Googled: The End of the World as We Know It - Softcover

Ken Auletta, one of the pre-eminent US-based business journalists of the past thirty years, has written the Annals of Communications column for The New Yorker since 1992. He is the author of ten books, including four US bestsellers: Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman and World War 3.0: Microsoft and Its Enemies. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, the agent Amanda Urban.

While Google has been around for only a dozen years, the company has already changed the Internet and is on its way to becoming the leading player in online games. Auletta follows the company from its early days and draws portraits of its key players. While Google provides many free services, its rapid growth has scared many other Internet companies. Jim Bond's narration can be frustrating. He speaks too slowly sometimes, lessening the appeal of this unique story and making it difficult to stay interested. Additionally, some parts of the book itself are slow, and Bond's inconsistent pace makes the listener want to skip ahead. But overall, the book itself is fascinating enough to trump the lackluster narration. K.M. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine