Bugger it, I've finished!

A couple posts back I said that to help kill some lunch hour time the cheap way, I was going to try and get into a book - well it worked, problem being I enjoyed it so much that I've now finished it!

It happens every time I read a book: I get into it so much that as the end is in sight I rush to finish it - only to find an empty feeling inside when it's finished as I miss not looking forward to reading it.

The book was The Google Story and it told the story of how Sergey Brin and Larry Page went from 20-something students to billionaires in a shockingly short amount time, executing it with some style and doing some good along the way.

I don't completely buy the 'Do No Evil' claimed by Google, but I think as far as a money making business goes, they are probably about as non-evil as you can get.

An example of there slightly evil nature is there refusal to properly sort out the click-fraud issue which is costing their paying advertisers, because to reduce the issue would reduce their profits (that at least is what the book claims - I'm inclined to believe it).

But at the same time, they seem more than happy to blow money on things which don't stand to make them money. Some times it's because it looks like fun, sometimes its simply because they can and sometimes it's just to make the world a better place.

Although they don't have superpowers in the same way Superman or Spiderman does, I think they do have extrodinary amount of power and resources at their disposal, and they seem keen to use it for good by donating Google's resources to good causes (both charitable and public service wise (such as them digitizing as many paper based books as possible, making them searchable and accessible by the masses and not just those lucky enough to be at a particular university in America)).

My first impressions of the book was that it was written by someone who was heavily bias towards Google, but that didn't turn out to be so.

It was a great read though. Now I need to find something for tomorrow lunch time...