Google Speaks: Secrets of the World's Greatest Billionaire Entrepreneurs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page

by Janet Lowe

In many ways, Google is the prototype of a successful twenty-first-century company. It uses technology in new ways to make information universally accessible; promotes a corporate culture that encourages creativity among its employees; and takes its role as a corporate citizen very seriously, investing in green initiatives and developing the largest corporate foundation in the United States. Following in the footsteps of Warren Buffett Speaks and Jack Welch Speaks―which contain a conversational style that successfully captures the essence of these business leaders―Google Speaks reveals the amazing story behind one of the most important new companies of our time by exploring the people and philosophies that have made it a global phenomenon in less than fifteen years. Written by bestselling author Janet Lowe, this book offers an engaging look at how Google's founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, transformed their vision of a better Internet search engine into a business colossus with about $16 billion in annual revenue. Lowe discusses the values that drive Brin and Page―for example, how they both live fairly modest lives, despite each having a net worth in excess of $15.9 billion―and details how they have created a culture that fosters fun while, at the same time, keeping Google at the forefront of technology through relentless R&D investments and imaginative partnerships with organizations such as NASA. In addition to examining Google's breakthrough business strategies and new business models―which have transformed online advertising and changed the way we look at corporate responsibility and employee relations―Lowe explains why Google may be a harbinger of where corporate America is headed. She also addresses controversies surrounding Google, such as copyright infringement, antitrust concerns, and personal privacy and poses the question almost every successful company must as Google grows, can it hold on to its entrepreneurial spirit as well as its informal motto, "Don't do evil"? What started out as a university research project conducted by Sergey Brin and Larry Page has ended up revolutionizing the world we live in. Google Speaks puts these incredible entrepreneurs in perspective and shows you how their drive and determination have allowed them to create one of today's most powerful companies.

Genres: Business, Google, Management, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography, Technology

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 22, 2009

About the author

Janet Celesta Lowe was an American journalist, newspaper editor, and writer.

Reviews

[Yiting Shen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lessons from Larry and Sergey
* Don't focus on the money; focus instead on excellent results.
* Have fun.
...

Traits of those who change the world (Gates, Buffett, Welch, Turner, Winfrey...)
* They trust themselves... Intuition
* Fresh thinking
* Curious
* Imagination
* Bold

If you haven't read any Google related books, this could be a good intro rather up to date.
It's a simple read, probably 1.5 hours on and off tubes.

First half talking about the people are interesting while 2nd half really gets into the business, more like old news aggregations, a bit dry... Nonetheless, the last few words are worth capturing as noted above.

P.S. If you need a bit more detailed background, Google Story ('05) is probably a better choice on how Google gets started - a quite engaging read.

[sadiq · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the book when it was already dated. Wish I read it earlier maybe I would have garnered more information.

[Razakius · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very interested read, however the layout of it was a bit chaotic. In a way this kind of fit along with how the author was presenting Google as an organization. However, more than anything it just seemed to be a collection of tidbits that the author found while surfing the internet. Still, the thing that this book really reins in on is the fact that there are few other books that really try to delve into how google was founded, what it is about, how they run things, etc. For that it is still a good read.

[max momot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Еще одна книга-пропаганда об "империи добра" — компании Google, где более детально освещены отдельные направления работы и люди, принимавшие участие в ее создании.

[Blog on Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

It sounds funny – ‘Google Speaks.’ Until one considers that writer Janet Lowe has spent the last half-decade developing what has come to be known in business book circles as the ‘Speaks series.’ Lowe is the same business profiler who has given us overviews of several of America’s top companies through the eyes of their founders, such as Jack Welch Speaks, Bill Gates Speaks and Warren Buffett Speaks as well as similar volumes on Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan. (In fact, she came to this series via the Buffett book after many years of publishing titles around value investing and documenting the investing philosophies of Buffett, Berkshire’s Charlie Munger and the man that inspired them all, Benjamin Graham.)

It is precisely her experience with this company founder profiler series, that gives Lowe the background to assemble (or should we say, re-assemble) the pieces of a company’s development and put the puzzle pieces back together in book form.

In ‘Google Speaks’, Lowe covers the entire range of the company’s history from the Stanford period of Sergey and Brin before they even arrived at the Google concept, to the first $100,000 invested in the firm (they didn’t even have a Google bank account to deposit the check!), to the duo’s pitch of their search technology to Yahoo! (reminiscent of Gates and Paul Allen’s attempt to get IBM to license the Microsoft DOS system) and their subsequent rivalry relationship with Yahoo!, their unusual ‘Dutch auction’ IPO, to the fabled ‘Google culture’ as well as all the myriad of issues that have peppered Google’s high-profile existence. For many reasons, stemming both from Google’s sheer size to their stated mission of organizing the world’s information, Google attracts more than it’s share of scrutiny, controversy and lawsuits. Lowe deals with many of these (Viacom/YouTube, keyword claims, privacy issues, etc.) but generally in either a surfacy or somewhat superficial level, appearing to be more interested in the motivation of the people behind the decisions, rather than the implications of the decisions themselves.

Unfortunately, as critics have pointed out, Lowe lifts much of her research from a variety of previously and easily available published articles (just ‘Google’ them!) and seems to get a number of glaring facts wrong (i.e. Flickr, the photosharing website, was acquired by Yahoo!, not Google, as well as the misstep with Ken Aulutta’s New Yorker article outlined below, and others.) Critics of Lowe’s contend that she at times is neither insightful nor critical enough in her reporting nor does she go deep enough to excavate the hidden meanings of just what controlling all the earth’s information really means (“evil happens” she says) and the plotting that informs that quest. Though ‘Google Speaks’ contains a company timeline in the back, it lacks an index, making it somewhat deficient as an authoritative business book.

For a more theorized view of just what the Google experience means to us now and in the potential future, readers are well advised to pick up both Ken Auletta’s ‘Googled’ (In fact, much of Lowe’s research stems from Auletta’s groundbreaking article in the New Yorker, ‘The Search Party’ – which Lowe mistakenly confuses with another New Yorker article written by someone else called ‘Search and Destroy’) as well as Jeff Jarvis’ “What Would Google Do?’ For an overview of what goes on in the Google of today and how it came to be, Lowe’s somewhat lightweight book is an acceptable starting point, but certainly not the definitive text.

[Mary Sikes]

For those who cannot get through the day without using Google to search out an item on the Internet, Google Speaks is an enlightening book to read. The story of Sergey Brin, a young Russian immigrant, and Larry Page, described as “a typical American boy” in most ways, this book is, also, the story of the founding of Google, a company designated by Time magazine in 2006 as “the smartest company of the year.”

Author Janet Lowe brings out some revealing facts about the young entrepreneurs, including the information that both Sergey and Larry attended Montessori elementary schools. The educational methods of Maria Montessori “seemed to have shaped both Sergey and Larry,” Lowe writes. The two gifted young men later met as Stanford graduate students, and what began as a college research project developed into an amazing company.

Lowe’s book details the growth of Google and tells about many of the people involved in the company’s phenomenal developement. It also tells how the name “Google” came to be. Larry and Sergey intended to name the company “googol” which is “the mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. However, someone misspelled the word as “Google” which Lowe terms “a blessed blunder.”

Among the many unique projects described in the book, is a collaboration between Google and NASA to provide “high-resolution lunar imagery and maps to the Google Moon program. The book also tells about a copyright infringement dispute with the Authors Guild and others when Google began scanning and copying millions of books in library collections.

The Timeline and Glossary sections in the back provide excellent references for the reader. Google Speaks is a wealth of information. It is a book that everyone who enjoys using the Internet should read.

Mary Montague Sikes, author
Secrets by the Sea, Eagle Rising, Hearts Across Forever, Hotels to Remember
www.marymontaguesikes.com

[Amanda Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot more about Google than I thought I would ever know! :) However this book did inspire me to try out some new things using Google. I am pretty sure I NEED to work at the Googleplex (Preferably the Dublin, Ireland location! *Ahem* Google I can send you my CV!!!).

Otherwise I tabbed a lot of the pages to come back to later and bookmarked webpages that I can use later on (like www.bananaslug.com). But there were a few things that made the book kind of blah. For instance there are pages that almost seem verbatim of previous pages or chapters (almost like they weren't sure how to fill out a particular section so they copy/pasted) so that was a bit annoying, but that was really the only bad thing I have to say about.

It is definitely worth a read if you are in the information business. :)

[Tony Mercer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't have finished it if I thought it was less than a 3. That said the book was kind of all over the place and didn't give a really formalized story of the Google Founders or details about setting up their business. It was a lot of broad strokes to give interesting facts about the company, not a book where I learned their story in depth (or even just parts of their story) that I could use for my own career or development.

[Saroj Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it was interesting, but a little bit boring too..Its good to know all the history behind Google's evolution but i didn't find anything particular which is inspiring.

Its more of a Google history book, compiled from online resources. Most of the time, the author seems to repeat the same stuff again & again such as privacy issues, legal battles etc..

But overall a good reading experience..

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Badly in need of an editor - it's like the author took a stack of index cards and shuffled them around, then published them. Plus it's hardly unbiased (if "the World's Greatest Billionaire Entrepreneurs" in the title didn't give it away). However, since my husband and I were in desperate need of a Google history crash course, this fit the bill.

[Julia Bouie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Always seem to love the first two chapters of these books i.e the background on the founders and how they grew up. I guess it goes back to bill duggan's book strategic intuition as to say what were the circumstances that surrounded them and their family environments that lead to the tipping point. Enjoyed Ch 8 on all the different google tools and it is worth a re-read.

[Saroj Kumar Biswal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it was interesting, but a little bit boring too..Its good to know all the history behind Google's evolution but i didn't find anything particular which is inspiring.

Its more of a Google history book, compiled from online resources. Most of the time, the author seems to repeat the same stuff again & again such as privacy issues, legal battles etc..

But overall a good reading experience..

[David Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected more. Good insight about what goes on within Google, but it seems like it was compiled from other sources. Nothing you don't already know, if you've been following the company for awhile.

[Kevin Gerdes]

Will start soon. Hopefully it helps me with my investing.

[Finfromfinland · Rating 4 out of 5]

quite a lot of interesting information, even more than average person needs)

[Arpit Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice but really scattered way to represent google's history.

[Ben Love · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly predictable tour through the life of Google. No tremendously earth-shattering new information.

[Lori Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read company profile for knowledge workers, managers, directors, C-levels, and entrepreneurs.

[Dominic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of cool information and details about Google, but seems like it only goes up to 2009.

[Janyla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even finish it. It took a struggle to give the first 5 chapters a chance to entertain me

[Lilik Wijayati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Google speak ...
kau akan lebih mengerti apa itu keajaiban dari sebuah kreativitas, menghargai, bermanfaat. Dan kau akan menemukan itu jika kau memperjuangkannya

[Francine Apollo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for techies, entrepreneurs and anyone looking for inspirational and hopeful reading.

[Sara McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mejor que thr google story

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good summary for google's first 10 years and some insight into where it's heading in the next 10.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring

[Mannar Karyampudi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book makes an interesting read to those who don't follow Silicon Valley closely.There are no secrets revealed in the book, contrary to what the book claims to be. What is more shameful is this book is factually incorrect at couple of instances, like it say flickr is acquired by Google in 2005. The moment I read this I lost respect for the book. having said that it is a good collection of Google stories, yet not as ground breaking as one would expect it to be.