The Story Behind One (Misspelled) Word

Admit it, you’ve googled yourself. Or your date. Or, occasionally, school-related topics.

Google my name and you’ll find a slightly-embarrassing rundown on my high school math league exploits. Google David Vise and you’ll find that he’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of “The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media and Technology Success of Our Time.” .

Plunge further into the results of a Google search for “David Vise” and you’ll find that he also reportedly purchased 20,000 copies of his own 2001 book, “The Bureau and the Mole,” in an effort to improve his position on the New York Times bestseller list. According to a Times article from March 2002, Vise returned 17,000 of those books—and got his money back, but also got his title on the paper’s bestseller list for at least eight weeks.

Google searches not only serve to dig up dirt on public figures; they verge on replacing libraries and phonebooks. Google rivals Gutenberg’s printing press as a contribution to communication and Google’s relevance, like its company’s stock price, is skyrocketing.

Vise—along with researcher Mark Malseed—systematically traces the ascent of the Google Empire from its accidental inception on Stanford’s campus to its contemporary initiatives in genetic research. Through interviews, study, and a great many Google searches of his own, he relates the legend of two of the most successful computer-nerds to ever emerge from Silicon Valley, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

With Malseed’s help, Vise interviewed countless employees from Google’s CEO to its head chef, as well as teachers, family members, and Boy Scout leaders from the founders’ past. In short, Vise did his homework, and thanks to his efforts, “The Google Story” offers an intimate portrayal of a product that plays a likewise intimate role in our daily lives.

But compelling non-fiction demands more than cold facts, and unfortunately, “The Google Story” is a repetitive panegyric that lacks the narrative drive necessary to pull readers onto the next page.

Nevertheless, as a reference tool, the book is indispensable, and, regardless of style, provides truckloads of trivia, such as the genesis of the word “google.” To arrive at that household name, Brin and Page unintentionally misspelled the math term “googol,” proving that even Stanford educated computer junkies make mistakes (if they were Harvard-educated, things might have been different).

Brin and Page did not invent the search engine concept, but they certainly refined it. Unlike most of its competitors, Google used PageRank technology to compile results according to importance and would not allow advertisement money to contaminate them. Repeatedly, Google chose quality of the website over potential profit; hence the mantra in the company’s Code of Conduct: “Don’t be evil.”

While other websites bombard users with flashy advertisements, Google insists on Spartan simplicity. Its homepage is uncluttered, and the stress-free white background—coupled with the logo’s primary colors—emits a calm vibe. To uphold a user-friendly, inviting environment, Google sacrificed millions of dollars in profit.

Googlers have always been the founders’ primary focus. As Vise explains, Brin and Page aimed to create a free search engine of fast, reliable information, one constantly improving the web-surfing experience. Features such as keyword-targeted ads, Google Images, and 115 language translations satisfy a growing global audience. (And intentional quirks—such as the fact that an “I’m Feeling Lucky” search for “miserable failure” links to George W. Bush’s homepage—keep that audience amused.)

“The Google Story” ventures deep inside the Googleplex, headquarters of the $110.85 billion market-value corporation. To foster a creative atmosphere, the Googleplex features a few “essential elements”—namely lava lamps and rubber balls—as well as functional facilities, like gyms and child care centers. From the inside out, Google distinguishes itself as a company with gusto, wit, and a heart.

But even a company with a “don’t be evil” mentality can’t avoid legal brouhahas, and Vise details quite a few of the most scandalous encounters. One such story follows Google’s run-in with the British pornography site Booble.com, whose homepage replaced the two trademarked slanted “o’s” with, well, things that aren’t letters. After Google complained, Booble changed its presentation.

More recently, Google proposed to scan several thousand books from the nation’s most prestigious institutions, including Harvard, to create a virtual library. Recalling his chat with the founders, Sidney Verba ’53, Carl H. Pforzheimer Uniersity Professor and Director of the Harvard University Library. had serious doubts over handling massive amounts of such delicate material: “I don’t know how to put this—I had the feeling they were smoking something,” he tells Vise. Undeterred, Google persevered. The company is in the process of transforming 40,000 of Harvard’s books into digital documents.

But the search engine was in the University’s libraries long before this year—through procrastinating carrel occupants prying into the pasts of fellow students toiling a few feet away. Indeed, Google has already transformed Harvard into a place where our classmates’ high school math league scores lie at our fingertips. And Vise lets us know how it happened.