Just finished Ken Autletta’s book Googled The End of the World as we Know It.
A good read on the growth, expansion and monetization of google and the business of search.
Auletta examines Google’s innovative approach to employees (complimentary lunches, massages and 20 % creative time) and how this sets Google apart as a real leader in employee development and retention.
Conflicting tensions with company’s motto “don’t be evil” and its compliance with “Chinese Law” and sensored search results at google.cn are also discussed at length. Reference http://tiny.cc/fqH2v and Omar Elakkad’s Globe and Mail article for more on Google’s evolving stance and relationship with China.
Google’s emergence into other fields such as social media, news and digitizing of books and its effects and consequences for copy right and privacy issues are also examined.
Auletta discusses Google’s stance as “impregnable” and tacitly argues that Google’s hubris needs to be tempered with humility. Further, the book argues that Google’s mathematical approach to problems and search algorithms that have made its search so effective fails to adequately address the nuances of human interactions.
Overall not a bad read, with informative and insightful interviews scattered throughout. Googled is avaiable at Amazon: http://tiny.cc/DUGc6