INSTITUTE:

Welingkar Institute of Management, Development & Research,

Mumbai

Ashwini Vasudevan

ashwini.vasudevan@gmail.com

Mobile: 98205 64686

Introduction:

About the authors-

‘The Google Story’ is David A. Vise’s fourth book, other works being 'The Bureau and the

Mole', ‘Sweet Redemption’ and ‘Eagle on the Street’. He is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning

reporter for The Washington Post.

Mark Malseed, co-author of the book, is an investigative journalist and information industry

consultant. He has been a guest commentator on the BBC, ABC News, etc, and gives frequent

lectures on Google and the new information landscape.

Due thanks to the publishers- ‘Pan Books’, for conversion of the 1st edition to paperback, in

2006.

About the book

Mr. Thomas Friedman helped us realize ‘The world is flat’;

Larry Page & Sergey Brin were one of the forces behind it.

This book takes the reader through an amazing journey in the life of Google, from inception till

2005; telling you exactly when and how “Browsing” became a hobby, and elaborating on

Google’s work culture, leaving you wishing you were a Googler too.

Evaluation:

For someone of the Dot-com generation, whose sole purpose in life (more often than not) is to

have their name come up on a ‘relevant and significant’ search string, to know the origins and

journey of ‘Google’ is a treat!

Digesting page-after-page of the book almost make one feel like Sergey and Larry live next door,

interacting with you on a day-to-day basis, them telling you that ‘comfort in ambiguity’ &

‘luck by chance’ backed by immense ‘self belief’ and ‘a good product’ are realities of

businesses of our generation.

It touches a chord with the reader; the mention of the contribution and influence of educated and

academically-oriented parents, importance of hard work, value-systems, one’s beliefs and

culture, make one appreciate their individuality, while gently also instilling the concept of how

destiny takes its own route, and why one must follow one’s instinct.

Knowing the challenges the founders faced, and how they dealt with them, makes them

endearing, and, at the same time, role-models.

Their ‘Do no evil’ and ‘Solve the World’s problems’ approach is so appealing that the first

instinct on finishing the book, is to log on to the internet and explore the ‘Google universe’,

trying your best to figure out how you can contribute to their growth!

Conclusion:

Without revealing the tricks of the trade, yet subtly engaging the reader and telling him just

enough, is what makes this book difficult to put down.

However, some sections seem stretched in length, making it difficult to relate to, especially the

‘Going Public’, ‘Playboy’ and ‘The China syndrome’ sections.

A better way to end the story would have been just touching upon the ‘way forward’ in bullet

points, in the ‘Googling your Genes’ section, and leaving it there, thus generating ample

curiosity in the minds of the reader wanting to log into Google for more…

Nonetheless, ‘The Google Story’ is the biggest story of our Generation, and a ‘recommended

read’.