Any time you’ve used Google, have you ever wondered how Google was created?  The book Google It by Anne Crowley Redding takes us through a history of Google — The story of how two students changed the world by organizing the internet. From a small garage to a three-million-square-foot Googleplex, from college students to respected entrepreneurs, Larry Page and Sergey Brin never imagined this when they took their college tour at Stanford in 1995. Organize the internet, don’t be evil, shoot for the moon, and change the world — these were Larry and Sergey’s missions.

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The first idea I found in this book was the theme Everyone should have an equal chance in the world. To be honest, this theme idea was quite hidden, but after reading most of the book and the acknowledgments page, I realized that the author actually developed this theme through various details and facts in the book, which have all been quoted in the mind map below. I also connected this theme to a similar theme from another book I’d read: Wonder. Both books talked about the importance and effects of inequality, which I felt was really interesting as one was in the genre of literary non-fiction while the other was realistic fiction.

When creating the mind map, I realized something interesting: Although it was Google that gave people a chance to show their talents,  the individuals mentioned in the mind map, who succeeded under the help of Google, were all passionate about what they were doing, no matter if it were singing, coding, or creating products. Therefore, I have connected the theme of inequality to a significant central idea in Google It:  To be successful, it requires the passion of actually wanting to change the world, and not just longing for wealth.

It is unbelievable to think that Google was on the verge of bankruptcy multiple times even after it had revolutionized the internet, because of its founders’ zero desire for money and profit. This feature was also what separated Google from other companies, allowing it to advance in technology at a stunning rate and why it became so successful. But on the other hand, Google was also facing another challenge: New technology wasn’t always appreciated in society. Yes, wasn’t. I was also really surprised when finding this central idea while reading the book, therefore, I did a little extra research to see if there were any other times where technology had also been disapproved. From an article by Elon University, I found out that the telephone was also originally questioned by society, but had later revolutionized the world, just like some of Google’s products have.

Other than delving into the book’s themes and central ideas, I’ve also done some analysis on the two main characters in the book: Google’s founders, Larry and Sergey. I decided to combine the two founders on one character trait map, as the book rarely emphasized the two individually but mainly combined them as a whole while describing their encounters with different characters.

Last but not least, after finishing the entire book, I took some time to analyze a key point in Google It: How Google has impacted our daily lives. I broke down this idea into four main reasons and supported it with evidence from the book, while also connecting it with other ideas and fun facts, which I felt was a great way to summarize my takeaways.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. If you enjoyed reading through this, then you may consider reading the book Google It for yourself. I personally really recommend this book, as it is both an interesting and inspiring book including many unknown fun facts about the company. And hopefully, this book will also motivate you, to pursue your passion, and change the world, just like Larry and Sergey did.