Sign Up | Log In

Write a Review
Post a Quick Tip
Create a List
Ask a Question
Create a Poll
Create a Community

Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture

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

4 Ratings: 4.5

2005 non-fiction book by John Battelle

Summary: 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 … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Technology, Internet, Nonfiction, Culture, Google, see all

Author: John Battelle

Genre: High-Tech, Web Marketing, Online Searching, Business & Finance, Computer Science, Social Aspects, see all

Publisher: Portfolio Trade

Date Published: October 3, 2006

1 review about The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote...

Showing 1-1 of 1

Sort by:

The fascinating history & seemingly unlimited potential of search engines

Nov 27, 2008

by drifter51

Rating:

I would imagine there are lots of folks out there who utilize search engines on a daily basis and have absolutely no idea how this amazing technology came to be. You want to know more but feel intimidated by many of the books out there that are written in technical jargon you simply are unable to understand. For those who find themselves in this predicament John Battell has written "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture". Here is a book written in plain English that will at once catch you up on the history of search engines and give you a heads up on what to expect from this technology in the years ahead.

Do you recall the first time you ever utilized a search engine? You suddenly realized that nothing would ever be the same again. Think of how this technology has evolved in the past 10 or 12 years. Then contemplate that according to John Battelle the search technology that we consider so advanced today has only reached approximately 5% of it's potential! It is really quite mind boggling! In "The Search" John Battelle discusses the development of the earliest search technologies from a handful of college campuses, most notably Stanford University. In addition, Battelle introduces us to those pioneering individuals who were most responsible for making search engines a commercially viable techology. Later on we meet the founders of both Yahoo! and Google. John Battelle compares both the technologies and the business philosophies of these search giants.

As "The Search" winds down John Battelle pauses to consider some of the various legal, privacy and business implications of these highly sophisticated search engines. It seems that the technology is advancing so rapidly that we simply have not had time to fully think through all of the ramifications of having so much information at our disposal with just a few clicks. "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture" will likely expose you to quite a bit of practical information you were never aware of. But more importantly, I think it was John Battelle's intention to make each and every reader stop and contemplate what is going on all around us. Search engines can contribute so much to this world when used in the way they were originally intended. At the same time, the potential exists for much abuse of this incredible technology. Perhaps it's time you read "The Search" and considered these issues yourself. Highly recommended!

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized

Post a Comment

Bethany_K June 21, 2009

Nice review. I really enjoyed this book. It is amazing to see the evolution of the internet and nice to have a simple explaination of how the web works. Have you read Google Analytics 2.0? @Valsviews just wrote a review on it.

show text editor

reply to this comment

Follow this review