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The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture (精装)
by John Battelle
| Category:
Internet, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Technology |
| Market price: ¥ 268.00
MSL price:
¥ 248.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A good overview of search, its impact and Google as well as why Google rules the world. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 17 items |
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S. Hassen, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
This book delivers all it promises and more. The Search"takes the reader on a walk down memory lane, back when numerous search engines served the Internet's search needs. During the '90s, search engines such as Alta Vista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, AOL Search, MSN and, of course, Yahoo, served us all the searches we needed-but, alas, they did not work in the long run and are now virtually obsolete.
I remember how those SEs were visciously spammed and manipulated by Search Engine "Optimizers" (SEOs.) The search results were seldom relevant and porn links prevailed. (I recall the time when my 7-year-old son searched for "Pokemon" and landed at a hardcore porn site.)
There had to be a better way.
Then, out of the blue, appeared a new search engine that changed all the rules and introduced "link popularity." Search was never the same again. Now search results are ALWAYS relevant. In fact, Google always returns exactly the sites I look for. Amazingly, it sometimes even suggests what it THINKS I'm looking for.
This book tells this story and more, in detail. Although Google is featured prominently in the book, the author discusses in depth the search industry as a whole. You'll read about how ambitious and hungry Google, the company, is and about the power it possesses over Internet users.
Very engrossing reading. Highly recommended. |
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Paul, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
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 Battelle has written The Search. 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 8 or 9 years. Then contemplate that according to John Battelle the search technology that we consider so advanced today has only reached approximately 5% of its 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 technology. 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 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 its time you read The Search and considered these issues yourself. Highly recommended! |
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H. Maclean, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
When you read the title, you might make the false presumption that this is a book about Google; it really isn't. The author puts forth a concept of a database of intentions early on. In his words:
"The Database of Intentions is simply this: the aggregate results of every search ever entered, every result list ever tendered, and every path taken as a result...Taken together this information represents a real-time history of post-Web cultuare - a massive clickstream database of desires, needs, wants, and preferences that can be discovered, subpeonaed, archived, tracked and exploited for all sorts of ends." (p.6)
It is the importance of this idea that drives Battelle and the book. He points out early on, that this is a book about search using the Google and other significant stories, to illustrate his point - that Search is bigger than all of us. This may be a potentially cold topic, but Battelle takes the reader on a fascinating journey through time. Really it presents a history of search, with reminders of where Google is in the process/picture.
Battelle gives us the technical side (watered down) of searches, the growth of the search economy, big names such as Monier, AltaVista, Compaq, Lycos, Yahoo, Excite until we get to the birth of Google - an interesting and informative chapter.
He then takes a detour on the history of GoTo.com arguing that it is this, Bill Gross' business model that "saw in search seeds of an economic revolution." (p.93) Battelle then spends time tracing the business model and, essentially, Bill Gross' career from early GNP to IdeaLab and to GoTo.com. Essentially, Gross saw something in the undifferentiated traffic - the fact that intentional traffic was/could be valuable. Enter advertisers paying when their ads are clicked upon. The story of GoTo continues and leads to Google and (messy) dealings. The search regains power. Portals regain status.
The Chapter on Google is informative, fascinating, and a worthwhile read. Battelle's writing skills come to the fore in this one as he keeps us as up-to-date as a book can be. The sense of the giant of Google is reinforced but none of the panic. The following chapter on the Search economy is really a prediction and validation of Battelle's own beliefs - that Search is essential to the economy and the one binding thing across all sites.
The last few chapters jump back and forth between Google and the importance of Search addressing issues such as privacy and the government. The book ends with the Perfect Search and reminds us once again what searching is all about and its importance. These chapters are a good read.
One interesting idea that came from reading this book is that the next decade is going to be known not for the expansion of technology, but the ability to make the information already at the beck and call of this technology into ordered, tidy packages for consumption. Think of the Internet like the US economy, once driven by industry, the margin for innovation is now static compared to the service sector.
Battelle's book is an odd read at first; his outlined intentions jar a little with the jumpiness of the early chapters.. Asserting early that he didn't want to write a book about Google (and the Google people didn't want that either!), or just another business book, I think he achieves that. However, it is in his writing about people and situations that the book comes alive.
Should you read this? Yes. It's an important book giving breadth and depth to an area we may not really think that much about. Will search engines really drive the change in web culture?
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B. Tunquz, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was well written and provided enough information to keep me glued to it. However, I was really hoping to find out more about Google than what would be possible from Google's own PR machine. The early search engine history and the development of that technology is probably the more fascinating part of the book. Which is ironic, since the book is supposed to be primarily about Google. My guess is that the author sacrificed the ability to write about more intriguing and behind the scenes happenings at Google for the almost unlimited access to the founders and the top managers.
Overall, this is a pretty good book, but a hard-nosed investigative reporter would probably have come up with more intriguing content.
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Rolf Dobelli , Switzerland
<2006-12-21 00:00>
The idea of making billions of dollars on a business based on searching online indexes is inconceivable, except when you consider how the Internet has changed the business world. This concept is so vague that it is difficult even to consider, let alone write about. Yet author John Battelle has done a thorough, entertaining job of identifying how this attempt to pin down cyberspace works, and how two graduate students turned their mathematical challenge into Google, the fastest growing company in history. While this is primarily a corporate biography, Battelle does not pander to the company's billionaire founders. They are portrayed as authoritarian geeks with few warm qualities. But they are also shown as visionary engineers who turned their killer application into a business that successfully defied Wall Street when their company went public. This is a great story, which is why we recommend it to technology fans searching for meaning and to business readers who want to understand the future of search technology. Or as Google says: search and you shall find. |
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An American reader, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
I enjoyed this book, and especially the frequent discussions about "the perfect search" and the future of search. I can imagine a time that the author's prediction comes true and I especially enjoy how encompassing search really is. Before reading this I thought that search was just that - a box to enter in terms to search for. But, it is a burdeoning field that morphs with many business ramifications - advertising, media, and sales to name a few. The idea that someday (soon) we will be able to search for television programming and the ads could be targeted specifically for our tastes is a remarkable advance. And as a consumer, we could turn off these ads for a fee or watch the ads and get free cable. Really novel ideas are coming out of the search engine/internet media industry. We are not far (1 generation) from search becoming like the voice of the Star Trek computer that understands our verbal queries. |
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Gretchen Glasscock, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
If you already have a website, or hope to have one someday, and are serious about making money from it, this book is a must-read.
Search, in all of its forms, has become the dominant engine of profit on the Internet. Since Google dominates search with what is estimated to be over 50% of the search market, that means understanding Google, its roots, power and ambitions. This book, a fascinating read, by author John Battelle, an insightful and well connected insider, privy to the secrets and ruminations of Silicon Valley icons, provides that foundation of understanding.
Author Batelle presents the evolution of Google and it's thinking about search and rankings of websites. He reports a cautionary tale of how search engines change their algorithms and your web site can go from a profitable #1 slot to an overnight near death experience in 50th or 500th place. People who've suffered and survived these sudden disastrous shifts tell how they combated them and fought their way back to decent rankings and profitability.
Understanding the thinking and long term intentions of Google Search is as critical to webmasters as getting along and finding a niche in Wal-Mart shelves is to various small retailers. These are the 600 lb gorillas and, like it or not, to succeed on the Net, one has to adapt to Google's rules.
A clue as to Google's future intentions: "the company would like to provide a platform that mediates supply and demand for pretty much the entire world economy." Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google tells the author:"The sum of Google's market..is the world's gross domestic product. We think of it as a marketplace."
I enjoyed and benefited from the insights in this book - and, since all of us in business, large and small, are included in this marketplace - I recommend, much like a life raft in a powerful sea of search, you buy the book and read it in order to fashion a strategy and harness the power to be carried along by Google's enormous tide. |
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