is featured in the Knowledge Graph box on the top right.

Stoker, of course, is best known for Dracula, but has a number of works under his belt. He was born in Ireland in 1847 and, according to a VictorianWeb.org biography, his interest in the supernatural and the occult trace back to a childhood illness that left him bed-ridden until age seven. He busied himself with Irish folklore, much of which included stories of scary characters that later popped up in his writing.

His first horror story, The Chain of Destiny, was published in 1875, while his first novel, The Snake's Pass came out in 1890. But it was not until 1897's Dracula that he really had a hit on his hands. The character of Dracula is as well known today as it was 100 years ago, and has inspired numerous films, TV shows, and other novels.

Some of Stoker's works are available for free on the Web via the Gutenberg Project, including Dracula, The Jewel of Seven Stars, The Lady of the Shroud, Lair of the White Worm, and The Man. A number of selections are also available for free via Apple's iBooks and Amazon's Kindle Store. Stoker died in 1906 in London.

For more of Google's doodles, see the below. Recently, the company has honored , , and , considered by many to be a pioneer in the electronic music space, as well as , zipper pioneer , and even commemorated its own with a birthday cake doodle.