Reviews of "I'm Feeling Lucky"
An affectionate, compulsively readable recounting of the early years (1999–2005) of Google from Edwards, its first marketing executive. Accustomed to a traditional corporate environment, Edwards found himself over his head when he came on board at Google, stymied by the hierarchy-free flat company that boasted about 50 employees (working at desks consisting of large wooden doors mounted on metal sawhorses) whose engine was doing 11 million searches a day, barely a blip against Yahoo, AOL, and MSN. The author describes the meteoric rise of a company where all assumptions were challenged, where every problem was viewed as solvable and skirmishes sprang from convictions, not ego, and where an idiosyncratic corporate culture (in-house massages and doctors, bacchanalian parties) reigned from its earliest days. The book's real strength is its evenhandedness; though the author notes the weaknesses of Google 1.0, the occasional mishandling of its own relationships with openness and disclosure, and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin's overweening confidence in their convictions--he also speaks with great warmth and respect about the evolution of a legendary company. This lively, thoughtful business memoir is more entertaining than it really has any right to be, and should be required reading for startup aficionados. (July)—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This is the first Google book told from the inside out. The teller is an ex-employee who joined Google early and who treats readers to vivid inside stories of what life was like before Google became a verb. Douglas Edwards recounts Google's stumbles and rise with verve and humor and a generosity of spirit. He kept me turning the pages of this engrossing tale."
—Ken Auletta, author of Googled: The End of the World as
We Know It
"I'm Feeling Lucky is funny, revealing, and instructive, with an insider's perspective I hadn't seen anywhere before. I thought I had followed the Google story closely, but I realized how much I'd missed after reading -- and enjoying - this book."
—James Fallows, author of Postcards from Tomorrow Square
into the early years of one of the most unusual success stories in the history of
American business."
—The Christian Science Monitor
"His tone is affectionate enough to make I'm Feeling Lucky an enjoyable account of the struggles a creative marketing guy faced in the early days of Google, when the company was run by geeks with a messianic faith in 'Efficiency, Frugality, Integrity.'"
—The New Scientist - Andrew Keen
"For a more intimate, chattier view of Google’s rise, read “I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 320 pp., $27), by former Google marketing director Doug Edwards. Joining the start-up culture of Google, Edwards has to toss aside everything he knows about traditional marketing. His sometimes bemused account of server upgrades, keyword searches and gourmet lunches brings Google’s culture to life beautifully."
Upcoming Appearances
7/18/11 (MON) 7:00PM Kepler's Books, Menlo Park, CA
(Please note: moved from original date of 7/19)
7/20/11 (WED) 6:30PM London School of Economics, London, England
8/16/11 (TUE) 7:00PM Barnes and Noble Eastridge, San Jose, CA
In the Press
Daily Motion (Book trailer video)
Bloomberg TV (4/4/11 at 9:45AM EDT)
All Things Digital (4/4/11)
"Larry Page as CEO: Jerry Yang or Steve Jobs?"
Bloomberg TV (4/4/11 at 9:45AM EDT)
"Larry Page as CEO: Jerry Yang or Steve Jobs?"
Business Insider
"What's it Like Working with Larry Page?"(4/4/11)
"Eleven Management Lessons I Learned at Google" (4/15/11)
"What's it Like Working with Larry Page?"(4/4/11)
"Eleven Management Lessons I Learned at Google" (4/15/11)
