The Four

The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

By: Scott Galloway

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are the four most influential companies on the planet.

Just about everyone thinks they know how they got there.

Just about everyone is wrong.

For all that's been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway.

Instead of buying the myths these companies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions. How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they're almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? And as they race to become the world's first trillion-dollar company, can anyone challenge them?

In the same irreverent style that has made him one of the world's most celebrated business professors, Galloway deconstructs the strategies of the Four that lurk beneath their shiny veneers. He shows how they manipulate the fundamental emotional needs that have driven us since our ancestors lived in caves, at a speed and scope others can't match. And he reveals how you can apply the lessons of their ascent to your own business or career.

Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four.

©2017 Scott Galloway (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

“Galloway takes the reader through a refreshingly clear-eyed look at the nature of dominance at Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google. He is interested in how these companies become more valuable with use instead of less, how they benefit from low cost of capital and the implications for things [that] could further strengthen their dominance.” (Brad Stone, Bloomberg Technology)
 

“As the power of technology’s biggest companies comes under more scrutiny, NYU business professor Galloway reveals how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google built massive empires.” (Publishers Weekly, The Top 10 Business Books of Fall 2017)

“Scott Galloway is honest, outrageous, and provocative. This book will trigger your flight-or-fight nervous system like no other and in doing so challenge you to truly think differently.” (Calvin McDonald, CEO of Sephora)

Terrible book

I was hoping for an intelligent, fact-filled book, and instead I got this steaming pile of garbage. The author is full of moral condemnation and outrage, more interested in virtue signaling than telling the stories of these companies and their founders. He seems to be of the Sanders school of thought - capitalism is bad, and the book is littered with words that convey this moral outrage, like theft, con job, etc. I don't understand how this guy is an entrepreneur or a professor in business when he lacks a basic understand of economics. He also goes into this digression about his own experiences as a board member of the NYT, which is interesting, but doesn't belong in this book.

This book will make you more stupid for reading it. I rarely get a refund for a book, but I will get one for this because I cannot stand the idea of this author making any money off of me.

So Smart and well written!

Galloway has a great voice as a writer. The insights and the data in the book are balanced with humor. Loved the career advice. This is a must read for business professionals.

Simplistic worldview leads to uninspired viewpoint

Every desire and motivation boiled down to sex in the authors mind which was an overly simplistic and unhelpful framing.

Read only with a strong stomach

While there is some relevant information to be absorbed here the author seems to have been burdened with an accumulated hatred for the companies and leader which he talks about. If you are allergic to negativity find a better book that provides more practical content.

great perspective and insight

Good read and highly insightful and thoughtfully narrarated. has some directional opinions but for the most part a great read.

Very timely

With these 4 companies dominating so much of American and global life this is a great book to get more familiar with their strategies and goals. Very well written and entertaining.

Pessimistic and narrow minded

If you’re an entrepreneur hoping to learn valuable insights into how “the four” operate... this book will provide them...

However you’re going to have to reverse engineer those insights from all the negative pessimistic things Scott has to say first.

Most information he gives about the companies is punctuated by a personal, narrow minded, judgement about how the companies are “evil” and nearly everything they do is “disrupting jobs” and taking advantage of people.

He’s convinced:

- Virtual Reality is basically the dumbest investment Facebook has ever made
- Robots and AI are going to steal all our jobs
- People only like Apple because they think iPhones will get them laid more

SUMMARY

If you’re and entrepreneur who admires these companies, doesn’t think Steve Jobs was (“an ***hole”, and wants to “make a dent in the universe” ...

Get something else instead.

Suggestions:

- Shoe Dog
- Onward
- The Everything Store
- Steve Jobs
- Elon Musk
- Titan

Great book

Overall a great listen. Good insight into the future “lords” of our economy. I do wish Scott narrated it though.

Good info but obnoxious views

The author lays out interesting facts, but a lot of the story, views, and perspectives are sort of dumb or overly dramatized. I’m only going to finish it to not waste the download.

Funny, informative and current

Great book. Easy read/listen. Very entertaining while providing a ton of useful information, facts and insights. I’m buying four hard copies for my kids.