I’m Feeling Lucky is the most detailed case study of how GOOGLE got started that I’ve seen. Douglas Edwards leaves his newspaper job and takes a chance with a new start-up company, GOOGLE, in 1999. Edwards has plenty of stories about the quirky founders of GOOGLE, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. He also provides a sharp picture of GOOGLE in its early days when it was just one of many search engines. But this amount of detail is also the book’s fatal flaw. How many readers are going to last for 400 pages of tales of GOOGLE’s war against spam or the perils of Gmail? The infighting between marketing and engineering gets stale after the first dozen stories. Edwards leaves GOOGLE in 2005 so we don’t get any insights into GOOGLE’s dealings with China or the increasing concern about the privacy of users. I enjoyed I’m Feeling Lucky, but I’m not sure most readers are going to feel as lucky reading this detailed book. GRADE: B
How many readers? Well, you’re the only one I know who would slog through it all, George, so we don’t have to.
Thanks, Jeff. I’M FEELING LUCKY is a contender for a book I could use in my MANAGEMENT or BUSINESS SYSTEMS classes. But I know casual readers would be turned off.
I do remember using other search engines and when I came upon Google, it was life altering. Suddenly there was very little I could not find out about.
The obsession with searching is one of the keys to GOOGLE’s success, Patti. Other search engines weren’t as fast or accurate…and now they’re gone.
The one you had last week about how they filter things to point you in the direction they (and their advertisers) want was eye-opening.
I’ve decided to use THE FILTER BUBBLE: WHAT THE INTERNET IS HIDING FROM YOU by Eli Pariser in one of my courses next Spring semester, Jeff. It should open some of my students’ eyes, too.
I used Netscape for internet access and it had a crude search feature back in the day, and Yahoo! was a pretty good search tool but really cluttered up with ads and graphics. When I first started using Google, it was easy and CLEAN – no ads, no graphics, just the search field. Of course the internet was a simpler, smaller place in those days. I remember a lot of TV ads when companies started putting their web page information at the bottom of the screen and saying “visit our internet pat at HTTP//WWW.____” Business found the internet and it’s never been the same. That’s turned out to be both good and bad.
Exactly, Rick! GOOGLE wanted its Welcome Page to be clean and uncluttered. Later, the famous GOOGLE Doodles appeared.
“…the perils of Gmail”
As a user of Gmail, should I be worried?
Gmail users have had issues with GOOGLE over privacy concerns, Drongo. I have a Gmail account, too. Never had a problem. But I just assume there is no privacy on the Internet.
That was supposed to be “Visit our internet page at…” Sheesh.
As I constantly remind my students, Rick, “Check your work before you hand it in.”
Thank you for the heads-up, George. I haven’t had any privacy problems with Gmail either, but a person can’t be too wary these days.
Just assume someone is over your shoulder always reading your Gmail and you’ll be find, Drongo. GOOGLE has had problems with Blogger, too. That’s why I use WordPress.