In I'm Feeling Lucky, Doug Edwards provides an engaging and entertaining inside look at how Google went from Silicon Valley start-up to a sprawling, S-1 corporation employing tens of thousands in just seven years. Edwards closes his work with these words: "After Google, I find myself impatient with the way the world works. Why is it so hard to schedule a recording on my DVR? Why aren't all the signal lights synched to keep traffic flowing at optimum speed? These are... solvable problems. Smart people, motivated to make things better, can do almost anything. I feel lucky to have seen first hand just how true that is."
What saves this memoir from becoming an insufferable love letter to his former employer is Edward's unusual position: a brand marketer in a company that disdains brand marketing. At Google, engineers rule and believe if they build the best product, users will come. Edwards, an outsider in many regards, is not afraid to point out the hubris of the company's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who emphasize "efficiency, frugality, integrity" above all else.
I loved reading about Google's journey from an unknown search engine into an indispensable aspect of our daily lives. This peek at the masterminds behind Google is fascinating, as is learning about its corporate culture--playful and creative, yet competitive and extremely demanding.
Edwards is an English major with a great sense of humor, and readers do not need a technical background to enjoy I'm Feeling Lucky. This winning book belongs on the reading list of every entrepreneur, business student and, well, Google user, which is just about everyone. --Kristen Galles at Book Club Classics