Overly gushing about Google almost from the first page. However, the tone settles down a little bit after the first third. Very informative though and covers all the major events in the history of the company from the founding up to fairly recent events.

This review is based on the unabridged audiobook version. ( )

The audio book is quite good! Recommended. ( )

This was a nonfiction book which I picked up because it was on sale for AU$5. I picked it up in passing and had paid for it before I actually really got a chance to think about why I need yet another book... I'm sure you all know how it goes. But anyway, I'm glad I bought it. I'm not a big nonfiction reader, but I am a huge fan of the Internet, and was one of Gmail's early adopters. This was enough to keep me interested throughout the book.

The book recounts the life of Google, a small upstart company ran by two eclectic and sometimes arrogant twenty-somethings who dared to demand that rules be changed for them. I especially liked reading about the creation of Google's famed laissez-faire company culture. Googlers (or Google employees) are apparently treated like they're VIPs at a hotel rather than mere lackeys:

"They were fed like family as well, with free meals, healthy juices, and snacks in abundance. Googlers also enjoyed a bevy of conveniences like on-site laundry, hair styling, dental and medical care, a car wash--and later, day care, fitness facilities with personal trainers, and a professional masseuse--which virtually eliminated the need to leave the office. Beach volleyball, foosball, roller hockey, scooter races, palm trees, bean bag chairs, even dogs-- it was all part of making work fun and fostering a creative, playful environment where Google's employees, most of them young and single, would want to spend their working hours. Google would even go on to charter buses with wireless Internet access so that Googlers who commuted the hour from San Francisco could be productive, putting their energy into their laptops instead of worrying about how they would get to work."

More than learning about Google's services, what I was really intrigued by was its philosophy. The company's motto is "Do not be evil", and reflects the eccentric nature of how the company is run and how it makes money. Google never spent money on advertising; its owners believed that creating a superior product would allow Google's name to be passed around by word of mouth. And they were right.

I thought this book was a fascinating read, and just quirky and funny enough for a layperson (i.e. not a technocrat) to be encouraged to read to the end. ( )

Though access to the founders of Google seems to be lacking, the story and insight of Google's rise in the world of technology, business and culture have been very well documented.

If you are fond of the stories of American Business, this one belongs on your bookshelf. ( )

Here is the story behind one of the most remarkable Internet successes of our time. Based on scrupulous research and extraordinary access to Google, the book takes you inside the creation and growth of a company whose name is a favorite brand and a standard verb recognized around the world. Its stock is worth more than Disney's and General Motors' combined, its staff eats for free in a dining room that used to be run by a former chef for the Grateful dead, and its employees traverse the firm's colorful Silicon Valley campus on scooters and inline skates.

The Google Story is the definitive account of the populist media company powered by the world's most advanced technology that in a few short years has revolutionized access to information about everything for everybody everywhere.

In 1998, Moscow-born Sergey Brin and Midwest-born Larry Page dropped out of graduate school at Stanford University to, in their own words, "change the world" through a search engine that would organize every bit of information on the Web for free.

While the company has done exactly that in more than one hundred languages, Google's quest continues as it seeks to add millions of library books, television broadcasts, and more to its searchable database.

Readers will learn about the amazing business acumen and computer wizardry that started the company on its astonishing course; the secret network of computers delivering lightning-fast search results; the unorthodox approach that has enabled it to challenge Microsoft's dominance and shake up Wall Street. Even as it rides high, Google wrestles with difficult choices that will enable it to continue expanding while sustaining the guiding vision of its founders' mantra: DON'T BE EVIL.

Google Story is a book what describes the history of google in great details; From the moment both founders Lary Page and Sergey Brin got the inspiration of creating a search engine till the point of no return where the company went from privately founded to public.

For me the book can be divided in two parts. The first part, where Page and Brin are introduced and where is elaborated on how Google was built in a few years, and the second part where the opportunities and threats are displayed.

The first part has more structure and more indepth information. The second part is mainly a brief summary of the facts, and this is exactly where the shortcomings of the book are illustrated. For me personally it would have been more interesting that both writers continued to describe to role and specific characteristics of the founders, like they did in the first part of the book. Nevertheless, this book is a great and complete source about who Brin and Page are, and how their vision and ambitions helped to create one of the most remarkable internet startups ever.

The speed in which the internet and Google is developing is huge, therefore the book already missed out on the most recent information at the point the book was released. The Google Story helped me understanding the vision and ideas behind internet services and products which I use on a daily basis, and therefore a mustread for everyone interested in technology, ICT and succesfull business stories. ( )

Very thought provoking.

A little light on content. The wonders of the Google kids & how they can do no wrong. Surface-y & content-free discussion of the algorithms & parallel programming & the hardware inventions, etc. Some of it was useful -- the discussion of the business model, and some of the information about the hardware. I guess the Google guys have lots of charisma, although the Billions of dollars adds to that. It is a little scary.

Very entertaining and completely non-tech book. It is an excellent "Google The Movie" script, though I was expecting a look inside "Google The Company" and what makes it tick.

Sometimes difficult to put down, sometimes it was like reading Google press releases or (fan) websites. Some good stories, lot of human touch and even a few anti-google sections to add credibility. ( )

i read this to supplement sales of keyword search optimization. its almost ENTIRELY TECH FREE. will push google knowledge to intermediate. ( )

A must read for anyone who is awestruck at the way Google has emerged as the world leader in Search Engine technology. ( )

Very interesting on the history of Google, but I found it a bit strange that the accuisition of Blogger wasn't mentioned at all.

The byline of this book is "inside the hottest business, media and technology success of our time." The problem is that this book provides no "inside" look at all. The information provided by the authors might as well have been found through a Google search. There was nothing really new that has not been reported a thousand times in the media or obvious to anyone who follows Google. The work seemed a bit ambitious and proved in the end to be nothing more than a cheerleading rally for a company that doesn't need any help. I think there is still plenty of room for someone to write a real objective account of the rise and success of Google but it may be too soon. Wait another five years and either the stock will be trading at $500 a share or it will be another success story with a troubled ending. The real Google story is amazing but The Google Story was not.

As the narrative unfolds, readers learn how Google grew out of the intellectually fertile and not particularly directed friendship between Page and Brin; how the founders attempted to peddle early versions of their search technology to different Silicon Valley firms for $1 million; how Larry and Sergey celebrated their first investor's check with breakfast at Burger King; how the pair initially housed their company in a Palo Alto office, then eventually moved to a futuristic campus dubbed the "Googleplex"; how the company found its financial footing through keyword-targeted Web ads; how various products like Google News, Froogle, and others were cooked up by an inventive staff.

I was once one of Google's biggest fans, but the corporate arrogance that fairly oozes from this book makes it hard to differentiate between Microsoft and Google, except Microsoft knows what it is and Google denies it. The book is written like a long corporate PR piece and reading it had the feel of watching an infomercial. ( )

Started Reading on 1/3/06