Charlie Ayers was Google employee number fifty-six. He wasn't an engineer or business guy. He was the company chef—and his employment tells you a lot about Google. Now, corporate chefs aren't new, but few companies hire one with only fifty-five employees to feed. And Ayers wasn't there to flip burgers. His menus were international in scope and included such exotic offerings as sweet potato jalapeño bisque and organic tofu mushroom ragout. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin felt a world-class cafeteria would not only make employees happy and comfortable, but also distinguish the company from the hundreds of other Internet start-ups competing for talent. Guess they got that right.
Whereas Ayers is not mentioned in another Google-related book currently on the market, The Search, he merits a whole chapter of The Google Story. The focus of The Search, however, was Google's influence on society and technology. This story is a recounting, if an overly friendly one at times, of Google's creation.
Readers need a strong stomach to read the reconstructed conversations presented as fact. And keep in mind that the authors, while retaining editorial control, “discussed the manuscript with Google executives prior to publication to ensure maximum fairness and accuracy.”
Nevertheless, the many interviews with past and current employees present an intriguing insider view of the Google culture. We learn that when the company refurbished Building 43, the engineering heart of the Google campus, Page played a big part in ensuring the building would be “a playground for engineers that more nearly resembles a movie set than real life” with details including heat-controlled toilet seats and tent-like offices.
Author David Vise is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at the Washington Post, while Malseed, also a writer by trade, provided research for Bob Woodward's recent books Plan of Attack and Bush at War.
- Sean Silverthorne