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I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions Of Google Employee Number 59 (2011)

by Douglas Edwards(Favorite Author)

3.76 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0547416997 (ISBN13: 9780547416991)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: In Aaron Swartz's review of this book, he makes an excellent point: to paraphrase, "I can't believe he got all of this out of the interviews he did, especially since there were google minders there the whole time". I think he was one of many people, a group I'm about to join, who state that Edwards did a great job of explaining just what it'd be like in a startup for the common person. He was not a tech, and is not a tech, but worked in one of the biggest and most successful startups.Generally, a really nice read, and very interesting if you're inclined towards tech.
review 2: Everyone who has a computer knows what Google is. I use it at least once a day, and as a regular user I've often wondered how they got started, what and who, came first, how it was all pu... moret together and by whom etc. Because of this curiosity I chose to read and review what I hoped would be a light, interesting, informative and amusing tale, especially given the blurb about the book. I can only assume Mr Edwards marketing skills are better than his writing skills (not that it's badly written; it isn't) because what I got was a dry account of nearly every one of his working days at Google, and oh my, do some of those days seem long, mundane and boring! He worked there for 5 - 6 years during which time he doodled his way through many meetings; he describes some of his doodles in detail, presumably in an attempt to amuse the reader, but instead it seemed to say "aren't I clever and amusing?". What came across quite early on was the author's feeling of inadequacy, insecurity, and puzzlement, due to the way it all seemed more of a commune inhabited by happy, clappy, shiny people, rather than the type of business he was used to, with all the usual formalities and hierarchy. I got the feeling that he always felt like a fish out of water during his time at Google.I had hoped to come away with an insider's knowledge of what makes Google tick, but I felt I got a lot of words which didn't really say that much. I suppose what I wanted was the "human face" of Google instead of a load of jargon and technical information( some of which appears in a glossary at the end); I struggled to maintain my interest and as a result was quite disappointed. I wasn't looking for a scandalous expose filled with gossip, but something much lighter and entertaining. Maybe those who are more "geeky" than I will appreciate it more.Thanks to Amazon for an advanced copy to review. less

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