Inside Larry's and Sergey's Brain

By: Richard L. Brandt

Narrated by: Erik Synnestvetd

An in-depth look at the strategies of Google's shockingly successful founders.

You've used their products. You've heard about their skyrocketing wealth and "don't be evil" business motto. But how much do you really know about Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin? Inside Larry and Sergey's Brain skips past the general Google story and focuses on what really drives these men and where they will take Google in the future.

Richard L. Brandt shows the company as the brainchild of two brilliant but individual men and looks at Google's business decisions in light of its founders' ambitions and beliefs.

Larry is the main strategist, with business acumen and practical drive, while Sergey is the primary technologist and idealist, with brilliant ideas and strong moral positions. But they work closely together, almost like complementary halves of a single brain. Larry is more socially awkward and rarely volunteers to answer questions. Sergey is more poised but is also shy with outsiders.

Through interviews with current and former employees, competitors, partners, and senior Google management, plus conversations with the founders themselves, Brandt demystifies the secret society that is Google, as well as clarifying a number of misconceptions.

©2009 Richard L. Brandt (P)2009 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"In this must-read for anyone who deals seriously with cyberspace, Brandt has a remarkable profile in present-day innovation and potential." ( Publishers Weekly)

Humans at the Top

I like this book because it humanizes the heroes of this drama without getting too deep in the drama. The books gives a lot of detail about how Larry and Sergey created their pet project and how it came to rule our lives, it doesn't gloss over complaints, but doesn't delve too deeply in the soap opera elements of unhappy former employees, etc.

This book talks a lot about the business strategy and the future of the Internet, search and the potential impact on our lives, noting that experts say search is less than 5% solved. It adds that the linked connection to create a better search engineer that Larry and Sergey designed wasn't unique and they would have created some kind of business regardless.

The book goes through a lot of they key players and key events not only in the lives of the Google twins, but also in the evolution of what is becoming a key element in the lives of most humans on the planet -- the evolving Internet.

I like the detail and next to What Would Google Do, this is my favorite Google book. Good stuff