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

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"John Battelle has written a brilliant business book. All searchers should read it."

"Both as a company and as a concept, Google has transformed the Internet and the entire cosmos of knowledge. John Battelle has written a brilliant business book, but he's also done something more: he's used the amazing saga of Google to explore what it means to search. All searchers should read it." Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute; former editor of Time "This book ought to be called 'The Answer.' As usual, John Battelle delivers insightful, thought-provoking, and essential reading. If you want to know why Google-think really does change everything, this is the book for you." Seth Godin, author of All Marketers Are Liars and Purple Cow "Nobody, and I mean nobody, has thought longer, harder, or smarter about Google and the search business than John Battelle. Now he coughs up a book that combines terrific reporting with rigorous analysis and joints-after-midnight ruminations on where this company and technology are taking us. If you want to understand the rise of the search economy and culture, you need to read this book." John Heilemann, author of Pride Before the Fall "Battelle has done two things with this book. He's figured out why 'search' is so damned important to the future of everything digital. Even more impressive, he's actually managed to turn the subject into a compelling analog story." John Huey, Editorial Director, Time Inc. "A must read for anyone endeavoring to understand one of the most important trends of this generation: organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible." Mary Meeker, Managing Director, Internet Analyst, Morgan Stanley "A terrific book. The Search makes clear that despite the many losers over the years and the few still-standing winners, the search industry remains at a very early stage of development. Searching is fine, but actually discovering answers will be even better." L. Gordon Crovitz, Dow Jones

"John Battelle coughs up a book that combines terrific reporting with rigorous analysis … you need to read this book."

"A must read for anyone endeavoring to understand one of the most important trends of this generation."

Salerno presents a carefully researched--and devastating--exposé on SHAM's predatory and fraudulent practices and its corrosive effects on society.

"John Battelle has written a brilliant book. All searchers should read it."

"John Battelle coughs up a book that combines terrific reporting with rigorous analysis."

"A must read for anyone endeavouring to understand one of the most important trends of this generation,"

The rise of Google is one of the most amazing stories of our time. Jumping into the search industry long after Yahoo!, AltaVista, Lycos, and other competitors, Google offered a radical new approach to search, redefined the idea of viral marketing, and in just seven years became the largest IPO in the history of Silicon Valley. Google's enormous impact straddles the worlds of technology, marketing, finance, media, culture, dating, job-hunting, and just about every other sphere of human interest. And no one is better qualified to explain this entire phenomenon than John Battelle, the acclaimed Silicon Valley journalist who co-founded Wired and founded The Industry Standard. In this fascinating narrative of the past, present, and future of search, Battelle draws on more than 350 interviews with executives at Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and other companies, including Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO, Eric Schmidt. Battelle explores how search technology works, the amazing power of targeted advertising as a business model, and the frenzy of the Google IPO when the company tried to rewrite the rules of Wall Street and declared, "don't be evil" as one of its core goals. Battelle is equally enlightening about the cultural impact of the search industry. Every day, billions of searches reveal the wants, needs, fears, and obsessions of humankind - an unprecedented record that Battelle calls the database of intentions. What will Google and other companies do with all that information? Will the government regulate the search business? And what happens to privacy when every word ever written about someone is permanently archived and searchable in a fraction of a second? For anyone who wants to understand how Google succeeded and what its success means for all of us, "The Search" is indispensable.

John Battelle is a cofounder of Wired and the founder of The Industry Standard as well as TheStandard.com. He is currently program chair for the Web 2.0 conference, a columnist for Business 2.0, and the founder and chairman of Federated Media Publishing,Inc. He lives in Kentfield, California, where he's a visiting professor at the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Visit Battelle's blog at www.battellemedia.com