In the Plex

How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives

By: Steven Levy

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives. How has Google done it? Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes listeners inside Google headquarters - the Googleplex - to explain how Google works.

While they were still students at Stanford, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin revolutionized Internet search. They followed this brilliant innovation with another, as two of Google's earliest employees found a way to do what no one else had: make billions of dollars from Internet advertising. With this cash cow (until Google's IPO, nobody other than Google management had any idea how lucrative the company's ad business was), Google was able to expand dramatically and take on other transformative projects: more efficient data centers, open-source cell phones, free Internet video (YouTube), cloud computing, digitizing books, and much more.

The key to Google's success in all these businesses, Levy reveals, is its engineering mind-set and adoption of such Internet values as speed, openness, experimentation, and risk taking. After it's unapologetically elitist approach to hiring, Google pampers its engineers with free food and dry cleaning, on-site doctors and masseuses, and gives them all the resources they need to succeed. Even today, with a workforce of more than 23,000, Larry Page signs off on every hire.

But has Google lost its innovative edge? It stumbled badly in China. And now, with its newest initiative, social networking, Google is chasing a successful competitor for the first time. Some employees are leaving the company for smaller, nimbler start-ups. Can the company that famously decided not to be "evil" still compete?

No other book has turned Google inside out as Levy does with In the Plex.

This edition of In the Plex includes an exclusive interview with Google's Marissa Mayer, one of the company's earliest hires and most visible executives, as well as the youngest woman to ever make Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" list. She provides a high-level insider's perspective on the company's life story, its unique hiring practices, its new social networking initiative, and more.

©2011 Steven Levy (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Thoroughly versed in technology reporting, Wired senior writer Levy deliberates at great length about online behemoth Google and creatively documents the company’s genesis from a 'feisty start-up to a market-dominating giant'.... Though the author offers plenty of well-known information, it’s his catbird-seat vantage point that really gets to the good stuff. Outstanding reportage delivered in the upbeat, informative fashion for which Levy is well known." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"The book, a wide-ranging history of the company from start-up to behemoth, sheds light on the biggest threats Google faces today, from the Chinese government to Facebook and privacy critics." ( The New York Times)

“With a commanding voice, L.J. Ganser narrates this history and exploration of Google….Ganser’s stern voice is clear and moves through the text with determination.” ( AudioFile)

Very interesting!

It's a long story and sometimes a bit tedious but truly interesting and intriguing. The narrator was sometimes hard to understand and there were many references to names mentioned earlier in the book which were impossible to track per audio vs print version. I may listen to the whole thing again. Just like the Steve Jobs book, it provided a good review of how the technology developed at Google and both clarified and improved my perceptions of their mission and goals.

An inspiring book

The book was very well narrated and written. Maybe a bit boring sometimes, but the author has successfully gathered all the details necessary to tell the story of Google. This is a must read for anyone who wants to truly understand Google. Their struggle and why they do what they do is so interesting.

shows both sides of Googles privacy police

shows both sides of Googles privacy police fairly and accurately and a fantastic history. I u u u u uu u u

Too long...

First half was very interesting, but towards the end it got a bit boring and repetitive.

Interesting but biased narration.

Fascinating narration of how a tiny startup has become the giant who controls all the content on the internet. A gigantic data gathering monster who by now, knows more about you than your wife.
The author has tried to make Google the hero and paint all other corporations as evil. The character assignation of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates etc. was unnecessary and hints the fact that the author is either biased or was tasked with throwing dirt on the other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs while glorifying Page and Brin.
The part where the author downplays Google’s war driving expedition during the Google street view project as just ‘an act of a rouge engineer’ is interesting. Earlier in the book the author describes the practice of peer-review of the code written by every engineer but doesn’t explain how this data capture code could have gone unnoticed. He also doesn’t make an effort to explain how the Google engineers didn’t notice the huge amount of disk space being consumed from by the street view data collection. They would have done a storage sizing for the Street View project. If the space for the wireless grabs for 3 years was not considered, won’t they have run out of space in few months!!!
The project was slurping personal data from private Wi-Fi networks for three years before it was identified. More than 12 countries ordered investigations against Google.
If the bias and an attempt to glorify Google are ignored, the book is an interesting read, especially to the technically inclined. A motivating saga of how innovation and aspirations of few engineers has created a corporation which has changed the way we work, think and live.

Interesting listening

The author seemed really have deep knowledge about Google. But I can clearly see his bias on Google - he really likes Google. The narrator was perfect, he surely sounded interested in what the book is about and passionate. As far as you don't take it word for word from the author, this book is an excellent book to know better about what Google is and where it is going.

Ah, The Forest not just the Trees!

I rate 5 of 5 stars to the Audible audio book "Into the Plex" by Steven Levy. The book is a historical look at Google. Levy spent a considerable amount of time on the inside of Google gathering history, legend, lore and tales from the start of Google to the completion of the book. I work in the Silicon Valley and have been keenly aware of Google, but, like most, I'd hear news stories that sounded pretty odd (hence making the news) and not really having a big picture of what they were doing. The news casts give us a few "trees", this book provided the "forest" context for the news-worthy events. This story filled alot of voids in my knowledge of Google. If you are into technology, this book is recommended and very interesting!

Fantastic Insight with Amazing Detail

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes - if you like tech, how companies are built and like the values of Google, you will love this book

What was one of the most memorable moments of In the Plex?

The China decisions based on the debate as to which was the greater evil

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes but it is very long - did it over a few days

Any additional comments?

BRILLIANT!

Amazingly detailed and insightful

This book is a gem of insights and interviews spanning over a decade since Google was founded. It covers everything from company philosophy, to their data-centers, to their China policy, privacy concern debacles, anti-trust controversies, how they went into and disrupted industry after industry, their relationship with other companies like Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple. The list just goes on. Narration was amazing, story was captivating: I learnt a ton from this book; a must-read!

Beyond "SEARCH" and after GOOGLE

I enjoyed this narration about Google..from its initial years to its advancement as an iconic company of the internet era! I would encourage in fact urge the author to make an yearly update like how you have version updates in software ! The reason I say this is this story would be stale as it tracks till 2011 and the world n Google has moved some distance from then on! That said, it is a riveting story, an inside view of the initial years, the success of the "search engine" the analytics behind success of adwords n Adsense, the acquisitions of YouTube, the making of ANDROID, the China experience! The innovation engine that is GOOGLE and how LP n SB along with Schmidt n others built a wildly successful company! Finally on how Google missed out on SOCIAL..