“I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee No. 59” Douglas Edwards, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (416 pages, $27)
Here’s convincing evidence that Google isn’t growing arrogant in its success. Google was, in fact, born arrogant, as illustrated by Douglas Edwards in his highly entertaining new memoir, “I’m Feeling Lucky.”
Hired in 1999 from the San Jose Mercury News to head up brand marketing, Edwards was Employee No. 59, leaving in 2005 after the company’s initial public offering.
“I’m Feeling Lucky” is at its best, and most hilarious, in its account of the company’s earliest days. Edwards recalls his hiring interview with co-founder Sergey Brin, which set off a warning light in his brain: “This was the guy who didn’t think there should be a marketing budget, and he had hired a chef and dual massage therapists?” But then the free sushi appeared.
Edwards’ account ends when he leaves the company after one too many bureaucratic run-ins — and after the IPO that made millionaires of many colleagues and, one assumes, Edwards himself. Rich Jaroslovsky, Bloomberg News
