The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture

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John Battelle

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Pages: 336 (Paperback)

ISBN: 1857883624

Pub: Nicholas Brealey Publishing Ltd

Pub date: 2006-09-14

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 111074

Editorial Review:

If you pick your books by their popularity--how many and which other people are reading them--then know this about The Search: it's probably on Bill Gates' reading list, and that of almost every venture capitalist and startup-hungry entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. In its sweeping survey of the history of Internet search technologies, its gossip about and analysis of Google, and its speculation on the larger cultural implications of a Web-connected world, it will likely receive attention from a variety of businesspeople, technology futurists, journalists, and interested observers of mid-2000s zeitgeist.
This ambitious book comes with a strong pedigree. Author John Battelle was a founder of The Industry Standard and then one of the original editors of Wired, two magazines which helped shape our early perceptions of the wild world of the Internet. Battelle clearly drew from his experience and contacts in writing The Search. In addition to the sure-handed historical perspective and easy familiarity with such dot-com stalwarts as AltaVista, Lycos, and Excite, he speckles his narrative with conversational asides from a cast of fascinating characters, such Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Yahoo's, Jerry Yang and David Filo; key executives at Microsoft and different VC firms on the famed Sandhill road; and numerous other insiders, particularly at the company which currently sits atop the search world, Google.
The Search is not exactly the corporate history of Google. At the book's outset, Battelle specifically indicates his desire to understand what he calls the cultural anthropology of search, and to analyze search engines' current role as the "database of our intentions"--the repository of humanity's curiosity, exploration, and expressed desires. Interesting though that beginning is, though, Battelle's story really picks up speed when he starts dishing inside scoop on the darling business story of the decade, Google. To Battelle's credit, though, he doesn't stop just with historical retrospective: the final part of his book focuses on the potential future directions of Google and its products' development. In what Battelle himself acknowledges might just be a "digital fantasy train", he describes the possibility that Google will become the centralizing platform for our entire lives and quotes one early employee on the weightiness of Google's potential impact: "Sometimes I feel like I am on a bridge, twenty thousand feet up in the air. If I look down I'm afraid I'll fall. I don't feel like I can think about all the implications."

Some will shrug at such words; after all, similar hype has accompanied other technologies and other companies before. Many others, though, will search Battelle's story for meaning--and fast. --Peter Han

Reader Reviews:

An excellent companion volume (0/0 people found this helpful)

A story, written from further on the outside than 'The Google Story' about the early stages of google development. Not really an insider view, this concentrates on the public face of Google history as well as the details of the many companies that set the scene and created the early technology that allowed Google to exist. Provides a rich context for Google, but doesn't cover the internals of the company all that well, a good companion volume to 'The Google Story'

A Google-focused useful insight into the world of search (0/0 people found this helpful)

John Battelle has written an unputdownable page turner with a wealth of first-hand knowledge about the world of internet searching. He tells the story of Google and does not shirk away from dealing with some of the thorny legal and ethical issues surrounding one of the most successful companies in history.

This book will prove invaluable to all those who want to upgrade their background knowledge of SEM, SEO and the world of the internet in general.

Not too geeky (0/0 people found this helpful)

Although I've been using computers, in one form or another, since the late 80's I didn't really use the Internet until around 2001. I'm not a particularly sophisticated user and haven't thought particularly carefully about the various search tools available. This book has changed my view - I now understand more about the differences between the search engines available on sites like Google and Yahoo - where did they come from, what drives their development, what are the aims and motives of those who control them?

This book is simultaneously reassuring and deeply worrying, prompting some real thought on the consequences of our headlong rush into a digitised world. It is written in a very approachable style so that someone with only a modest knowledge of the Internet can understand the points it makes. The numerous items of 'insider gossip' and anecdotes make it lighter, helping the reader to digest the longer passages and also illuminating the characters and the part they played in the history and development of the Internet.

I have deducted one star from a non-USA reader point of view - some terms were unfamiliar (particularly to do with the US financial world) and a bit of explanation for international audiences would have been useful.

Simple search, complicated industry (0/2 people found this helpful)

Receive the search query and give back the results - it's that simple. There can't be more to this industry, right? Very wrong. Read this book to get a good understanding of the birth, rise and future of this (massive) industry.

A 'must read' for Human Resources Executives (0/0 people found this helpful)

Companies pay millions to Futurists to tell them how consumer behaviours are likely to change. At the core of much of this, of course, is the internet. When you read this book though, you'll understand that the real power of the internet lies in 'search' - and that's where the future is going to get interesting! Human Resources leaders need to understand their business - we've known that for a long time - but they also need to understand the external world and what lies ahead. This book will broaden your thinking about the future of business and consumerism in ways that will inspire you.

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