I'm Feeling Lucky

The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59

By: Douglas Edwards

Narrated by: Douglas Edwards

Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's 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 listeners 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.

©2011 Douglas Edwards (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This lively, thoughtful business memoir is more entertaining than it really has any right to be, and should be required reading for startup aficionados." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Douglas Edwards is indeed lucky, sort of an accidental millionaire, a reluctant bystander in a sea of computer geniuses who changed the world. This is a rare look at what happened inside the building of the most important company of our time." (Seth Godin)

"Douglas Edwards recounts Google's stumble and rise with verve and humor and a generosity of spirit. He kept me turning the pages of this engrossing tale." (Ken Auletta, author of Googled: The End of the World as We Know It)

“With a warm, approachable tone and perfect pacing, Edwards narrates his detailed account of his experiences as an early employee of Google, Inc….Edwards seems a natural as he provides a highly listenable audio performance….the listener walks away with a better understanding of how true organizational creativity and brilliant technical engineering can impact the human condition and world culture.” ( AudioFile)

Very entertaining insight into mega success

This book is really well written and performed. Despite the fact that a lot of the technical info is over my head I really enjoyed this book. Edwards is funny and fair in his descriptions of the challenges he experienced at Google.

Great insight into the early google environment

The author does a great job of walking you through his journey into the early google environment.

I felt lucky to have this book

One of the best books I have read. The book covers the important period of time from startup to the next chapter. highly recommended.

must read for anyone interested in tech

best book I've read/listened to in a while. great history of Google and the internet in general.

I'm Feeling Tired

Wow, this was a LONG one. I listened to it on audio and it was over 16 hours; it's a good thing that the narrator was good or I would have given up on it long ago.

I liked the story overall, but there was nothing astounding about it. This told the story from the perspective of the author, who was a marketing employee at Google. I get the trials of being a non-engineer in an engineering company, as I have been in that situation before. There were many sections that I found extremely interesting, such as the controversy over Google Doodles, April Fools jokes, the perks of working there, the magnitude of the operation, and everything that went into the development of the search function. I take it for granted when I go to Google that I will see the box, type in my request, and find what I am looking for. I never thought of it as this complex algorithm that is actually very highly developed. I also never thought of the scope of the manpower and physical equipment that is required to make this happen.

There were no great "confessions" in this book, so maybe I was expecting more of that based on the title. Rather, it was a history of the company and there was no real "dirt" revealed. I found that many names were mentioned and when they came back up again, I could not recall exactly who all of them were. There were also great details about some of the competitors and their skirmishes with Google that I felt went on for way too long. This book definitely would have benefited from editorial work in the area of shortening the story up. When I look back at the entire book, I'm glad that I persevered and finished it, although there were some points where I felt that it was never going to end. Maybe by now, as you are reading this, you are thinking that this review is never ending as well, so on that note, I will conclude!

Fantastic insight!

Written from the insight you discover how google started and became what it is. It's an obliged reading if you want to fully understand google and probably it's future as well. It's well written and shows the human part behind the little box of search in the corner of your browser.

Great book, great reading and amazing story.

I just have to say thank you for this book. One of the best business books I've ever read not because it's a business book but because of the insights, opinion, history and detail that was shared by Douglas Edwards about a amazing company that didn't just happen but was built.

It's really about the talent.

Have your slacker kid read this one.The title would lead you to believe employee #59 along with a bunch of other "lucky" people just happened to be standing in the right place when the astounding success of Google just struck like lightning. In actuality these were very talented people hired by even more talented people to invest themselves completely in an uncertain future. The original Google employees were not hapless rejects who came together by chance. The vetting process to work at a company like Google is this: "Hire the most talented people you can find." Do your homework.
The only downside to this one; a bit too many arcane administrative details behind the scenes. But otherwise a good instructive read.

Great story but are you chewing on something?

How could the performance have been better?

Did he have a mint in his mouth the whole time? He kept getting a little slurpy. It kinda turned my stomach a few times.

Any additional comments?

It's a great story about how some extremely smart people built a great company.

Worth the time

It was great to hear Doug's insights and telling his story in his own voice. I'm just a few years younger than Doug and could relate to his experience working with those a generation younger. An enjoyable listen.