The Google Story by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed

For the past 3 days, I've been absorbed in "The Google Story", by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed. Learning the details of how these two Stanford doctoral students met, found one another obnoxious at first, and then developed a friendship based on common interests and the desire to debate. Being a Google nut, there were a few things I already knew about Google, Inc. However, what was not evident to me previously was the strong commitment Sergey Brin and Larry Page had to develop a powerful search engine. It was not about the money or becoming a public company on the Stock Exchange. Sergey and Larry believed that first you develop something that of high quality, such as the most powerful search engine and money and opportunities will follow. Money was not their number one concern.

Brin and Page were dedicated to a mission and would not let anything or anyone stop them. A major part of the Google development concept initially took place on the Standford Campus, Gates 360. Yes, the concept of Google actually evolved in a beautiful building funded by Microsoft's Bill Gates, with hope of winning over some of the bright computer science and math students at Standford.

Many of you many choose to read this story yourself, so I don't want to give away all of the interesting surprises I learned about Google. However, if you've been amazed with Google's accomplishments these past 10 years, I think you will be AMAZED to learn where they are headed involving biological and genetic research.

As I read this story, I kept thinking about our own young boys and how I want them to know "The Google Story", as it teaches many valuable lessons relating to perseverance, intelligence, solving problems, and fully committing oneself to something you are passionate about. As an educator, I think our high school and college students are lacking motivation as a result of not having long term goals or vision. Which in turn, makes me look at our education system and what we need to change.

In the Fall of 2008, Boise State University had their freshman read the book "3 Cups of Tea", by Greg Mortenson, as this book is also one of vision and perseverance. In the future, when I receive high school graduation announcements, it is my plan to give them a copy of "The Google Story", with hopes that it will inspire them to accomplish great things!


Click here to view an Interview with the author, David A. Vise.