Googled

The End of the World as We Know It

By: Ken Auletta

Narrated by: Jim Bond

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

In Googled, esteemed media writer and critic Ken Auletta uses the story of Google's rise to explore the inner workings of the company and the future of the media at large. Although Google has often been secretive, this book is based on the most extensive cooperation ever granted a journalist, including access to closed-door meetings and interviews with founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, CEO Eric Schmidt, and some 150 present and former employees.

Inside the Google campus, Auletta finds a culture driven by brilliant engineers in which even the most basic ways of doing things are questioned. His reporting shines light on how Google has been so hugely successful - and why it could slip. On one hand, Auletta reveals how the company has innovated, from Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Earth, to YouTube, search, and other seminal programs. On the other, he charts its conflicts: the tension between massive growth and its mandate of "Don't be evil"; the limitations of a belief that mathematical algorithms always provide correct answers; and the collisions of Google engineers who want more data with citizens worried about privacy.

More than a comprehensive study of media's most powerful digital company, Googled is also a lesson in new media truths. Pairing Auletta's unmatched analysis with vivid details and rich anecdotes, it shows how the Google wave grew, how it threatens to drown media institutions once considered impregnable - and where it is now taking us all.

©2009 Ken Auletta (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Interesting, but Tedious

While the story is interesting and compelling, the fact that this book seems to retell the same general story dozens of time becomes tedious. The focus is on nearly one industry, advertising, with almost nothing on the technical advances that made Google. If this book were half the length it would be much better. Perhaps the abridged version is better. The author repeats the same theme dozens of times, how Google upsets the advertising and entertainment content industry. After about the 10th similar passage on that fact it gets OLD. Its seemed that about 25% of this book is what I was looking for, the story of how the company was built, and its victories and challenges.

I found the reader used odd voice inflection. Play the preview, and be aware of the length. For some reason the reader seemed a mismatch to the book and its story. It becomes confusing because there are SO many similar recounts of interviews, and the reader uses the same speach patter for all. r.
Would be much better at half the length, and is too much a story of the advertising world.

Where's the analysis...?

I originally purchased this looking for a view into the organizational culture at Google. As an engineer myself, I wanted a taste of what working there might be like. That's not in this book.

What is in this book is a synopsis of news reports about Google since Brin & Page were grad students. had you "googled" Google, you would find much of this book. There is some discussion about how Google changed some of the markets it entered (e.g., music, newspapers, books) but I found the analysis superficial at best.

The author writes as if he has a bone to pick with Google, seeming (as the subtitle would indicate) to begin from an assumption of malicious intent. So, in addition to the lack of analysis, for no additional cost the reader gets a lack of objectivity.

An exhausting "notebook dump"

That's news-biz terminology for when a reporter just puts everything he knows into a story — is not selective. Ken Auletta is a stellar reporter, but this book is a firehose that is flopping out of control. I feel as though I have re-lived the entire history of Google and modern media in real time. What I had hoped for was something to help me make sense of it.

Obsolete

This is an old book talking about the pre-2010 Google. Most of the stories are widely known.