In the Plex

Written with full cooperation from top management, including cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, this is the inside story behind Google, the most successful and most admired technology company of our time, told by one of our best technology writers.Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives How has Google done it Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes readers inside Google headquarters the Googleplex to show how Google works.While they were still students at Stanford, Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin revolutionized Internet search They followed this brilliant innovation with another, as two of Google s earliest employees found a way to do what no one else had make billions of dollars from Internet advertising With this cash cow, Google was able to expand dramatically and take on other transformative projects efficient data centers, open source cell phones, free Internet video YouTube , cloud computing, digitizing books, and much.The key to Google s success in all these businesses, Levy reveals, is its engineering mind set and adoption of such Internet values as speed, openness, experimentation, and risk taking After its unapologetically elitist approach to hiring, Google pampers its engineers free food and dry cleaning, on site doctors and masseuses and gives them all the resources they need to succeed Even today, with a workforce of than 23,000, Larry Page signs off on every hire.But has Google lost its innovative edge With its newest initiative, social networking, Google is chasing a successful competitor for the first time Some employees are leaving the company for smaller, nimbler start ups Can the company that famously decided not to be evil still compete No other book has ever turned Google inside out as Levy does with In the Plex. New Download [ In the Plex ] by [ Steven Levy ] – kino-fada.fr 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 beast like A really great read well written and interesting, nerdy without being...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 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, and there are literally hundreds of articles written about it every day I know this because I just did a quick search for Google in Google News Over the years there has also been no shortage of books on Google However, in terms of the depth and breadth of its research, as well as the amount of first hand information that it provides, Steven Levy s In The Plex stands in a category of its own In the minds of its founders and most of the early employees...Disclosure I worked at Google between 2003 and 2009 and consequently I own a couple of shares and if Larry Page would bother sticking around forthan fifteen minutes during earnings calls now that he is CEO the price might get high enough again for me to sell some of them.Corollary to the previous disclosure When I do sell some stock, you will be able to tell because the price will rise sharply right after I sell it.Another disclosure I know several of the people mentioned in the book, a Disclosure I worked at Google between 2003 and 2009 and consequently I own a couple of shares and if Larry Page would bother sticking around forthan fifteen minutes during earnings calls now that he is CEO the price might get high enough again for me to sell some of them.Corollary to the previous disclosure When I do sell some stock, you will be able to tell because the price will rise sharply right after I sell it.Another disclosure I know several of the people mentioned in the book, and even I interviewed a few of them and got a referral bonus for one Quite a few I have a passing acquaintance with, and the rest of the people in this book probably saw me at one point or another on campus and thought that tall guy looks sort of like Max Ibel ...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 during the taking of this oath Also, n 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 during the taking of this oath Also, no actual oath took place And I think that s important Privacy and the protection thereof, that is But Google through all their creepy spying and data mining actually is improving our lives in various ways, making things easier, and making sense of reality bit by bit Of course, this is all in the service of targeted advertising, which I think does throw a bit of a wrench into t...Here are the highlights for me First there was Search How did Google Search get to be the best, the fastest, the most reliable Why did the other search engines at the time not have the vision to do the same We get that fascinating story in the first chapters It s not technical, but I think you have to connect with your inner geek to enjoy it Go ahead, we bookworms all have some of that in us Google in China I learned, finally, about Google s venture into China, an intriguing story often Here are the highlights for me First there was Search How did Google Search get to be the best, the fastest, the most reliable Why did the other search engines at the t...I expected In the Plex to be an objective history of Google and its various endeavors As it turns out, I was only half right It is, indeed, a history of Google This is not to say that Levy did a poor job researching the book As far as I can tell he did a fairly in depth job But when you describe saying t...I am a fan of WIRED and when I saw a book about Google by one of their writers, I had to pay special attention to it I joined this course about understanding media by understanding Google on Coursera and it s been an eye opener Among all the recommended course readings Vaidhyanathan, Auletta, Battelle, Pariser, Jarvis and, this is definitely the book you want to read before all others Insider stories from Googlers, detailed information about how certain projects came to be or ceased to I am a fan of WIRED and when I saw a book about Google by one of their writers, I had to pay special attention to it I joined this course about understanding media by understanding Google on Coursera and it s been an eye opener Among all the recommended course readings Vaidhyanathan, Auletta, Battelle, Pariser, Jarvis and, this is definitely the book you want to read before all others Insider stories from Googlers, detailed information about how ...This is a fascinating look into the inner workings of Google The book is well written, and well organized, with each chapter covering a theme For me, the most interesting chapter is the description of the building of the search engine, and all the issues surrounding it It is also very interesting, how the Google higher ups did not anticipate all the controversy behind some of their recent projects, such as their foray into China, Google Print, Google Street View, and Buzz They just do not This is a fascinating look into the inner workings of Google The book is well written, and well organized, with each chapter covering a theme For me, the most interesting chapter is the description of the building of the search engine, and all the issues surrounding it It is also very interesting, how the Google higher ups did not anticipate all the controversy behind some of their recent projects, such as their foray into Chi...Very impressive book about the inner workings of Google The chapters are grouped around several themes, from its early history, to Gmail, Videos Youtube, PageRank, and the feud it has had with China Full of detail about the inne...Interesting, entertaining, and rather thorough for a mass market book Lots of things I didn t know about Google Other things I did know but only shallowly There are a lot of things one might criticize Google for Levy isn t much into criticism here, but he does present the information and the reader can draw his own conclusions There are a few gag inducing sections regarding President Obama and his administration that I read as expressing Google s corporate view of Obama, as opposed to an ob Interesting, entertaining, and rather thorough for a mass market book Lots of things I didn t know about Google Other things I did know but only shallowly There are a lot of things one might criticize Google for Levy isn t much into criticism here, but he does present the information and the reader can draw his own conclusions There are a few gag inducing sections regarding President Obama and his administration that I read as expressing Google s corporate view of Obama, as opposed to an...

• English
• 18 August 2017
Steven Levy
• Hardcover
• 432 pages
• 1416596585
• Steven Levy
• In the Plex