Saturday, June 25, 2011

"Luck" has got nothing to do with it...

TITLE: I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59

AUTHOR: Douglas Edwards

REVIEWED BY: Cleggy

BRIEF SUMMARY: "Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to an Edsel. No academic analysis or bystander's account can capture it. Now Doug Edwards, Employee Number 59, offers the first inside view of Google, giving readers a chance to fully experience the bizarre mix of camaraderie and competition at this phenomenal company. Edwards, Google's first director of marketing and brand management, describes it as it happened. We see the first, pioneering steps of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company's young, idiosyncratic partners; the evolution of the company's famously nonhierarchical structure (where every employee finds a problem to tackle or a feature to create and works independently); the development of brand identity; the races to develop and implement each new feature; and the many ideas that never came to pass. Above all, Edwards—a former journalist who knows how to write—captures the "Google Experience," the rollercoaster ride of being part of a company creating itself in a whole new universe.

I'm Feeling Lucky captures for the first time the unique, self-invented, yet profoundly important culture of the world's most transformative corporation.." (Summary from the published book)

WHY I PICKED IT UP: I was curious as to how Google got to be one of the top businesses in the world, and couldn't pass up the opportunity for an insider's view.

WHY I FINISHED IT: Filled with fascinating people, the book is hard to put down.

WHO I’D GIVE IT TO: People who like nonfiction, books about business and/or computers, or just stories about interesting people.

OTHER NOTES AND CONTENT WARNINGS: Overall, this is a fascinating behind-the-scenes view of Google and how it started. From its origins as a college project to global domination of every aspect of your daily online life, Doug Edwards traces the day-to-day operations of the company and the men and women who made it what it is.

Be warned that there is some bad language.

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