In The Plex

I thought this would be a fan-boy book.
There’s a big part of this book that is just about telling the story of Google. How it started, how it has grown to be the Internet giant that it is now.
But it’s the Google story told by a journalist with a long relationship with Google. This doesn’t affect his integrity but I think it makes him sees the world as Google sees it. Judge Google by their intentions rather than their actions. He’s like one of those “embed” journalists that travel with the U.S. forces in Iraq. After a while, he starts to be one of them. This issue confirms my guess that this is a fan-boy book.
But as I read on, the author raises questions about Google losing its soul (my words not his), and how it was transformed from an Internet startup to a giant corporation, and how all this affect Google. He’s not a fan-boy, he’s a fan of Google for sure but the way it was not necessarily the way it is or would be.
The story is told in terms of topics and products. Starting with important products to less important topics and failed products. This causes some jumps in the time line forward and backward which could be frustrating. At least I felt that sometimes it lacks connecting all those stories together.
There’s a focus in the book on technical details. They’re explained in plain English in a way simple enough for a reader to understand but are also very intriguing for a developer or a person with technical background.
There are two stories in the book that I was impressed by: Google’s approach to Data Center and Google position towards China.
This book is a good read and I recommend it if you want to find more information on Google or want to see the world as they do.
Thanks to Ahmed Essam (Goodreads profile for recommending this book.