I finished reading this book more than two weeks ago. However, due to pressing deadlines in the office, I was not able to write anything - reviews, blogs, anything - in all my web spaces in the past couple of weeks, and thus I am only writing this review tonight...
The Google Story is the colorful story of the Google Guys - Larry Page and Sergei Brin, and how they build, developed, and made a dot com empire that is now called Google. The book narrated how these two PhD students from Stanford University met each other, became friends, made more friends and contacts, and from there had the idea of building a dot com company that will evolve in an important product - the search engine. The book also intimated how the then two would-be billionaires decided not to be conventional in all their business approaches, choosing instead to build their company using the alternative ways, and constantly trying not to succumb to the charm of being businessmen, and do their business ways as businessmen do.
Larry and Sergei chose to remain technologists and run their company as technologists would, and in the process maintain their mantra of "Do not be evil" in creating their empire as we know Google today.The Google Story is a success story - we all know that, of course - that shows how it pays to chase a dream and constantly working to realize it. It also shows that a company can be big and dynamic, motivated and progressive without having to be similar to others. The Google Story tries to teach its readers that to build a motivated company, one (or two) have to make the employees happy and contented, to the point of providing them gourmet free lunch and spas at work. The Google Story is a triumph of technology... but more importantly, it is the triumph of the human spirit fueled by an ordinary dream. The Google Story is probably played by gifted individuals, but the story can be realized by anyone... its story is for everyone.
As an added bonus, the Google Story also narrated some inside happenings about the dot com business as it is today. It intimated how Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, and many other big players in the IT arena constantly haggle, quarrel, and make friends with each other again, to survive, win and stay on top of their business areas. It gives us a glimpse of what's happening at the corridors of IT powers, and how the big players lay their cards on the IT business table. Indeed, it also teaches us a point or two in IT business.
For these and for all its worth, The Google Story is indeed an interesting read.
Google Fast Facts:
Google Inc. was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergei Brin, when the two were only in their late 20s; Page and Brin, both 34 years old this year are worth 18.5 billion US$ today (according to Forbes magazine); Google has been in the top 5 companies in terms of value for several years now; the company's last quarter profit is approximately 2.5 billion US$; as of December 2005, it has 5,680 fulltime employees; Eric Schmidt previously of Cisco Systems is the current CEO; Googleplex is the name of the sprawling complex of the company; Google came from the word Googol, a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by a hundred zeros.
