It’s the Universal dream – start a company, make a fortune, and retire early. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin struck gold with their search engine. That vein of gold just gets richer and richer.

How did these young men and their company become so successful so quickly? How did they influence the world to such a degree that the name of their company and the act of using their search engine become a household word? How did they gain the attention of over half of the people in the world searching for information, leaving their competitors in the dust? These are some of the questions this book answers.

What started as a graduate school project with the goal of perfecting how people search for information on the World Wide Web grew into a company that shook not only the world of search but dramatically changed the worlds of advertising and communication. It changed the lives of those who use Google and who depend on it for research, news, quick answers, shopping, communication, and collaboration. It has even changed how we are able to view and explore our entire planet as we marvel at and take advantage of the satellite images provided by Google Earth. No one can deny: Google has changed the world.