by Steven Levy
First published 2012
Steven Levy takes readers deep inside Google, the technology company that transformed how we use the Internet. With unprecedented access to top executives including cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Levy shows how Google operates from within the Googleplex headquarters. The story begins with two Stanford students who changed Internet search forever, then found a way to generate billions through online advertising. That revenue funded Google's expansion into data centers, Android phones, YouTube, cloud computing, and book digitization. Levy reveals that Google's success stems from its engineering culture and Internet values like speed, openness, and risk taking. The company hires only elite talent, pampers engineers with free food and services, and gives them resources to innovate. Page still approves every hire among the 23,000 employees. But Google faces new challenges as it chases competitors in social networking while some workers leave for smaller startups. Levy examines whether the company can maintain its innovative edge.
Genres: history, business, computers, non-fiction, technology, 21st-century, google
Vibes: fast-paced, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-look, rise-to-success
Setting: Googleplex, Stanford
Period: 21st-century
544 pages · Hardcover · mitp