David A. Vise and Mark Malseed's National Bestseller "The Google Story" is a triumphant account of the history of the world's favorite website. The book delves more into the human side of the booming company rather than dissects and analyze, and it highlights important events that have brought Google to where it is today. It is a remarkable tale of how two techy guys from Stanford, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, wanted to improve online search capabilities. Their dream quickly became a reality, and with the help of CEO Eric Schmidt and some risky Silicon Valley venture capitalists, Google went from a Palo Alto startup to Microsoft's biggest competitor in just a few short years. I found out that by the summer of 2006, Google's stock was more valuable than Amazon, eBay, and Yahoo combined.
This book is a must for anyone curious about how the familiar blank-paged search engine makes money through advertising within search results, much like traditional media companies. The behind-the-scenes research done by the authors gives the reader an insider's view of the unique company. They preach their motto of "Don't Be Evil" to employees and have a 20 percent rule, where their employees are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their working time on projects that personally interest them. This new-age approach to management is what led to Gmail and Google News. The book reveals what life is like at the remarkable Googleplex, where the staff is treated to daily, healthy gourmet meals for free and how the casual atmosphere feels more like a college campus than a Fortune 500 company. The encouragement of working in small groups without the dominance of managers is how Google keeps their employees motivated.
"The Google Story" tells of the problems the company had with privacy issues, particularly with ads in users' Gmail accounts, tailored to match keywords in emails. You will also learn how Google dealt with overbearing investors and Wall Street, and how they went public and made the founders instant billionaires. During Google's first year after going public, it was worth more than media conglomerate Time Warner, and the hardly-decade old company was also worth more than the combined value of Disney, Ford, and General Motors. A truly fascinating story of new media's star child, this book is a highly personal as well as informative read. Just be warned that the authors never speak unfavorably about Google, but rather defend it in every tale of fighting lawsuits and privacy groups. If you can get beyond that and accept that Google would be the ideal employer, than I highly recommend reading "The Google Story".
Published by Delta, Updated 2006 Edition.
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