In the plex
by Steven Levy · first published 2011
46% recommend54% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Engaging, anecdote-rich inside history of Google, from PageRank's origins to its engineer-first culture, hiring, China and YouTube. Balanced rather than worshipful; suits anyone curious how the company works.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Written with full cooperation from top management, including cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, this is the inside story behind Google, the most successful and most admired technology company of our time, told by one of our best technology writers. Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives. How has Google done it? Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes readers inside Google
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…systems that sell ads. In fact, those are two completely different divisions of the company. (If you would like to learn more about how Google works from the inside, I suggest reading Steven Levy's book "In the Plex") Just because you do not pay for something does not mean it is not a product. If search was not good, people would go to a competitor. This is how Google got to where it is today, and bing.com is just…
on “Companies that make money by distributing misleading versions of VLC” ↗Google acquiring YouTube "In the Plex" by Steven Levy goes into great detail on how YouTube could not survive its growth without the infrastructure and ad technologies Google brought to the platform.
on “Ask HN: Examples of large acquisitions that did not ruin the acquired company?” ↗…moved by how humble Woz was/is and I am inspired by his problem solving approach. 6. How Google Works (Eric Schmidt, Alan Eagle & Jonathan Rosenberg) - A very good book to read after/before this: "In the Plex" by Steven Levy. Hands down the two most important / influential books while you are starting something new. I read these while I was contemplating conceiving my startup and giving up the "safety" (illusion…
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗If you like this article, you would probably enjoy Stephen Levy's book In The Plex: http://www.amazon.com/Plex-Google-Thinks-Works-Shapes/dp/141...
on “Google: The Beginning” ↗The real problem is people don't really understand the context of "Don't be evil." If you read Steven Levy's In the Plex, or any first-hand account, really, you realize it's more about always thinking about the user experience first. It has nothing to do with personal information. As far as I know, when "Don't be evil"…
on “Google is FUBAR” ↗Agreed regarding ulterior motives (keeping you in their ecosystem). In the excellent book "In The Plex" by Steven Levy, he talks about Google's motivation of essentially building a browser, mobile OS, etc just to ensure that some other party (like Apple) doesn't cut them out and reduce their search/ad…
on “Google AMP case study: leads dropped by 59%” ↗Google wanted to lose that bid - that was a gamble to get free whitespace access and have verizon pay enough money for it. You can read more of the details in this book:http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Plex-Google-Thinks/dp/141659658... Additionally Google did try to disrupt the cellular companies a little by selling their phones unlocked through their own webstore, but the American market didn't buy them.…
on “Google Fiber Plans & Pricing” ↗Steven Levy's "In the Plex" is probably the best one. A lot of the stuff in my comment is mentioned there, and the rest is cobbled together from various presentations, blog posts, and Quora answers on the net.
on “What would you like to see most in minix? (1991)” ↗To echo everyone; Hackers is a great book. Steven Levy books are both compelling reads and content rich. Crypto and In the plex both have their place as well. http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field... I would also say "The Information" by James Gleick. It is a page turner with some neat concepts. Which is…
on “Ask HN: How to learn about the history of computing?” ↗…article a while back about how Google landed on its business model: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/when_big_businesses_w... See in particular John Battelle's "The Search" (2005), Steven Levy's "In the Plex" (2011), and Doug Edwards' "I'm Feeling Lucky" (2011). As for Facebook, there's probably less public documentation but I have been following/covering it from very early on and personally know a few of…
on “Are you really Facebook’s product? The history of a dangerous idea” ↗Any opinions on Walter Isaacson's other biographies and journalistic talents? I enjoyed Steven Levy's In the Plex quite a bit. Although authorized, it was very insightful and reasonably balanced without too much Google worship. If iSteve is written anything like that it should be pretty enjoyable. Worth a trip to…
on “New biography of Steve Jobs comes out March 2012” ↗A disjoint suggestion, I would sincerely request some readers to go check out http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Plex-ebook/dp/B003UYUP6M/ It is a fascinating book and one that I regret not reading earlier.
on “"That's what sold me. One slide."” ↗FWIW, I was actually pretty well convinced of this by reading Steven Levy's In the Plex.
on “Google Fires Back at Twitter: You Took Yourself Out of Search” ↗I think the formulation that "the smartest people in the world are working hard to come up with ways to get you to click on ads" is awfully reductive. Reading Steven Levy's In the Plex really gave me a sense of what the people at Google are actually about, and it's not just making money. There's a somewhat naive idealism at work that you can judge however you want, but you should acknowledge…
on “Facebook Timeline is too awful to be an accident” ↗…Dan Ariely The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars by Shankar Vedantam The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry) by Siva Vaidhyanathan In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy Idea Man: A Memoir by Paul Allen The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar
on “Ask HN: What are some Good Books you have read in past one year or so..” ↗