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I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59

Douglas Edwards (Goodreads Author)

3.85 · Rating details · 5,341 ratings · 309 reviews

Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to an Edsel. No academic analysis or bystander's account can capture it. Now Doug Edwards, Employee Number 59, offers the first inside view of Google, giving listeners a chance to fully experience the bizarre mix of camaraderie and competition at this phenomenal company.

Edwards, Google's first director of ...more

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Published July 12th 2011 by Audible, Inc. (first published January 1st 2011)

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Jun 28, 2011 Todd N rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

I've been eagerly waiting for this book after reading about it on the ex-Googler mailing list and reading similar stories on the Xoogler blog.

I only met Mr. Edwards once during my 6 or so years at Google. It was at the end of my first week, when I was introduced along with the rest of the "Nooglers" at that week's TGIF. This was the first week that Google had the Nooglers wear beanies with propellors on them, so he ran over at the end of the meeting to see what we all thought about wearing them. I've been eagerly waiting for this book after reading about it on the ex-Googler mailing list and reading similar stories on the Xoogler blog.

I only met Mr. Edwards once during my 6 or so years at Google. It was at the end of my first week, when I was introduced along with the rest of the "Nooglers" at that week's TGIF. This was the first week that Google had the Nooglers wear beanies with propellors on them, so he ran over at the end of the meeting to see what we all thought about wearing them. I told him I thought it was pretty funny. (Actually, I found it vaguely humiliating but I didn't want to be a bad sport my first week. I usually wait a few weeks for that.)

[[[Actually-actually, now that I think about it, I might have been too freaked out to answer because Sergey stopped the TGIF meeting during my introduction to ask me about my title, which was Technical Marketing Engineer. I understand now why this was waving a red flag in front of a bull, but back then I just felt surprise and the withering attention of the entire company on me. I sort of stammered until I managed to get out that I was working in the Enterprise division, at which point Sergey seemed to lose interest and moved on to the next person.]]]

Aside from that brief meeting my only other awareness of Mr. Edwards at Google was a compilation of his writings about Google's brand that my friend Mickey forwarded to me with an exhortation to read it because this guy is hilarious and a genius. Agreed.

This book covers his time at Google from the nerve wracking interview to an ignominious meeting with a late-model Google drone that no doubt was the catalyst for his departure. It's the perfect companion to In The Plex by Stephen Levy. I'm Feeling Lucky has a much smaller scope, but I have no doubts about the veracity of anything in it.

Until the book warms up about one-fourth the way in, it can be pretty tough going. A fish-out-of-water vibe permeates the book as the author has to unlearn everything he learned in his previous jobs, decipher zen koans from L&S, and learn to completely distrust his instincts. This part is almost painful to read (partly because it's a little overwritten here). When he finally gets his bearings at Google, I couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't Stockholm syndrome kicking in.

As with In The Plex, I learned a bunch about what efforts went on before I joined. I knew most of the names in this book as legends, but I didn't really understand what their legendary feats were until now. I moved to the AdWords team right before the CPM ads were being phased out, and now I get why that was such a big deal for Google. Also, I knew that Google had a relationship with RealNames--I'm friends with the founder--but I never knew about the controversy within Google about it and who took what side.

There isn't much suspense in the book because we all know how Google turns out. Mr. Edwards clearly shows that it wasn't a sure thing or a straight line to success. This book gives the best sense I have ever read of the risk that people take joining early startups.

Throughout the book he endures stress in his family life (something most other people at Google didn't experience, though I sure did with a 4-month-old at home an hour's drive away), enormous sacrifices of time and personal life, and a culture (as described in this book, not necessarily my experience) that almost seems calculated to make people feel insecure about their contributions to the company. And in return for his perseverance and dedication, he has responsibilities slowly stripped from him, gets frozen out of important meetings, is denied access to information necessary to do his job, and has to deal with pretty dirty politics from other departments, mainly product management.

At the end we get a hint of how riches have changed his life, in both big and small ways. I can sort of relate -- though on a much smaller scale -- because the one time that I really felt rich was when I bought a second bike for myself. (I trace this to my childhood, where the "rich" kids owned two bikes.)

Definitely read this book if you are at all interested in Google history. Even if it wasn't about Google, this book is a great primer on Silicon Valley startup culture. (Hint: It has nothing to do with all these posers running around tweeting about what it's like being an entrepreneur.) ...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Mark Rice rated it really liked it · review of another edition

If you were entranced watching the stratospheric rise of Google from fringe search engine to one of the largest economies on Earth, you'll enjoy many happy hours immersed in the pages of I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59. If you appreciate Google's dogged insistence on creating a search engine that actually works (rather than simply looking flashy), this book will resonate with you. If you consider the term 'computer nerd' a compliment rather than a put-down, you'll ...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Amy L. Campbell rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: advanced-copy, blogged, reviewed, non-fiction, ebook, netgalley, 2011

Note: Review copy provided via Netgalley.

I am going to assume that a few of the things I will mention in my review have been fixed. However, given the expedited publishing schedule (one of the downsides of epublishing, I suppose), I kind of doubt it.

First off, I'm going to fix the subtitle. "I'm Feeling Lucky: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About My Marketing Mojo and Let the Engineers Experiment." There we go, much more salacious and it even better depicts the contents of the book... which i Note: Review copy provided via Netgalley.

I am going to assume that a few of the things I will mention in my review have been fixed. However, given the expedited publishing schedule (one of the downsides of epublishing, I suppose), I kind of doubt it.

First off, I'm going to fix the subtitle. "I'm Feeling Lucky: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About My Marketing Mojo and Let the Engineers Experiment." There we go, much more salacious and it even better depicts the contents of the book... which is what a subtitle is for. "Confessions" isn't bad, but it implies you are releasing information you'd rather people not actually have and/or that you somehow feel guilty about. Edwards definitely wants everyone to know about his Swagger.

Which is my second problem with the book. He consistently reminds us he has an English degree, which is fine, but if you're going to do that and be a marketing genius, it would also be awesome if you knew your audience. I happen to have several advanced degrees, but even I don't get references to ancient pagan rituals or obscure 1950's cartoons or Alexandrian legend. I just don't have that background. This in addition to the inclusion of several SAT words felt a bit like Edwards trying to impress the reader that he was just as smart as the engineers. The hammer over the head approach just doesn't work for me, and much of the book was repetitive in this manner and could have done with a little more straight reporting and less author interjected analysis and attempts at humor. I'm sure he was trying to capture the "Googley" tone in his writing, but I think the anecdotes and examples stood on their own.

Despite it's problems, I think Edwards did a great job of explaining what it must have been like to work at Google during the start-up years from the perspective of an older person, a non-engineer, and someone more familiar with traditional company bureaucracy and culture. In the beginning there was quite a bit of schadenfreude as Edwards's ideas were ignored and Google succeeded. Most of this probably had to do with the fact that he resisted the (Google) corporate culture, and it wasn't until he accepted and adapted his techniques that his advice began to have merit. The whole idea of his experience having more weight when he did not apply that experience more fluidly felt so obvious to me that the entire book sounded quite a bit like, "These darn kids won't let me do what I want to, even though I was trying to ignore the rules for the game they made up and everyone else was having fun with. And now that I'm playing by the rules, I don't understand why no one wants to play with me." This book isn't necessarily bad, and in fact it's very good at doing what it was supposed to do - convey the frustrations of learning to work in a completely new environment with a bunch of strong personalities - but it could be a little more enjoyable to read with a heavier hand at editing.

For a less "feel of the times" perspective try The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time, which I've read and covers the same period as I'm Feeling Lucky. Or I'd try In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, which is at least more recent (note: haven't read this one yet, basing suggestion on other GR reviews). ...more

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Apr 16, 2014 Judith rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Everyone who has a computer knows what Google is. I use it at least once a day, and as a regular user I've often wondered how they got started, what and who, came first, how it was all put together and by whom etc. Because of this curiosity I chose to read and review what I hoped would be a light, interesting, informative and amusing tale, especially given the blurb about the book. I can only assume Mr Edwards marketing skills are better than his writing skills (not that it's badly written; it i ...more

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Jun 11, 2020 Tyler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A fun look at the early years of Google. Very informative, but it took me a while to get used to the memoir style.

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Jun 18, 2011 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I think you might need to be at least a little interested in computers in order to enjoy what this book has to offer. It is the story of the first 5 years of Google.com told from the perspective of employee no 59 – Douglas Edwards. A fascinating story it is too. I’m sure, like me, barely a day passes without seeking some help and guidance from Google – mostly these days though with irritation, as it rarely seems to bring me what I really want.

The story is told from the perspective of ‘the voice I think you might need to be at least a little interested in computers in order to enjoy what this book has to offer. It is the story of the first 5 years of Google.com told from the perspective of employee no 59 – Douglas Edwards. A fascinating story it is too. I’m sure, like me, barely a day passes without seeking some help and guidance from Google – mostly these days though with irritation, as it rarely seems to bring me what I really want.

The story is told from the perspective of ‘the voice of Google’. Douglas Edwards was a newspaper marketer around the time of the .com boom in 1999. He considered himself the least qualified of Google’s employees (most of them appeared to operate around the genius level) and he was taken on in order to create the text that appears on all of Google’s pages. Though back in 1999 that was pretty much just the search engine home page.

I was fascinated by the insights into the personalities of Larry & Sergey, Google’s founders. For instance, Sergey arrived to interview Douglas wearing roller hockey gear: gym shorts, t-shirt and inline skates. That casualness, which pervaded the office environment, never touched the business side of things. But it sounded like a great place to work. Free food, cordon bleu chef, free drinks, things to play with, trips away with the whole company. This was done on the basis that if you didn’t need to go out to get these things - you’d work more hours and benefit Google. The hours were long and the work hard with the engineers frequently sleeping at the office.

I thoroughly enjoyed finding out about this search engine’s origins. Stuff like how they crammed about 10 times the density of servers into the space they were renting on the server farm – just because they were paying by the square foot and electricity was thrown in as part of the package. The ‘war’ that was waged with the other big boys, like Yahoo and AOL, in the early days and how making money was never even thought about because Larry and Sergey knew that when the time was right the ideas would emerge, And they did - adwords and adsense.

Then towards the end of that five years there were some internal battles, life became less comfortable and eventually Douglas was asked to leave – though it seems his share options made him enough to retire.

Don’t want to say more because there is so much good stuff in this book about the birth and growth of this internet monster that seems intent on taking over the world now. But I really liked Google’s core tenet – ‘do no evil’ and this guided it through many decisions in a way that meant Google was all about serving its customers in the highest way it knew how to do.

A great read.
...more

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Oct 10, 2011 Nicolemauerman rated it liked it · review of another edition

A couple of months ago I finished the book Malled and wasn’t a huge fan. I just hated reading a book where a woman complained about her job the whole time. I was a little hesitant to read I Am Feeling Lucky because I didn’t want the same experience. I found I was pleasantly surprised. Edwards writes about his time spent as the brand manager for the new start-up Google. Basically a bunch of kids running a company who hate marketing, making Edward’s job really tough and stressful. One thought coul ...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Herve rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I thought this might be just another book about Google. It is not. The lessons are amazing. And here are examples. A first illustration comes from a conversation between Douglas and Larry Page: “I realize that more often than not you’ve been right about things. I feel like I’m learning a lot and I appreciate your patience as I go through that process.” […] “More often than not?” [Larry] asked me. “When were we ever wrong?” he didn’t smile as he asked his question or arch an eyebrow to signify an ...more

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Feb 13, 2020 Sharon Orlopp rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Outstanding book about Google during their startup years! Douglas Edwards is an incredible writer as he takes readers on the wild startup roller coaster ride!

Fantastic leadership lessons, insights on hiring the best engineering talent, cultural norms, and being phenomenally resourceful.

Strongly recommend!

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Dec 19, 2014 Nikolay rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The early Google story from the point of view of one of their first marketing people. I remember three key points:

* high pressure for performance, often not sustainable for long periods of time for mortals
* an organization built around outstanding engineering is totally different than one built around other values, some trade-offs started showing in recent years
* a ton of luck, even though they earned most of it; they would've been successful otherwise, too, just an order of magnitude less

...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Ron rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a really fun read that gave a vivid description of what life was like inside Google in the time prior to going public. Great description of the evolution of the advertising models that drove Google's growth. ...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Lain rated it liked it · review of another edition

Really enjoyed this sneak peek behind the scenes at Google. I lived through this era in Silicon Valley, so it was fun to see what was really going on at the Googleplex. There were also some good lessons for a growing entrepreneur like me. I took several pages of notes to use for my business plans.

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Jul 03, 2013 Crystal rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Loved this book!

A very interesting inside look at the early growth of Google.

I particularly appreciate Doug's perspective as he transitions from a traditional business culture to Google's very nontraditional corporate culture. ...more

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Sep 22, 2019 Chouba Nabil rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

When product lacks behind competition, that’s when branding becomes useful

Someone join from Oracle : asking is ok to implement standards and not reinvent le wheel, Sergey absolutely not, we want to be completely different: optimise, best work place, function over forms.

You need to stop worrying about future obstacles, and should figure-out how get things done.

Debates are done only if they are backed with numbers.

Best way evaluate a person and see his true colours coming out : is to play with ...more

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Oct 14, 2018 Tim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I’m Feeling lucky is autobiographical book about a Brand marketing manager during an early 6 years in the life of Google.com. He writes his memories of the corporate atmosphere, and the personnel that helped grow and develop one of the fastest growing technology company. The book is written in the view not directly involved in the computer science engineering of Google and is not filled down with technical details of how the technical company works.

Edwards was hired in 1999 as a brand manager i I’m Feeling lucky is autobiographical book about a Brand marketing manager during an early 6 years in the life of Google.com. He writes his memories of the corporate atmosphere, and the personnel that helped grow and develop one of the fastest growing technology company. The book is written in the view not directly involved in the computer science engineering of Google and is not filled down with technical details of how the technical company works.

Edwards was hired in 1999 as a brand manager in a small marketing department. The founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were computer engineers that placed the same computer programming principles to running a company as they did creating the computer code that is Google.com. They did not want to do the same marketing that every company has done in the past. Edwards had to forget everything he had learned in corporate marketing and create a brand using new and unproven processes.

Many times, during the book Edwards is at odds with the founders, but the company kept growing at phenomenal speeds. “If we can’t win by quality,” Larry said quietly, “we shouldn’t win at all.” (pg. 47) This was one of the first times a marketing idea was dismissed during his career, and it portrays a presiding attitude in the early culture of Google. We can do anything our self and do it better. This attitude does harm them a couple of times.

Google wasn’t like any other company that succeeded. Edwards describes massage rooms, free meals, video game sessions, and weekly meetings that shared every financial detail of the company with every employee of the company. The early management style was a free-for-all of ideas and projects. You were hired and told to find a problem and fix it. Share your results with everyone and move on to the next project.

His stories are first person memories of the people he met and worked with, and the near collapses of the company that used quality in one sentence, the buys 2000 cheap computers hoping 60% of them work.

I enjoyed his writing style. Edwards effectively created a culture you could relate with. I worried for his job in parts, then worried that his family would fall apart because he was always working. The first part of the book I had the impression he hated the job because of the pressures and insecurities. The second and third parts describes how he worked so hard to help create a success that he worked himself right out of his job.

I am glad he included a linear timeline in the book. His chapters was not always in a straight timeline.. The projects described often overlapped so one chapter it is 2002, the back to 2000 the jump forward to 2004.

I have read many books about the development of corporations, this one is slightly different. It seems like a tell all by a disgruntled employee, but one who still loves and respects the company and the people in it. ...more

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Aug 30, 2017 Jileen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I figure there are three main points of interest for this book...if you have a basic knowledge of MARKETING (I do have a few years work experience in so I got that part) ENGINEERING (most words seemed like many foreign languages all mixed together), and/or BUSINESS ORGANIZATION (major snoozefest to me) then you might enjoy it too. I would love an engineer to read this book and tell me their thoughts on it!

It is fascinating to read the jouney of a startup Silicon Valley search company that litera I figure there are three main points of interest for this book...if you have a basic knowledge of MARKETING (I do have a few years work experience in so I got that part) ENGINEERING (most words seemed like many foreign languages all mixed together), and/or BUSINESS ORGANIZATION (major snoozefest to me) then you might enjoy it too. I would love an engineer to read this book and tell me their thoughts on it!

It is fascinating to read the jouney of a startup Silicon Valley search company that literally became a verb in the dictionary. I remember the dot.com explosion and, soon after, the decimation of them. I remember Yahoo and Ask Jeeves... but I had no idea what technology and engineering went into such things. Honestly, I still don't. It's hard to remember back to a day when we had a question about something and we had to look it up in (hopefully) the most recent encyclopedia. Now we just click a few buttons on the keyboard and we have answers to all our questions and more.

The author uses the word "Googley" to descibe the actions/attitudes/performances of people that are in line with being employed at Google. If you think outside of the way other businesses do stuff; if you deliver explanations in clever, funny ways; if your business cares about providing healthy foods, free massages, and street hockey games to de-stress; if you give time for your employees to work on their own projects... then you might be doing it the "Googley" way. I was impressed with those ideas for business structure. Who wouldn't want to work in that kind of environment??

There were some dry spots (about 3/4 in) when the author is taking about all the product managers, product marketing managers, assistant product managers and blah, blah, blah....It was too much to keep it all straight and honestly I really didn't care that much.

Overall, the author has an incredible way with words. For many years he was the voice and tone of Google. It is evident that he used that voice to help create what Google is seen as today. And this book is continuing evidence that his talent lives on. ...more

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Jul 28, 2018 June Ding rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-read, technology-biography

This is the second book I read about google and 4 years later after the first book, google stories continue kept me inspired. The first book “In the plex” covered a longer time span and gave higher level account of google by one of the best technology writers of today. This book was written by an early employee who was Google’s marketing manager/director at its start. It gave detailed insider account of how google worked and its growth within the first 5 years from a few persons start up to a pu ...more

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Nov 12, 2018 Jodi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, 2018-audiobooks

This was a fascinating look at Google from startup through IPO through the eyes of one of its original employees. Doug Edwards gave up a solid career at the Mercury News to join a start-up that barely had a mission statement much less a business plan. But Edwards knew marketing and he believed he could help them change all that. He didn't know Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Under the adage that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks Edwards had to unlearn and rethink everything he knew about marketing ...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Lord Nouda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, non-fiction, business

4.5 Stars.

I'm Feeling Lucky' is the story of the marketing director who led the charge to humanize what was otherwise a faceless search company that eventually grew to become the foremost industry leader. Google as perceived by the public, with its oft-repeated mantra; 'Don't Be Evil' was due to the effort of one man, who strived to shape user perception through sheer word of mouth, partly because the Google Founders Larry and Sergey were too cheap to spend millions on marketing firms and partl 4.5 Stars.

I'm Feeling Lucky' is the story of the marketing director who led the charge to humanize what was otherwise a faceless search company that eventually grew to become the foremost industry leader. Google as perceived by the public, with its oft-repeated mantra; 'Don't Be Evil' was due to the effort of one man, who strived to shape user perception through sheer word of mouth, partly because the Google Founders Larry and Sergey were too cheap to spend millions on marketing firms and partly to legitimize the public perception of Google as a "good" company who genuinely cares about its users. What better way to help spread that "natural branding" than through crowd sourcing and word of mouth?

I'm Feeling Lucky' starts from Douglas Edwards' experience joining Google in 1999 and ends when he finally leaves shortly after Google's IPO, when he finds that the company he helped shape no longer needed him. It's a truly profound and insightful look into the journey of the Search Giant from its early days cobbling together hundreds of cheap, disposable servers to power its search, to its eventual dominance because of its superior search algorithms that actually helped the user find what they were looking for, instead of trying to jack up advertisers' paid ads into the results like Overture (formerly known as GoTo) and Inktomi were doing. In fact, those two former juggernauts were eventually driven extinct because they could not compete with Google which continuously strived to bring relevant results to its search. Larry and Sergey fought the entire time against paid ads, which they saw as being "evil" due to its misleading nature. They believed that if not done right, it could lead to Google selling out their soul and becoming "evil". They did not want to create another Microsoft.

Larry and Sergey were major topics in the book, not only because of their brilliance and farsighted vision of the future (so much so that they pretty much rejected any suggestion that went against their vision, and which later circumstances and success verified the validity of their foresight) but due to the fact that they rejected much of our narrator, Douglas Edwards' suggestions on how to shape the public image of Google. Douglas came from a creative background, a rare individual in a company full of technical engineers. He was also a lot older than the engineers in their twenties that populated the company, who had never worked a day in their life prior to joining the startup. This, along with their brilliance (most of them were Stanford Graduates) was what led them to consider new and untested ideas that made industry veterans like Douglas cringe and cry, "But it's too risky! It goes against everything we've been taught". This built-in mentality through decades of work experience was not an asset, rather than a detriment for a Googler. Douglas had to relearn everything just to fit in at the company and the early pages of the book were full of his complaints that nobody was doing or following his suggestions, and in fact they usually did the opposite. He eventually got over that phase once he learned to move at their speed rather than the old outdated mode of thinking that he brought from his old job. Larry and Sergey, along with their engineer cohorts were naive visionaries. They had no concept of failure or of something being out of bounds for not conforming to the tried-and-tested norm. They dared to dream, and dream big. Even though the Search Market was cornered by Inktomi at the time, they believed that their budding search engine had what it took to beat out the rest. They believed in helping users find information. They believed that everything should be done as efficiently as possible and that Search would help bring about that ideal.

"Efficiency, Frugality, Integrity. I would suppose if you had stitched that onto a flag, most Googlers would have saluted."

That phrase pretty much sums it all up. That's what they stood for in the early days when Douglas was still at the company. It's what made them so successful early on, that, and the tenacity to keep churning out great products that actually had value and were useful instead of the crap you see nowadays with purely intangible e-products that are time-wasters instead of efficiency-boosters. It's why their stock value jumped into the hundreds instead of plummeting to the ground after the IPO like a certain social media giant with all its hype and no substance.

I can't recall how many times I use Google a day, but it's probably the most visited and by far the most useful site on the internet. It's where I go to find stuff I need, articles to read up on and answers to my questions when I need them and nobody else around can give me the info I need. My email goes through Gmail, I write up essays and articles just like this one every day on Google Docs or host them there as backups on Google Drive. Aside from Microsoft, Google is most useful to me for boosting productivity and getting things done.

Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and all that lame crap? They're black holes of productivity. It's gotten to a point where their founders and chief engineers have gotten together to discuss the negative effects of spending so much time using their products. Yes, you've read that right. After making billions off of their users, they've finally decided to slow down and look at the bad, bad things they've done to millions of people who are addicted to their products. They've got money in the bank so maybe it's time to reflect? Naaah. It's probably just a PR stunt. They're still evil.

If you're looking for an amazing insider's view of how Google came to be, including all the ups and downs and the pressure of working inside one of the world's top companies, while still being accessible to the masses, this is the book for you. It's an incredible insight on how dreaming big, incredible planning and vision can help bring about the rise of one of a Giant. ...more

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Sep 13, 2017 Amie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 is a great read about the beginning of Google from an internal marketing perspective and the personal perspective of Douglass Edwards, also known as Google Employee Number 59. For anyone who is interested in how Google started or anyone like me who has been using Google as long as they can remember it is a fascinating read. Although I think anyone who wanted to read this book would enjoy it, I think the 30 and 40 somethings that hav I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 is a great read about the beginning of Google from an internal marketing perspective and the personal perspective of Douglass Edwards, also known as Google Employee Number 59. For anyone who is interested in how Google started or anyone like me who has been using Google as long as they can remember it is a fascinating read. Although I think anyone who wanted to read this book would enjoy it, I think the 30 and 40 somethings that have a family and a career already established would be able to identify with Edwards best as he moves through his family and career struggles in his years at Google.
In this book Edwards gives a personal chronological account of what it was like working at Google during a time when it went from a small privately funded upstart .com company to a multi-million dollar publicly traded company. Edwards perspective is that of a seasoned marketing professional coming into the world of .com where he must relearn everything he thinks he knows about marketing. In addition, to telling the story of Google he shares a bit about his struggles with this shift in his career and the toll it took on his family. His hopes that making it at Google in order provide financial stability for him and his family is an underlying theme in the book which keeps you rooting for him throughout even though we all know what happens with Google in the end. Throughout the story Edwards touches on many of the pivotal milestones and defeats that Google had during his time there and he shares a lot about what the founders and key stakeholders had in mind and why they made the decisions that they did. Often, he shares that he did not agree with what they had decided to do and what he learned from these crazy wins that Google had when in his opinion it should have made them crash and burn or vice versa.
I really enjoyed reading about Google’s history from Douglas Edwards’ perspective. It was exciting to hear what the thinking was behind the evolution of Google. As I read I would find myself thinking, I remember when that happened or they did that? Edwards was funny and made even the most technical ideas understandable and interesting. I felt like I understood the internet so much more after reading this book. I also found myself surprised that Google had some features that I didn’t even know about! One of the most interesting parts that I enjoyed was reading about the reason behind the small things that make Google who they are like why the page is so minimal and why they change out the little pictures on the Google name. I also enjoyed how he recalled how Google dealt internally with the 911 events and the ethical choices they had to make. Often times I found myself feeling like I was inside the walls of Google seeing it all for myself.
Overall, I feel like this book was totally worth reading. If I had to give any cons about it the only thing I could think of is that some of the technical descriptions could get a bit long but honestly, that didn’t bother me as I love to learn about anything so I felt like it was teaching me something as well as entertaining. I don’t think that should stop anyone from reading this book though. Edwards does a fantastic job of telling his story without making anyone look bad or saying negative things about people. I would completely recommend this book! ...more

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Oct 13, 2020 Mina rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

The book reveals the early years of Google indeed but I find it very badly written. It is not about marketing, management, technology nor even about the people who started the company. It touches on many facts of the company life but somehow the threads that keep the story together are few and not so interesting. At times it goes into long citations of names or events with no apparent value to the reader. The interesting parts on the other hand could have been elaborated and explored better - th ...more

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Jan 24, 2019 Rich Maloy rated it liked it · review of another edition

I've learned that I don't really go in for memoirs, but for whatever reason this one appealed to me. It was written by one of Google's first marketing people. It's a wild story that covers a lot of ground with Google: multiple offices, expansion after expansion, and plenty of internal political battles. The author is a great writer, and he does own up to at least one mistake. He also clearly had no love lost for Marissa Mayer. The only reason this isn't a four-star for me is because I prefer bus ...more

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May 04, 2020 Tim Brady rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, business, non-fiction

This was a fun read! I wouldn't call it a "How to do Business" kind of book, but it was an entertaining glimpse into the early beginning of Google from the author's perspective. There was much about the start of Google I didn't previously know, and it was fun to learn about the super early years (1999-2002) as they fought to stay relevant and earn a seat at the table. The co-founders, Larry and Sergey, sound fascinating and now I plan to read more material about their lives and passions. I would ...more

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Oct 15, 2018 Tori rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Absolutely fantastic read. Although we know the outcome of Google being a start up that didn't stop me being hooked on Edward's every word! Reading about the people involved and how their creations flourished or flopped, as well as Edward's struggle to bend to new laws within a strange work world was fascinating. It was intelligent whilst remaining user friendly, and filled with so many amazing anecdotes. I would absolutely recommend anyone with even the slightest interest in technology should r ...more

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May 03, 2019 Roberta Westwood rated it really liked it

Shelves: listened

The early days of Google, from an insider
I enjoyed this account of the early days of Google, from one of the earliest hired employees. It was a stage of the company's history that could only be told by someone who worked there at the time. Douglas Edwards was well suited to the task, as he is both a writer and a non-engineer, enabling him to give the rest of us non-engineer types a sense of the happenings. As one of those set up for life from IPO, I appreciated the time he took to tell the story ...more

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May 15, 2019 A rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Glorifies Google a bit but gives you a good inside scoop on the rise of Google. Odd that Many things it wouldn’t do before it is doing now, so much for don’t be evil.

Eg tracking users and entire first screens being ads rather than results, which the book pointed out its competitors were doing (overture/goto/etc) that it wouldn’t do as that provides biased results by those that have money to advertise only. The reason they can do it is not because the ads are superior but because users don’t not ...more

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Sep 05, 2019 Danielle rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book took me a while to get through. It felt like “heavy” reading and I typically could only read smaller chunks of it at a time. Regardless, it was still a fascinating look into the first couple of years at Google.

I read this book on my eReader. I probably would have found it easier in paper form, because being able to access the Timeline that appeared at the end of the book would have been helpful. The book is not particularly written in linear fashion. It is based on particular stories ...more

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Sep 01, 2020 Jennifer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I thought this was a very well written book and provided a great overview of Google in the early years. A non-technical biography of a tech company. A lot has changed since then and it was interesting to see how this little start up focused solely on search started to become giant corporation. The vision of its leaders was clearly a major reason Google has become so successful. It sounds like the author worked many overtime days and he certainly indicates that he "made his fortune" because of it ...more

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Dec 03, 2017 Stefani rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Read the Macedonian edition.

I appreciate how in depth this was at times, cause there's things you can actually learn from it, but there's also parts that couldn't been left out and made me wonder. I would've liked a chapter or two on Doug's life after Google tho others would argue that wouldn't fit in this book. I guess it depends upon what we're expecting from this as individuals from this reading experience.

Overall, glad I read it but I could've been a better book :D ...more

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Sep 05, 2019 Tiffany rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

I remember the time (around 1999) when search engines competed for dominance, and I witnessed Google becoming a ubiquitous and "google" a verb for any sort of internet search. So, it was interesting to hear details about the early days of Google from a marketing employee. However, the marketing and engineering lingo got a little cumbersome at times. ...more

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About Douglas Edwards

Douglas Edwards

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From 1999 to 2005 I was director of consumer marketing and brand management for Google. Before that I was online brand manager for the San Jose Mercury News, communications director for KQED FM in San Francisco, an ad agency copywriter, an admission officer for Brown University, and the Novosibirsk correspondent for the public radio program Marketplace. During that last gig, I got involved in a dr ...more

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Anne Lamott, the beloved writer of memoirs including Bird by Bird and Traveling Mercies, once said, “You own everything that happened to you....

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“Google hires really bright, insecure people and then applies sufficient pressure that no matter how hard they work, they're never able to consider themselves successful. Look at all the kids in my group who work absurd hours and still feel they're not keeping up with everyone else.” — 2 likes

“In search," Urs (Hölzle) believed, "the discussion was really, How can we outdistance our current system and make it look laughable? That's the best definition of success: if a new system comes out and everyone says, 'Wow, I can't believe we put up with that old thing because it was so primitive and limited compared to this.” — 1 likes

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