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Jan 18, 2012

Danny rated it:

As an information professional, I read this book as a way to better know our future information overlords.

I'm not anti-Google, but I do think that having one company in charge of all the information will inexorably lead to that company being EVIL, despite Google's cute little "Don't Be Evil" motto.

That said, I was most troubled in the book during the discussion of privacy, which as a librarian I've taken a blood-oath to defend. (No actual blood was spilled duri More...

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May 19, 2011

Alan rated it:

Reading this book reminds me to understand the background of the author. Are they a journalist, academic, business exec etc? How has their context shaped their presentation of ideas within their book?

In this case I think that Steven Levy shows his journalism background. He paints a picture of a company obsessed by the numbers but not necessarily willing to understand perceptions. And he does it by a series of parts and chapters based around a specific topic or idea that you could easil More...

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Feb 16, 2012

Nicholas rated it:

Fascinating. I tore through this one this week. Partly because I had the time and partly because it was so interesting. This book presents the history of Google from inception to today. But it does so by 'vertical' as opposed to a linear history. Thus, the first section is about Google Search, the second about Adwords. There is a section about Google's culture, the shift toward data in the 'cloud', even a section on Google relating to government (primarily about anti-trust legislation and head-b More...

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Jan 21, 2012

Boris rated it:

Levy, Steven (2011). In The Plex. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2011.

Una biografia – viene spontaneo dire – documentata e simpatetica di Google. Levy ha letteralmente vissuto per molti mesi dentro la sede di Google (il plex del titolo), con un accesso senza precedenti alla vita e alla documentazione di una delle imprese più “chiuse” e misteriose, per scrivere questo libro. Che, nonostante qualche sospetto di eccesso di simpatia (scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours o sindrome di Stocco More...

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Jan 07, 2012

Terry rated it:

I thought this book would prove to be mostly hagiographic but Steven Levy does a good job of reporting rather than editorializing about Google. The book follows the history of Google with periodic highlights about technological advances and cultural changes and then goes back to discuss specific projects that were running concurrently. There is little correlation between importance of a topic and the degree to which it is covered except as it pertains to Google's core values. Google in China More...

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Jan 01, 2012

Charles rated it:

In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy

Levy is one of the best informed and best connected journalists writing about tech companies, and this book is the result of more than two hundred interviews with Google staff past and present and his following of the company since 1999. It is, therefore, a uniquely authoritative account of the business and the key people behind it.

Levy paints a picture of a relentlessly rational company - a culture in More...

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Sep 06, 2011

Judy is currently reading it

This book focuses on lots of details which add up to the story of how Google developed to the point where its tentacles touch all of us internet users. I had to take a break from the section on how Google "learned" to make money from advertising--so much data data data and money money money--but I think the part that really made me step back was realizing how I had watched it develop on the sidebar of my computer monitor, day by day, week by week, as it came to "know" more a More...

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Aug 29, 2011

Seth rated it:

This book did a great job of describing Google's DNA and the thought process behind their decisions. As I read current news on Google, I can now see each move they make in light of their overarching mission to catalog the world's information and make it accessible, and I can also see each move from the perspective of incredibly smart engineers who think that data is always right. So from that perspective, the book succeeded.

However, there were a couple big goofs. It took a while to get into the More...

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Aug 03, 2011

Peter rated it:

This is a very well written book. Steven Levy's prose is crisp, concise and clear and he carries the narrative along at a good pace, all the while maintaining a really fascinating almost-but-not-quite insider's look at Google. He clearly had access to Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt whenever he needed it and he also had lots of access to the other rock stars in the Google Experience, most notably Matt Cutts, Marissa Mayer and Vic Gundotra. There are plenty of direct quotes from everyone More...

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Jul 07, 2011

Jim rated it:

Energetic, generally well written and very positive informal history of Google. I found a lot of the book interesting and informative, not having read much before about the company. Steven Levy is at his best when writing about people. When the book focuses on Page and Brin and some of the company's projects it was downright fun. And Levy covers a lot of territory, from Google's advertising auctions to its acquisitions to its personalities and food. I found his explanations of more technical thi More...

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Jul 01, 2011

Hinch rated it:

In The Plex provides an engaging insight into the evolution of Google. Steven Levy uses his unprecedented access to the "inner workings" of the organisation to deliver a detailed commentary of both the triumphs, and also the failings, of this internet juggernaut.

The book is arranged into a series of topic-based chapters that cover the search engine, online advertising, corporate culture, infrastructure, media, Google's foray into China, and finally, their involvement in US do More...

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Jun 16, 2011

Arvin rated it:

Very interesting book about how Google has always been and still for most part is a different sort of company (in particular, its main goal is NOT directly to make money). Even for people in the tech industry (especially those of us in Silicon Valley), this book provides a lot of interesting anecdotes and details that give a lot of depth and color to the traditional start-up success story of two super-smart iconoclast dreamers building a company that changed the world and continues to do so.
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Jun 06, 2011

Rick rated it:

The first half, the early years, is super interesting and had lots of things I didn't know. And I do admire how this thing went right to the current time - it touched on all of the recent anti-trust stuff, etc. It's a pretty friendly account of google, but it frankly talks about the problems. There were some pretty choice passages in there that made me chuckle about some stuff. And it was funny to see a little Foursquare mention. The Google Books saga was SO interesting. So was the China stuff More...

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Apr 13, 2011

Bojan rated it:

Ever since its inception, and in many cases even before it became incorporated, Google has been referred to mainly in the superlatives. The briskness with which it became the dominant player in online search, the sheer size of its operations and the infrastructure, the incredibly short time within which it became one of the largest companies in terms of market capitalization - all of these are the stuff of legends. It is unsurprising then that Google would attract a high level of media attention More...

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Jul 13, 2011

David rated it:

If you have an interest in finding out how Google ticks, this is the book for you. Steven Levy provides a very well balanced explanation for both the personalities and the corporate psyche for Google. We all know what Google has done, but when Levy pointed out the trials and tribulations of the small company trying to do good things, and later, the big company trying to do good things, I found it fascinating that the size of the business had such a big impact on the difficulty of the company t More...

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Nov 04, 2011

Arun rated it:

It was interesting to read the history of one of the most innovative tech companies of the 21st century, but I would have loved to learn more about the influence of Larry Page and Sergei Brin on Google. As is, "In the Plex" outlines the founding of Google to current-day Google, from the Montessori ideals of Google's founders, to some brilliant acquisitions (e.g. Android, YouTube). There are only cursory mentions of failures. The closest this book comes to a critical analysis was dur More...

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Oct 31, 2011

Joshua rated it:

A decent biography of Google's history up to the beginning of 2011. Having read The Google Story previously, I prefer a narrative that is entirely chronological, whereas this book is divided by topic with each topic developing from the founding of Google up through the modern day. This results in a bit of confusion during the reading since one is not always entirely sure where one is in the timeline, nor how the events in one area of the business match up with the events in another area of the b More...

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Jan 02, 2012

Josh rated it:

In The Plex was good but it was a little long and wasn't especially focused. Google is super important and interesting though, so I'm glad I read it. Some thoughts:

1. Google is the company most likely to invent real Artificial Intelligence. It's an explicit goal and they have the data and computer power to do it. "From the very start, it's founder saw Google as a vehicle to realize the dream of artificial intelligence." Google is the largest manufacturer of computer server More...

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Aug 19, 2011

Roger rated it:

A nice, informative history of Google. Larry Page is obviously a visionary in the mold of Steve Jobs (down to the no-nonsense rebukes of bad ideas). It's sad that Google has become a victim of it's own success, hindered in it's goal of advancing information technology by antitrust, privacy, and patent lawsuits.

Still, with the war chest they've developed, and the fiber optic infrastructure they were smart enough to build while things were cheap after the internet bubble crash, it s More...

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May 15, 2011

Sean rated it:

I was a touch skeptical about whether I would like this book. While I'm no stranger to non-fiction, I rarely consider reading biographies of companies. Levy does a great job of detailing the birth, rise and current state of one of the more interesting companies of this age. I was repeatedly reminded of The Three Ages of Man. Google is clearly a full fledged adult, and entering that strange period where it's uncertain whether one should describe things as driven by eccentricity or midlife crisis. More...

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Jun 09, 2011

Steve rated it:

Here's a rare, all-access pass to see how Google operates. Steven Levy takes his readers inside Google HQ in Mountain View, shedding light on the company's unique culture and how it makes decisions. We also come along for Google's troubled ride in China, where the company's "Do No Evil" mantra was severely tested when its employees found themselves censoring search results to appease the government.

Levy shows how Google's 3 head honchos--Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Sc More...

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May 08, 2011

Molly rated it:

A really great read; well written and interesting, nerdy without being alienating, and the deepest dive on Google's ethos I've seen. I'm not sure it makes me feel entirely comfortable about the degree to which we're all in Google's hands: Levy seems to really believe that Larry Page and Sergey Brin want only to "do good." But like Asimov's third law, that missive is both broad and scarily subjective. They're doing good in their opinion, after all, and the unintended consequences of a b More...

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May 24, 2011

Aaron rated it:

This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in technology and where the internet is taking us as a society. In many ways it is Google that is driving us there. Levy provides a surprisingly detailed perspective on the inside of Google which helps demystify the company a lot. It's great to see what is true about the company and what isn't. I was also surprised how balanced the book was. I assumed since Google allowed him to be an embedded reporter that the book would be skewed a bit and More...

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Dec 03, 2011

Caroline rated it:

I don't know where I was for the past 10 years, but it turns out Google has redefined computing. Sleepers wake! The future will be very different from the past. I had no idea that they have millions (well the number is not public) of servers and have redesigned data centre technology. Who also knew about mapreduce and the datcentre as a computer concepts? The democratisation of data and computing is here, how this will play out over time will be as fascinating as the story so far. This is certai More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Jon rated it:

I am kind of a tech junkie, so this book was right up my alley. I thought the story / history was very similar start-ups such as Microsoft and Apple. The big difference is the extent that Google goes to preserve the small company feel. With over 20,000 employees, that is a feat in itself.

I found it ironic that the professed internal motto for the company is "Don't be evil". Every step that Google takes is filtered through this motto. Everything that they do has the d More...

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Feb 12, 2012

Heep rated it:

Fascinating. It is amazing how opportunity, idea and capability sometimes collide. If the book is correct, what is incredible about Google's founders - especially in these times - is their commitment to ideas and solving problems rather than making money. The solutions they have stumbled upon have made them lots of money, but it seems they have remained stubbornly committed to problem-solving. This explains the fantastic growth of their company. It also explains how they came up with their More...

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Sep 30, 2011

Eric rated it:

Pulling info from over 200 interviews, formal and informal meetings, and a ton of previously published material, this book delivers in so many ways. Though this is the only Google book I've read, I can't imagine being more satisfied with any of the others. Levy covers all the major accomplishments and snafus and even a few things I was previously unaware of. The writing style is very down to earth. Even in the midst of discussing artificial intelligence, machine learning, or some other esoteric More...

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Sep 07, 2011

Brian rated it:

As a huge fan of Google I was really excited to see this book at my library. I picked it up and read it in about three or four large blocks. I found that it was easy to read other than a few specific places. I enjoyed it and feel that I learned a lot about Google and tech culture. I only had two difficulties with the reading and I feel that these are very small complaints.

My main complaint about the readability is based on the sections of the book that describe how Google makes More...

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Jun 13, 2011

Coleman rated it:

The in-depth history of Google, product by product, was fascinating. Their product development process is something I've been interested in for a long time -- how do they decide what to do next? When do they abandon an effort and move on to something else? (turns out that these days they rarely do the latter).

The book did seem a little heavy on the pro-Google "don't be evil" mantra. Not that I don't respect Google's goals of world peace, saving the whales, etc, etc, but they More...

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Oct 02, 2011

Sean rated it:

Objectives and Key Results (or OKRs) taken to eleven! This management tool, which originated from Intel, is one of the big hammers in Google's tool belt. That and the desire to let engineers rule are my two take aways from this book. Oh to wish that I could implement them both in my IT organization.

A great read, and one that dives deep into being "Googly" I enjoyed the stories and the insights. You get a broad glimpse at what seems to have been going on behind the curtain More...

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