The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture

An interesting book but ...

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was well written and provided enough information to keep me glued to it. However, I was really hoping to find out more about Google than what would be possible from Google's own PR machine. The early search engine history and the development of that technology is probably the more fascinating part of the book. Which is ironic, since the book is supposed to be primarily about Google. My guess is that the author sacrificed the ability to write about more intriguing and behind the scenes happenings at Google for the almost unlimited access to the founders and the top managers.

Overall, this is a pretty good book, but a hard-nosed investigative reporter would probably have come up with more intriguing content.

A book that is, and isn't.

The Search was recommended to me from a colleague and I was excited to find it still in circulation at my B&N. While an interesting topic, the author promises that this book is not a history of Google, when in fact, that's exactly what it is. From the early days in a dorm room, to the hiring practices and personalities of the creators, there isn't much in the way of the quote on the cover. True, it does discuss the rivalries of Yahoo and AOL, and how they all circle each other, with some losing and some winning, there's not as much an answer to 'what is search' as is ' what is google doing differently than everyone else'. perhaps the book was ahead of it's time (Google bought YouTube months after the books release). There are tidbits of information that are insightful (What does RSS stand for? YaHoo is an acronym?) and the theory as to what the internet itself actually is was an interesting paragraph, though these are few and far between. The last quarter of the book is repetitive, and became a chore to finish. The book now rests on a library shelf somewhere, waiting for it's next victim.

A very entertaining read

This is a well-researched book on the subject of search, and how it is changing our business and culture. Google is arguably the most powerful and venerated Internet company in the world today -- reading about its birth, growth, and future direction is a must for anyone involved in business.

Big Brother?

A very thought provoking read. Reminds one of an old story by Goerge Orwell.

A Great Book!

I found myself completely enveloped in this book. The author does a great job of telling the story of search, as well as outlining the implications of Google's power in the future. His bit on AI is fascinating and thought provoking. I highly reccomend this book - it's a quick read, and serves as a 'crash-course' in the history of search, with tons of anecdotal information and terrific story telling. Plus, I found it to be a very quick read. Well done!

Way too Technical

This book was way too technical. It spent more time speaking about the technical configurations of servers then it did about how Google has achieved its success. It was a slow read at times, and would be a good book for someone interested in how Google was set up from a technological standpoint.

Outstanding storytelling about the most important company of the day

Battelle's is a great book with amazing, captivating storytelling. I've only read one other industry book that I tell people is a must-have if you're in the IT business or into the web lifestyle, Stephen Segaller's 'Nerds 2.01 - A Brief History of the Internet'. Battelle's fine work is right up there with it. The book's main focus is primarily Google, but there's also a healthy dose of the other major players in the search game, like Amazon's A9, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, Yahoo and Microsoft. So there's a holistic view of the search industry, without leaving out any of the majors. The book does, in my opinion, lack a bit of the technical explanation behind Google's processes (I'm a software developer, so I like that kind of thing). I would have enjoyed reading more about Google's data center and distributed computing philosophies and the company's adoption of open source software (there are a couple of paragraphs dedicated towards detailing the former). Google rolled their own Linux implementation, which wasn't mentioned, and have pretty much put Python on the map as a programming, which also didn't make the final cut. But not taking anything away from Battelle's work - he does a fantastic job early on of breaking down web-wide search and the components involved. The book is still spot-on in terms of the strategy, financial profile, legal issues, unique corporate culture, human resources practices, adventures with venture investors, stock performance, insider interviews , horror stories, brutal truths and a historical look at the company. The final chapter, 'Perfect Search' also talks about what's on the horizon for search, maintaining the belief that in all, web search is only 5% completed. It's fine writing. Pick this one up. Kudos, John - well done.

Why Google rules

The idea of making billions of dollars on a business based on searching online indexes is inconceivable, except when you consider how the Internet has changed the business world. This concept is so vague that it is difficult even to consider, let alone write about. Yet author John Battelle has done a thorough, entertaining job of identifying how this attempt to pin down cyberspace works, and how two graduate students turned their mathematical challenge into Google, the fastest growing company in history. While this is primarily a corporate biography, Battelle does not pander to the company¿s billionaire founders. They are portrayed as authoritarian geeks with few warm qualities. But they are also shown as visionary engineers who turned their killer application into a business that successfully defied Wall Street when their company went public. This is a great story, which is why we recommend it to technology fans searching for meaning and to business readers who want to understand the future of search technology. Or as Google says: search and you shall find.

This is by far the best book written about search

John Batelle dug in by thoroughly researching and interviewing key search industry experts to explain the history of search. He is a talented researcher, writer, journalist and entrepreneur and understands this medium well, offering analysis and keen insight on the rise of search engines, from Webcrawler in 1994 to present day. He explains underlying algorithms and pay-for-performance click advertising business models that created today¿s multibillion dollar businesses. I bought each of the 40 employees at Become.com a copy. It¿s an excellent read for people who are in the industry, and those who want to learn about the dynamics of Internet business and its societal impact. We are all still in the early stage of search, and know that it will be a part of everyday life for Internet users. And as a search engine entrepreneur, I agree with John that vertical search engines will take the industry to the next level and into the future.

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