The Search

In The Search, journalist and Wired co-founder John Battelle reveals exactly how Google triumphed over its rivals. He also digs into the big picture of how search engines are changing the way we shop, find entertainment, screen potential dates, hunt for jobs, and do just about everything else. This summary draws on more than 350 interviews with major players from Silicon Valley to Seattle to Wall Street, including Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, CEO Eric Schmidt, and many others, and describes the implications of a world in which every click can be preserved forever.

• Who created Google?
• How does a search engine work?
• How did Google and its rivals rewrite the rules of business and transform our culture?
• What happens to privacy when every word ever written about you is saved forever and searchable?
• Is the government going to get its hands on search databases?
• If companies can track every click you make online and send you highly targeted ads, is that a good thing or an invasion of privacy?
• The founders of Google declared that their motto is ?Don?t Be Evil? ? but do they really act that way when the big money is at stake?
• Where will search technology be in a few years?
• What might search tell us about ourselves and our global culture?