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.

It was also interesting to see how Google is still deep in the throws of a great experiment. Engineering companies have come and gone, each trying to maintain the right mix of elements that allowed them to produce their greatest feats. And it's still very much in the realm of possibility that Google will fail to hold on the things that have thus far made it great, following the setting Sun into the realms of collapse and buyout. It's a difficult balance; the clarity of idealism versus the reality of human shortcomings.