Reviewed by Jason Chapman
Sergey Brian and Larry Page had no way of knowing how big of an impact their endeavor, which we all know now as Google, was going to be back in 1998. These two met as computer science graduate students at Stanford University. They began exploring search engines for an engineering assignment that led to a common goal to update and improve on the way people obtained information online. Seeing the growth potential of the World Wide Web excited the two, and they dreamed of a new search engine that would surpass any resources presently being used. The Yahoo search engine was dependent on human curators and held much room for improvement, so they set about to create a fully automated system for sorting Web pages and judging their relevance to a given search term.
The cofounders were adamant about not using their site as a canvas for advertisements. Both despised search engines that badgered the browsing public with ads popping up and cluttering their computer screens. Now, with a growing resource for public, the co-conspirators of Google had to form a way to make money to stay afloat, and they succeeded using ingenuity; the idea of plain-text advertisements was the answer. These ads were far less flashy than banner and pop-ups that would appear on the sides of search results. Without interfering with the user’s results, advertisers were able to place ads that were less obtrusive and thus more appealing. The ads pertain directly to the search term, resulting in "highly individualized advertising to an audience of one at the best moment -- when a relevant topic was on the user's mind." The system allows advertisers to target users without knowing anything about them. Google is paid by advertisers only when a user clicks on the ad which, Stross reports, provides right at 99 percent of the total revenue for Google, equaling more than $16 billion in 2007 alone.
"If Google were content to prosper with Web search, and only Web search, its story would be compact," notes Stross. “The company, however, is in pursuit of a much grander goal: to organize the world's information. All of it.” In chapter three Stross describes the system, known as the Algorithm, with great detail and clear, understandable language, starting with the "spider," the software that "systematically 'crawled' the Web, collecting copies of Web pages that were then indexed and analyzed, in readiness for matching when a visitor to Google later submitted a search request." Stross illustrates that "when Google receives a search request, its search does not at that moment check the world's Web sites, but rather checks the copies of those sites that were collected earlier and stored on Google's servers." The more information the Algorithm accumulates, the more intelligent it becomes.
Privacy issues will likely resurface as the company embarks on another ambitious endeavor, cloud computing. This advanced form of “centralized computing” aims to move all of a user's personal documents from an individual computer to a centralized server run by Google. One of Google’s credos, “Don’t be evil” might be questioned with the addition of this new apparatus. Stross states that little or no connection of this new enterprise to the company's original information-gathering mission nor can this lead to a significant increase in revues. The underlying question is whether a company that's expanding so exponentially can stay true to its famous corporate doctrine.
From the beginning Brian and Page knew that their expertise lay in the media itself. Running a business and organizing a company were beyond them. They sought a CEO that was better equipped to handle their business affairs. They found a ringer in Eric Schmidt, an industry executive that also held a Ph.D. in computer science. Building a team of resources around them, Sergey Brian and Larry Page networked and utilized their employees to the fullest.
Some of the most entertaining readings of the book involve the human drama that coincided with Google's rise. Veteran employee Marissa Mayer recalled finding Page hiding in the office kitchen one day because the site had crashed. "The site is down. It's all gone horribly awry," he told her. Stross writes, "Mayer said that seeing [him] in such a state led to her estimate that Google had about a 2 percent chance of succeeding."
We know that Google survived, and it was the company's competitors who often found themselves floundering. Another employee at Google, Omid Kordestani (a senior vice president), was added to the Google family because of his seasoned sales expertise. Knowing your limitations is apart of any leader. Google allows employees to offer advice about specific issues that is then presented at board meetings. With Google’s forward thinking and open minds, it is no wonder that Google has been listed in the top ten corporations to work for in the United States by Forbes Magazine.
Stross did an excellent job of opening the inner clockworks of the Google Empire. He shared the path of a corporation from infancy to the vast super-entity that is now seemingly everywhere. Google was not foreseen to be the great corporation that it is today. Other companies had the upper hand in experience and longevity, but it was the Google team who looked to the future and was able to grow fast along with internet usage itself. I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted to learn how keep a corporation successful in today’s global market.
This book shows that it takes more than a good idea to make it big. There has to be a corroboration of many working toward one common goal to make dreams come true. Sergey Brian and Larry Page did not let go of their founding ideas of keeping the Internet experience clean and safe and “Don’t be evil.” It is not always easy to stick to your convictions, but this book shows a good example of how to do well and keep your integrity intact. Google’s story has not ended yet, but this tantalizing book will leave readers anticipating what Google will blow us away with next.
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