Googled: The End of the World As We Know It at Dominant Systems Book Store

Auletta offers a comprehensive history of Google's meteoric rise, profiling its creators, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the initial team members, previous commentators on the organization, and Google's various competitors over the years. Jim Bond captures Auletta's tone admirably, tonally balancing fact and opinion within the book. Despite some vocal wavering, Bond commands our attention and sustains interest with pacing and emphasis that enable listeners to absorb the information effortlessly along with the significance of certain moments and individuals. A Penguin Press hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 24). (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews & Comments
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) For a book that bills itself as something that will "offer insights into what we know, and don't know, about what the future holds for the imperiled industry", it does an excellent job with the first part, hard to say what was unique about the take of the author that was significantly different from other books such as What Would Google Do?and The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Timeand hardly does justice to the last portion (what future holds). The story of the beginnings and rise of Google, its famed work culture, unconventional approaches of its founder are all well told - in this book as well as previous ones. Auletta tries to cast the discussion from the viewpoint of the advertising industry - and while that in itself doesn't provide a significantly different perspective (Anyone who understands Google's revenue streams already knows it is in the advertising business....), it does provide for interesting reading. For an initiate in the Google story, this book will do full justice. If you are already familiar with the Google story and thought that the author will focus on the future of advertising media and related topics, you are likely to be disappointed. A recent book The Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong with the World's Leading Media Companies actually does more justice in that regard. Auletta does (re)raise significant issues - the discussion on Google Books and copyrights is a clear standout in the book. The "hubris" as portrayed by traditional media companies during Google's infancy is mind-boggling and amusing (of course, with the benefit of hindsight). Other than the framing of the discussion in the viewpoint of media/advertising, a Google-buff is not likely to realize significant benefit from this book. That focus also forces the author not to be able to discuss products such as Google Health - which has the potential for being a disruptive solution in itself. Overall, an excellent read for the Google-newbie, but an OK addition for a Google-phile.

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