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I've used both the 'old' method of browsing shelves in bookstores and the 'new' method of Amazon, etc. I agree with a previous contributor: the 'they also bought' entries on Amazon are useful, and the ability to search a single term can really speed up work. (I've found Abe.books to be an excellent search engine.)
But I've got to confess that some of my greatest, most useful discoveries have been in second-hand bookshops. I think the point here is that you get away from the tyranny of the key-term. I've got a good example of this: a while ago I was researching hippies. I missed a whole cache of relevant material as it was categorised under 'beatniks'. In a bookshop, I can compensate for this: I can see that although a title doesn't include my exact key-term, it might still be relevant.
There's something to be said for both.
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