The Search (The Google book).

"As Arthur C. Clarke once observed, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'" (Battelle, 129). Indeed, Google does come off as being magical in countless ways. From the search process itself, to the rise of this celebrated and exclusive company, Google appears on the surface to be a fantasy come to life. From the outside looking in, it would seem that Google makes only the most intelligent of smart moves. The book's author, John Battelle reveals, however, that despite the facade of perfection that Google would like to exude, there is still trouble within this projected paradise. While Battelle seems to be ultimately enthusiastic about Google (specifically, "the search"), he does not shy away from the company's flaws. The Great Firewall of China, the Playboy interview given on the eve of Google going public, disgruntled Google employees complaining about how the company is run, PATRIOT Act-related matters of privacy, are all topics of discussion within this book. Despite such discussions (discussions that likely ruffled feathers within Google), this book is first and foremost a revealing look at Google's past, present, and future--as well as the stories of Google's predecessors and competitors.

The beginning of the book leaves no illusions as to where the author stands on Google. John Battelle was clearly fascinated with Google ever since the dot com bust of the late '90s-early '00s. For him, Google represented the Internet in terms of what it would become after its first real business model imploded. "My God, I thought, Google knows what our culture wants!" (Battelle, 2). While the first two chapters focus on the concepts outlined in the book as well as "The Search" itself, the book primarily ends up being about the story of Google's creation, rise, and innovations. Particularly during the post-dot com bust, Google shaped what it meant to make the Internet work for an individual or company. "Back in 1996, it was nobody's goal to be indexed by a search engine; a request to download the entire content of a site was often seen as tantamount to trespass" (Battelle, 79). Today, to be at the top of a Google search page is a desirable position. When viral-Internet star Tay Zonday chose his moniker, for example, he chose it because he wanted his identity to be completely unique in "The Search" as explored by John Battelle's book. The ranking system created by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin turned out to be approximately ten years ahead of its time, and currently shapes the way online entities compete for publicity.

The book goes on to detail how Google rose to the top of "The Search Economy". The valuable and interesting thing about this rise as chronicled by Battelle details for the reader just how Google rose to the top. Google's unique, text-only, query-relevant, side bar advertising technique flourished due both to the social shaping of technology (NASDAQ crashed), and because Google decided to rely on its own, unique, AdWords service. Google also saved money by not marketing in the aftermath of the dot com crash. The press provided a lot of the exposure that Google craved.

Google does have its share of problems despite becoming the Internet's most prominent entity. Even though the company's mantra is "Don't Be Evil," it is not too hard to imagine boogeymen lurking just around the corner, waiting to strike. Founder Sergey Brin claimed not to have even read the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act. Google still has plenty of opportunities to backtrack and "be evil". Google, according to the book, has yet to deal with China, for example. If Google wants to gain from China's burgeoning economic fortune, Google would have to suspend some of its principles in the name of making money. China heavily censors its Internet service to its citizens, and in dealing with the country via Google News, Google has already proved that it will allow free information to be censored. Battelle makes the argument that being evil might be necessary in order to be successful. "Google could not afford to sit on the sidelines as competitors charged into the region. Yahoo, Microsoft, and others had already made their peace with the China question" (Battelle, 207). As evidenced by Google News's "blink" as described by Battelle, the story of "the search" is not relegated simply to the realm of Google. The story of "the search" is also a story of business competition.

If there is a question John Battelle has left for the reader, it is the question of the future of the Internet search and the future of Google. "I recall writing the final chapter of the hardcover, "Perfect Search" as one of the most difficult tasks I have ever tackled. As I reflect on an extraordinarily eventful year since the first version of this book went to press, I once again feel that sense of dread: who can predict the future when the present is such a moving target?" (Battelle, 299). More importantly for this class, how does the future of the aforementioned subjects affect libraries and librarians? If Google can overcome a mountain of copyright issues, will the institution of the library be threatened? If publishers can remove their books from Google at any time as detailed in the bonus chapter, then it seems that the standing of libraries in our society will be unthreatened. If Google can make the Google book project work for publishers, however, perhaps libraries and librarians are in trouble. There is an endless discussion one can wage concerning the future of Google and the library, but the point is that predicting the future of technology is an impossible task. While Google has benefited a nearly perfect track record with respect to its business practices, the book also reveals that Google's initial success was bolstered by a case of serendipity. Due to an infinite number of "ifs" in the equation, no one, including John Battelle, can predict the future of libraries. Anyone who makes a correct prediction concerning the future of the Internet search or libraries will be a beneficiary of what got Google off the ground--dumb luck.