Popular Google Books

30+ [Hand Picked] Popular Books On Google

4/5

Seducing the Billionaire's Wife by Marquita Valentine

Andrew Montgomery has everything money can afford him, except time. His father is ready to give up the helm of Montgomery Industry-something Andrew has been groomed for since birth. Only, his father won't allow him to take control until he satisfies one demand. Andrew must marry and stay married for five years, or the company will be sold off for charity, one share at a ti Andrew Montgomery has everything money can afford him, except time. His father is ready to give up the helm of Montgomery Industry-something Andrew has been groomed for since birth. Only, his father won't allow him to take control until he satisfies one demand. Andrew must marry and stay married for five years, or the company will be sold off for charity, one share at a time. Resort hotel maid, Hannah Miller never dreamed that the boy she spent every summer with until she was seventeen would grow up to become ruthless billionaire Andrew Montgomery. Or that he would call in the silly IOU she'd given him for saving her from a dangerous riptide when she was thirteen years old. But nothing can prepare Hannah for what Drew demands as repayment. The sexy man not only intends to marry her, but to share their marriage bed as well. In every sense of the word.

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4.5/5

That Man Next Door by Nadia Lee

From a New York Times Bestseller comes a sexy romantic comedy featuring a virgin who's had five (failed) one-night stands and all the hilarious hijinks that ensue when One-Night Stand #5 moves in next door... I'm a twenty-two year-old virgin who's had five one-night stands. How's that possible? Easy. I've never gone all the way. I just chicken out and bail. Thank God, I've From a New York Times Bestseller comes a sexy romantic comedy featuring a virgin who's had five (failed) one-night stands and all the hilarious hijinks that ensue when One-Night Stand #5 moves in next door... I'm a twenty-two year-old virgin who's had five one-night stands. How's that possible? Easy. I've never gone all the way. I just chicken out and bail. Thank God, I've always selected men I'll never run across again... ...until that sexy-as-sin Matt from last weekend moves in next door... ...then shows up as a new in-house counsel at Sweet Darlings Inc. where I work. Oh...crap. But it was dark in the hotel room. If I put on a boring office outfit and Clark Kent glasses, he won't recognize me... Right?

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4.7/5

Once Gone by Blake Pierce

Women are turning up dead in the rural outskirts of Virginia, killed in grotesque ways, and when the FBI is called in, they are stumped. A serial killer is out there, his frequency increasing, and they know there is only one agent good enough to crack this case: Special Agent Riley Paige. Riley is on paid leave herself, recovering from her encounter with her last serial ki Women are turning up dead in the rural outskirts of Virginia, killed in grotesque ways, and when the FBI is called in, they are stumped. A serial killer is out there, his frequency increasing, and they know there is only one agent good enough to crack this case: Special Agent Riley Paige. Riley is on paid leave herself, recovering from her encounter with her last serial killer, and, fragile as she is, the FBI is reluctant to tap her brilliant mind. Yet Riley, needing to battle her own demons, comes on board, and her hunt leads her through the disturbing subculture of doll collectors, into the homes of broken families, and into the darkest canals of the killer’s mind. As Riley peels back the layers, she realizes she is up against a killer more twisted than she could have imagined. In a frantic race against time, she finds herself pushed to her limit, her job on the line, her own family in danger, and her fragile psyche collapsing. Yet once Riley Paige takes on a case, she will not quit. It obsesses her, leading her to the darkest corners of her own mind, blurring the lines between hunter and hunted. After a series of unexpected twists, her instincts lead her to a shocking climax that even Riley could not have imagined. A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, ONCE GONE marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #2 and #3 in the Riley Paige series are also available.

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3.8/5

Issued to the Bride: One Navy SEAL by Cora Seton

Marry—or else. Navy SEAL Brian Lake is out of luck. Going rogue on his last mission landed him on a fast track out of the Navy—years too soon to have saved up enough money to buy the ranch he’s always wanted. Without a career—or the cash to start over—Brian’s options are few, until Army general Augustus Reed steps in with an intriguing new mission—a permanent one. Ignored Marry—or else. Navy SEAL Brian Lake is out of luck. Going rogue on his last mission landed him on a fast track out of the Navy—years too soon to have saved up enough money to buy the ranch he’s always wanted. Without a career—or the cash to start over—Brian’s options are few, until Army general Augustus Reed steps in with an intriguing new mission—a permanent one. Ignored by her absentee father, duped by thief he appointed to oversee her family’s ranch, Cass Reed is done with men for good. From now on she’s determined to run Two Willows herself, so when her father sends a Navy SEAL to fix up her house, she vows to run him off her land as soon as possible. But Brian’s just as determined to stay, and he’s in a far different league than the men she’s met before. Brian’s ready to do anything that will earn him a share of a prosperous ranch—even take a chance on marrying the General’s daughter. And he soon realizes it won’t be a hardship to marry Cass. She’s everything he’s ever dreamed of in a woman—and Two Willows is everything he wanted in a ranch. But he’s not the only one who wants Two Willows—and Cass. Will falling in love be the most dangerous mission of all?

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4/5

Before He Kills by Blake Pierce

From #1 bestselling author Blake Pierce comes a heart-pounding new mystery series. In the cornfields of Nebraska a woman is found murdered, strung up on a pole, the victim of a deranged killer. It doesn’t take long for the police to realize a serial killer is on the loose—and that his spree has just begun. Detective Mackenzie White, young, tough, smarter than the aging, chau From #1 bestselling author Blake Pierce comes a heart-pounding new mystery series. In the cornfields of Nebraska a woman is found murdered, strung up on a pole, the victim of a deranged killer. It doesn’t take long for the police to realize a serial killer is on the loose—and that his spree has just begun. Detective Mackenzie White, young, tough, smarter than the aging, chauvinistic men on her local force, finds herself called in grudgingly to help solve it. As much as the other officers hate to admit it, they need her young, brilliant mind, which has already helped crack cold cases that had left them stumped. Yet even for Mackenzie this new case proves an impossible riddle, something the likes of which she—and the local force—have ever seen. With the FBI called in, together, an intense manhunt ensues. Mackenzie, reeling from her own dark past, her failed relationships, and her undeniable attraction to the new FBI agent, finds herself battling her own demons as her hunt for the killer takes her to the darkest places of her mind. As she delves into the killer’s mind, obsessing over his twisted psychology, she finds that evil truly does exist. She only hopes it will not be too late to extricate herself from it, as her entire life collapses around her. As more bodies turn up dead and a frantic race against time ensues, there is no way out but to find him before he kills again. A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, Before He Kills marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

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4/5

Protecting Summer by Susan Stoker

At age fifteen, Sam "Mozart" Reed's life changed the day his little sister was found abused and murdered. Since her death, he's spent his life hunting for the serial killer who took his sister from him and ruined his family. Using his connections, and SEAL training, Mozart believes he's finally tracked the killer to the town of Big Bear, California. Summer Pack is working i At age fifteen, Sam "Mozart" Reed's life changed the day his little sister was found abused and murdered. Since her death, he's spent his life hunting for the serial killer who took his sister from him and ruined his family. Using his connections, and SEAL training, Mozart believes he's finally tracked the killer to the town of Big Bear, California. Summer Pack is working in a crappy motel up at Big Bear Lake until she can find something better, more meaningful, more real. While living in an unhealthy situation, she meets a man who is everything she's ever dreamed about and who helps her see that there are some people in the world who will actually do what they say they will and keep their word. But somewhere in Big Bear is a killer waiting to strike again. Waiting and watching for the perfect victim. **Protecting Summer is the 4th book in the SEAL of Protection Series. It can be read as a stand-alone, but it's recommended you read the books in order to get maximum enjoyment out of the series. Full Length Novel at 55,000 words.

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4.6/5

The Fireproof Girl by Loretta Lost

Abandoned at birth, Sophie Shields grew up in abusive foster homes, escaping into books and computers for solace. When the constant danger became too much to bear, she ran away, thinking she could survive on her hacking skills alone. That was until she met Cole Hunter. He became the only person she could trust: her family, her friend, her partner-in-crime. Her everything. A Abandoned at birth, Sophie Shields grew up in abusive foster homes, escaping into books and computers for solace. When the constant danger became too much to bear, she ran away, thinking she could survive on her hacking skills alone. That was until she met Cole Hunter. He became the only person she could trust: her family, her friend, her partner-in-crime. Her everything. After struggling through college and starting their lives together, she believed that nothing could ever tear them apart. Until it did. And she’ll do everything in her power to fix what is broken. If it isn’t too late… --------- When Cole was nine years old, he watched his whole family burn to death in a house fire. Fueled by years of obsession, he started one of the world’s leading architectural firms, with a mission to design homes resistant to fire, earthquakes, floods, and every threat known to man. Sophie was his secret weapon. She was his purpose. Since they were teenagers, he was determined to build a better life for her, so she could finally be safe, and they could be together. But disaster has always followed Cole around, ripping away everything he loves. This time, if he isn’t careful… His enemies might just take him down.

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4.4/5

Taking It Easy by Erin Nicholas

Logan Trahan is one of the French Quarter’s hottest bartenders. A single, charming, sexy southern boy who’s proud to pour the best Pimm’s Cup in town. Yes, that’s his biggest accomplishment. So what? Dana Doucet is a widowed mom of two who’s doing it all. And doing it well, thank you very much. But she had a moment — okay, an entire night — of weakness and gave in after, i Logan Trahan is one of the French Quarter’s hottest bartenders. A single, charming, sexy southern boy who’s proud to pour the best Pimm’s Cup in town. Yes, that’s his biggest accomplishment. So what? Dana Doucet is a widowed mom of two who’s doing it all. And doing it well, thank you very much. But she had a moment — okay, an entire night — of weakness and gave in after, ironically, nine months of Logan’s naughty flirtations. And a couple of those Pimm’s Cups. It was just one night, but now they’re stuck with each other forever. Or at least for the next eighteen years, eight months, and one week. Not that she’s counting. Well, this is definitely big. But there’s no way it’s going to be easy.

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4/5

Wildcat by Max Monroe

What would you do if the sexy, mysterious stranger you met by chance turned out to be a celebrity? Catharine Wild is about to find out. Quinn Bailey is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and the instant he lays eyes on pretty little Cat Wild, he can’t resist her. When the sexy football star comes aboard the flight attendant’s plane, her life takes a drastic turn. Mi What would you do if the sexy, mysterious stranger you met by chance turned out to be a celebrity? Catharine Wild is about to find out. Quinn Bailey is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and the instant he lays eyes on pretty little Cat Wild, he can’t resist her. When the sexy football star comes aboard the flight attendant’s plane, her life takes a drastic turn. Mile-high courting and an intense pursuit to win her heart are just the beginning. Attention, fame—even, public scrutiny find their way into the mix. It should be simple, right? Wrong. Because, in the end, not everyone wants to see the small town girl find love with the superstar. Good thing Quinn Bailey knows how to win. Game on, baby. From the New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of TAPPING THE BILLIONAIRE comes a hilarious and sexy standalone about chance encounters and finding true love.

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3.9/5

The Birthday List by Devney Perry

Happily married to her college sweetheart, Poppy lived a blessed life with the husband of her dreams. Then everything changed. She is no longer a wife. She is no longer the envy of her single friends. Now, people look at her with pity as they whisper a single word behind her back. Widow. Years after her husband’s tragic death, years of pain and sorrow and wishing for the l Happily married to her college sweetheart, Poppy lived a blessed life with the husband of her dreams. Then everything changed. She is no longer a wife. She is no longer the envy of her single friends. Now, people look at her with pity as they whisper a single word behind her back. Widow. Years after her husband’s tragic death, years of pain and sorrow and wishing for the life she’ll never get back, Poppy decides to finish Jamie’s birthday list. She’ll do the things he wanted to most. Because maybe, just maybe, if she can complete his list, she can start to live again. Poppy expects going through the birthday list will be hard. She expects it to hurt. But what she doesn’t expect is Cole. Could the man who delivered the news of her husband’s death and shattered her heart be the one to help her put it back together again?

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4.2/5

Next to You by Julia Gabriel

A scarred and lonely billionaire hiding from his past ... Jared Connor lost his innocence at the age of ten when his father poured gasoline around the family home and left his two young sons to die in the flames. Now an adult, he's carefully crafted a pretend life where he can hide his scars and his death row father behind the guise of a caretaker's pickup truck and a pair A scarred and lonely billionaire hiding from his past ... Jared Connor lost his innocence at the age of ten when his father poured gasoline around the family home and left his two young sons to die in the flames. Now an adult, he's carefully crafted a pretend life where he can hide his scars and his death row father behind the guise of a caretaker's pickup truck and a pair of gardening shears. But when a beautiful woman with scars of her own barges into his quiet, solitary life, Jared finds it increasingly difficult to hide from what he really wants. A successful young businesswoman ill at ease in her newfound beauty ... Phlox Miller was never the pretty girl and no magic mascara or secret serum was ever going to change that—not even one manufactured by her own company. When an accident at her country home burns her face and body, she spares no expense on her recovery and plastic surgery. Now she turns heads on the street, but can't recognize herself in the mirror—and can't convince the man she loves that he's beautiful, too.

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4/5

Challenging the Doctor by Patricia W. Fischer

After a near-career ending event, ER doctor Edmund Davidson relocates to Marietta, Montana, hoping it’s the fresh start he needs. Edmund settles in quickly to life in a small town and thrives in his role as the new ER doc. He especially enjoys sparing with the gorgeous, smart, and headstrong nurse practitioner. Jade intrigues him like no women he’s ever met, but he can’t h After a near-career ending event, ER doctor Edmund Davidson relocates to Marietta, Montana, hoping it’s the fresh start he needs. Edmund settles in quickly to life in a small town and thrives in his role as the new ER doc. He especially enjoys sparing with the gorgeous, smart, and headstrong nurse practitioner. Jade intrigues him like no women he’s ever met, but he can’t help feel that she’s burdened by a dark secret. Jade Phillips wants to reboot her life after losing out on a promotion to head the ER to a newcomer, Edmund’s sister, Lucy. As Jade attempts to focus on selling her father’s place and close a painful chapter of her life, she discovers evidence of a dark secret. Jade finds herself in trapped between family loyalty and personal devastation. She knows her attraction to Edmund and her secrets could put them both in jeopardy, but when Edmund saves her brother’s life, she realizes she has to trust someone. Edmund soon realizes he’s emotionally in too deep with Jade. He wants to protect her, but he’s professionally on thin ice already. If he doesn’t reveal her secret, their separate pasts can destroy both of their careers. But can he betray the woman he loves to protect himself? Or will he risk it all, even his heart?

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4.2/5

The Fire Inside by Kathryn Shay

Fire Department Psychologist Jack Harrison has spent his life helping firefighters in Hidden Cove deal with firefighting deaths, PTSD, broken marriages, the fear of spouses for their loved ones, and a variety of firefighter romances. He is especially beloved by the Malvasos, as revealed in the previous family saga novels. But when he goes to upstate New York to train incog Fire Department Psychologist Jack Harrison has spent his life helping firefighters in Hidden Cove deal with firefighting deaths, PTSD, broken marriages, the fear of spouses for their loved ones, and a variety of firefighter romances. He is especially beloved by the Malvasos, as revealed in the previous family saga novels. But when he goes to upstate New York to train incognito with a recruit class, he meets Captain Tess Righetti, unaware of her connection to the famous Italian family. And he clashes big time with her about her stern approach to teaching the recruits. Then, one night after she is injured, their contact unexpectedly explodes into sizzling passion, but because of circumstances, Jack never contacts her again. Until she moves to Hidden Cove. Tempers flare, sparks fly and fireworks follow them everywhere.

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4.7/5

Hard Fall by P.T. Reade

Special Offer: Get 45% off the full box-set now: amzn.to/1nXVySv An ex-cop with a past. A case police couldn't solve. One chance at redemption... An ex-New York detective, now working as a freelance investigator in London; Thomas Blume hunts for the killers that tore his family apart. For justice, for closure, for revenge. But when Blume stumbles across a case that baffled Special Offer: Get 45% off the full box-set now: amzn.to/1nXVySv An ex-cop with a past. A case police couldn't solve. One chance at redemption... An ex-New York detective, now working as a freelance investigator in London; Thomas Blume hunts for the killers that tore his family apart. For justice, for closure, for revenge. But when Blume stumbles across a case that baffled local police, he unwittingly becomes part of a world full of criminals, thugs and corrupt cops that will do anything to stop him. Now, in a country he doesn't understand and a city stacked against him, Blume must fight to expose the truth… before it's too late. Over 20,000 copies downloaded. Discover the thrilling first book in the Thomas Blume hard boiled mystery series today! What people are saying about Hard Fall: 'It reminds me of Raymond Chandler’s work. It’s noir, dark, full of rainy streets, seedy bars and characters with their own secrets.' - Author, Victoria Randall 'I started reading it last night and didn't put it down until I finished. I highly recommend this book to anyone!' - Joe Schaeffer, EBL 'This book is the most perfect example! I love how it was written. The plot was very suspenseful!' - Penelope Pearson Click and get your copy now! “A dark, twisting mystery that will hook you right from the start! Meet your new favorite hero…” “Hard boiled detective fiction with a modern slant” Watch out for more from Thomas Blume A private investigator with a dark past, Thomas Blume will stop at nothing to uncover the truth. Get 45% off the full Thomas Blume box-set, 'Hard Boiled City' now: amzn.to/1nXVySv Tags: hard boiled mysteries, mystery, mysteries, noir, private investigators, hard boiled thriller, hard boiled detective fiction, hard boiled private investigator mystery series

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4.4/5

Lakeshore Secrets by Shannyn Leah

Alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B077YSQS15 Kate McAdams was forced six years ago to leave her beloved hometown of Willow Valley, leaving behind her family and the only man she’s ever loved, Marc Caliendo. Although she has created a new life for herself away from the drama, secrets and stress of the small town, she must return upon her grandmother’s death. Her return bring Alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B077YSQS15 Kate McAdams was forced six years ago to leave her beloved hometown of Willow Valley, leaving behind her family and the only man she’s ever loved, Marc Caliendo. Although she has created a new life for herself away from the drama, secrets and stress of the small town, she must return upon her grandmother’s death. Her return brings back wonderful memories, especially of Marc, but also horrible fears from the past. When fate throws her and Marc together once again, how can they ignore the everlasting love and desire between them? Will Kate stay and face her demons or will the deceit and secrets of the past destroy any future they may have and force her to leave again

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5/5

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, but after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything; instead, they "check out" l The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, but after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything; instead, they "check out" large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. Suspicious, Clay engineers an analysis of the clientele's behavior, seeking help from his variously talented friends, but when they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, they discover the bookstore's secrets extend far beyond its walls.

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4.5/5

In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy

Written with full cooperation from top management, including cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, this is the inside story behind Google, the most successful and most admired technology company of our time, told by one of our best technology writers. Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Intern Written with full cooperation from top management, including cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, this is the inside story behind Google, the most successful and most admired technology company of our time, told by one of our best technology writers. Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives. How has Google done it? Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes readers inside Google headquarters—the Googleplex—to show how Google works. While they were still students at Stanford, Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin revolutionized Internet search. They followed this brilliant innovation with another, as two of Google’s earliest employees found a way to do what no one else had: make billions of dollars from Internet advertising. With this cash cow, Google was able to expand dramatically and take on other transformative projects: more efficient data centers, open-source cell phones, free Internet video (YouTube), cloud computing, digitizing books, and much more. The key to Google’s success in all these businesses, Levy reveals, is its engineering mind-set and adoption of such Internet values as speed, openness, experimentation, and risk taking. After its unapologetically elitist approach to hiring, Google pampers its engineers—free food and dry cleaning, on-site doctors and masseuses—and gives them all the resources they need to succeed. Even today, with a workforce of more than 23,000, Larry Page signs off on every hire. But has Google lost its innovative edge? With its newest initiative, social networking, Google is chasing a successful competitor for the first time. Some employees are leaving the company for smaller, nimbler start-ups. Can the company that famously decided not to be evil still compete? No other book has ever turned Google inside out as Levy does with In the Plex.

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4/5

The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time by David A. Vise

Moscow-born Sergey Brin and Midwest-born Larry Page dropped out of graduate school at Stanford University to, in their own words, "change the world" through a powerful search engine that would organize every bit of information on the Web for free. The Google Story takes you deep inside the company's wild ride from an idea that struggled for funding in 1998 to a firm that r Moscow-born Sergey Brin and Midwest-born Larry Page dropped out of graduate school at Stanford University to, in their own words, "change the world" through a powerful search engine that would organize every bit of information on the Web for free. The Google Story takes you deep inside the company's wild ride from an idea that struggled for funding in 1998 to a firm that rakes in billions in profits, making Brin and Page the wealthiest young men in America. Based on scrupulous research and extraordinary access to Google, this fast-moving narrative reveals how an unorthodox management style and culture of innovation enabled a search engine to shake up Madison Avenue and Wall Street, scoop up YouTube, and battle Microsoft at every turn. Not afraid of controversy, Google is expanding in Communist China and quietly working on a searchable genetic database, initiatives that test the founders' guiding mantra: DON'T BE EVIL.

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3.9/5

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis

“Eye-opening, thought-provoking, and enlightening.” —USA Today “An indispensable guide to the business logic of the networked era.” —Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody “A stimulating exercise in thinking really, really big.” —San Jose Mercury News What Would Google Do? is an indispensable manual for survival and success in today’s internet-driven marketplace. By “revers “Eye-opening, thought-provoking, and enlightening.” —USA Today “An indispensable guide to the business logic of the networked era.” —Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody “A stimulating exercise in thinking really, really big.” —San Jose Mercury News What Would Google Do? is an indispensable manual for survival and success in today’s internet-driven marketplace. By “reverse engineering the fastest growing company in the history of the world,” author Jeff Jarvis, proprietor of Buzzmachine.com, one of the Web’s most widely respected media blogs, offers indispensible strategies for solving the toughest new problems facing businesses today. With a new afterword from the author, What Would Google Do? is the business book that every leader or potential leader in every industry must read.

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4.7/5

How Google Works by Eric Schmidt , Jonathan Rosenberg

Both Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg came to Google as seasoned Silicon Valley business executives, but over the course of a decade they came to see the wisdom in Coach John Wooden's observation that 'it's what you learn after you know it all that counts'. As they helped grow Google from a young start-up to a global icon, they relearned everything they knew about manag Both Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg came to Google as seasoned Silicon Valley business executives, but over the course of a decade they came to see the wisdom in Coach John Wooden's observation that 'it's what you learn after you know it all that counts'. As they helped grow Google from a young start-up to a global icon, they relearned everything they knew about management. How Google Works is the sum of those experiences distilled into a fun, easy-to-read primer on corporate culture, strategy, talent, decision-making, communication, innovation, and dealing with disruption. The authors explain how the confluence of three seismic changes - the internet, mobile, and cloud computing - has shifted the balance of power from companies to consumers. The companies that will thrive in this ever-changing landscape will be the ones that create superior products and attract a new breed of multifaceted employees whom the authors dub 'smart creatives'. The management maxims ('Consensus requires dissension', 'Exile knaves but fight for divas', 'Think 10X, not 10%') are illustrated with previously unreported anecdotes from Google's corporate history. 'Back in 2010, Eric and I created an internal class for Google managers,' says Rosenberg. 'The class slides all read 'Google confidential' until an employee suggested we uphold the spirit of openness and share them with the world. This book codifies the recipe for our secret sauce: how Google innovates and how it empowers employees to succeed.'

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4.8/5

The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture by John Battelle

If you pick your books by their popularity--how many and which other people are reading them--then know this about The Search: it's probably on Bill Gates' reading list, and that of almost every venture capitalist and startup-hungry entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. In its sweeping survey of the history of Internet search technologies, its gossip about and analysis of Google If you pick your books by their popularity--how many and which other people are reading them--then know this about The Search: it's probably on Bill Gates' reading list, and that of almost every venture capitalist and startup-hungry entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. In its sweeping survey of the history of Internet search technologies, its gossip about and analysis of Google, and its speculation on the larger cultural implications of a Web-connected world, it will likely receive attention from a variety of businesspeople, technology futurists, journalists, and interested observers of mid-2000s zeitgeist. This ambitious book comes with a strong pedigree. Author John Battelle was a founder of The Industry Standard and then one of the original editors of Wired, two magazines which helped shape our early perceptions of the wild world of the Internet. Battelle clearly drew from his experience and contacts in writing The Search. In addition to the sure-handed historical perspective and easy familiarity with such dot-com stalwarts as AltaVista, Lycos, and Excite, he speckles his narrative with conversational asides from a cast of fascinating characters, such Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Yahoo's, Jerry Yang and David Filo; key executives at Microsoft and different VC firms on the famed Sandhill road; and numerous other insiders, particularly at the company which currently sits atop the search world, Google. The Search is not exactly the corporate history of Google. At the book's outset, Battelle specifically indicates his desire to understand what he calls the cultural anthropology of search, and to analyze search engines' current role as the "database of our intentions"--the repository of humanity's curiosity, exploration, and expressed desires. Interesting though that beginning is, though, Battelle's story really picks up speed when he starts dishing inside scoop on the darling business story of the decade, Google. To Battelle's credit, though, he doesn't stop just with historical retrospective: the final part of his book focuses on the potential future directions of Google and its products' development. In what Battelle himself acknowledges might just be a "digital fantasy train", he describes the possibility that Google will become the centralizing platform for our entire lives and quotes one early employee on the weightiness of Google's potential impact: "Sometimes I feel like I am on a bridge, twenty thousand feet up in the air. If I look down I'm afraid I'll fall. I don't feel like I can think about all the implications." Some will shrug at such words; after all, similar hype has accompanied other technologies and other companies before. Many others, though, will search Battelle's story for meaning--and fast. --Peter Han

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4.9/5

I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 by Douglas Edwards

Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to an Edsel. No academic analysis or bystander’s account can capture it. Now Doug Edwards, Employee Number 59, offers the first inside view of Google, giving readers a chance to fully experience the bizarre mix of camaraderie and competition at this phenomenal company. Edwards, Google’s first director of m Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to an Edsel. No academic analysis or bystander’s account can capture it. Now Doug Edwards, Employee Number 59, offers the first inside view of Google, giving readers a chance to fully experience the bizarre mix of camaraderie and competition at this phenomenal company. Edwards, Google’s first director of marketing and brand management, describes it as it happened. We see the first, pioneering steps of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company’s young, idiosyncratic partners; the evolution of the company’s famously nonhierarchical structure (where every employee finds a problem to tackle or a feature to create and works independently); the development of brand identity; the races to develop and implement each new feature; and the many ideas that never came to pass. Above all, Edwards—a former journalist who knows how to write—captures the “Google Experience,” the rollercoaster ride of being part of a company creating itself in a whole new universe. I’m Feeling Lucky captures for the first time the unique, self-invented, yet profoundly important culture of the world’s most transformative corporation.

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4.6/5

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock

From the visionary head of Google's innovative People Operations comes a groundbreaking inquiry into the philosophy of work-and a blueprint for attracting the most spectacular talent to your business and ensuring that they succeed. "We spend more time working than doing anything else in life. It's not right that the experience of work should be so demotivating and dehumani From the visionary head of Google's innovative People Operations comes a groundbreaking inquiry into the philosophy of work-and a blueprint for attracting the most spectacular talent to your business and ensuring that they succeed. "We spend more time working than doing anything else in life. It's not right that the experience of work should be so demotivating and dehumanizing." So says Laszlo Bock, head of People Operations at the company that transformed how the world interacts with knowledge. This insight is the heart of WORK RULES!, a compelling and surprisingly playful manifesto that offers lessons including: Take away managers' power over employees Learn from your best employees-and your worst Hire only people who are smarter than you are, no matter how long it takes to find them Pay unfairly (it's more fair!) Don't trust your gut: Use data to predict and shape the future Default to open-be transparent and welcome feedback If you're comfortable with the amount of freedom you've given your employees, you haven't gone far enough. Drawing on the latest research in behavioral economics and a profound grasp of human psychology, WORK RULES! also provides teaching examples from a range of industries-including lauded companies that happen to be hideous places to work and little-known companies that achieve spectacular results by valuing and listening to their employees. Bock takes us inside one of history's most explosively successful businesses to reveal why Google is consistently rated one of the best places to work in the world, distilling 15 years of intensive worker R&D into principles that are easy to put into action, whether you're a team of one or a team of thousands. WORK RULES! shows how to strike a balance between creativity and structure, leading to success you can measure in quality of life as well as market share. Read it to build a better company from within rather than from above; read it to reawaken your joy in what you do.

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4.3/5

Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? by William Poundstone

You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and thrown in a blender. The blades start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do? If you want to work at Google, or any of America's best companies, you need to have an answer to this and other puzzling questions. ARE YOU SMART ENOUGH TO WORK AT GOOGLE? guides readers through the surprising solutions to dozens of the most challenging i You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and thrown in a blender. The blades start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do? If you want to work at Google, or any of America's best companies, you need to have an answer to this and other puzzling questions. ARE YOU SMART ENOUGH TO WORK AT GOOGLE? guides readers through the surprising solutions to dozens of the most challenging interview questions. The book covers the importance of creative thinking, ways to get a leg up on the competition, what your Facebook page says about you, and much more. ARE YOU SMART ENOUGH TO WORK AT GOOGLE? is a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in today's job market.

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3.8/5

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Sparks are igniting. Flames are spreading. And the Capitol wants revenge. Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds h Sparks are igniting. Flames are spreading. And the Capitol wants revenge. Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create. Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. In Catching Fire, the second novel in the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before...and surprising readers at every turn.

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4.4/5

The Circle by Dave Eggers

When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company's modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can't believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world--even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge. (front flap)

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3.8/5

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning? In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning? In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before - and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Collins delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy, adventure and romance, in this searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. (front flap)

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4.8/5

Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know by Randall E. Stross

Based on unprecedented access he received to the highly secretive "Googleplex," acclaimed New York Times columnist Randall Stross takes readers deep inside Google, the most important, most innovative, and most ambitious company of the Internet Age. His revelations demystify the strategy behind the company's recent flurry of bold moves, all driven by the pursuit of a busine Based on unprecedented access he received to the highly secretive "Googleplex," acclaimed New York Times columnist Randall Stross takes readers deep inside Google, the most important, most innovative, and most ambitious company of the Internet Age. His revelations demystify the strategy behind the company's recent flurry of bold moves, all driven by the pursuit of a business plan unlike any other: to become the indispensable gatekeeper of all the world's information, the one-stop destination for all our information needs. Will Google succeed? And what are the implications of a single company commanding so much information and knowing so much about us? As ambitious as Google's goal is, with 68 percent of all Web searches (and growing), profits that are the envy of the business world, and a surplus of talent, the company is, Stross shows, well along the way to fulfilling its ambition, becoming as dominant a force on the Web as Microsoft became on the PC. Google isn't just a superior search service anymore. In recent years it has launched a dizzying array of new services and advanced into whole new businesses, from the introductions of its controversial Book Search and the irresistible Google Earth, to bidding for a slice of the wireless-phone spectrum and nonchalantly purchasing YouTube for $1.65 billion. Google has also taken direct aim at Microsoft's core business, offering free e-mail and software from word processing to spreadsheets and calendars, pushing a transformative -- and highly disruptive -- concept known as "cloud computing." According to this plan, users will increasingly store all of their data on Google's massive servers -- a network of a million computers that amounts to the world's largest supercomputer, with unlimited capacity to house all the information Google seeks. The more offerings Google adds, and the more ubiquitous a presence it becomes, the more dependent its users become on its services and the more information they contribute to its uni

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4.5/5

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

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4.8/5

What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us by Guy Kawasaki

You are ninety minutes and $2.99 away from mastering Google+. That's all it takes. But don't take Guy's word for it. Here's what three experts have to say about What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us: "We didn't expect over 100,000,000 people to join Google+ so quickly. If we had, we might have written a tutorial like this one. Lucky for us, Guy has written this wonderfu You are ninety minutes and $2.99 away from mastering Google+. That's all it takes. But don't take Guy's word for it. Here's what three experts have to say about What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us: "We didn't expect over 100,000,000 people to join Google+ so quickly. If we had, we might have written a tutorial like this one. Lucky for us, Guy has written this wonderful introduction to Google+. Highly recommended!" Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice-President, Social, Google "What The Plus is the G+ motherlode! Guy's book will make you fall madly in love with Google+ and never look back!" Mari Smith, author The New Relationship Marketing and coauthor Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day "People ask me why I like Google+ better. I struggle to find the words, but Guy Kawasaki not only figured it out but shows you how to get the most out of this new social network." Robert Scoble, Rackspace videoblogger

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