The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry) 1st Edition
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
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Review
“This book is in no way an attack on Google but more like a parent asking a child, ‘What do you want to do with your life?’ then going through all the concerns one by one. Strongly recommended.” ― Library Journal Published On: 2011-04-15
“Siva Vaidhyanathan . . . thinks we’ve become far too dependent on an arrogant, barely regulated company that gathers and stored tons of personal information about us.” -- Nick Eaton ― Seattle Post-Intelligencer Published On: 2011-05-21
“A stimulating and controversial book.” ― Times Higher Education Published On: 2011-08-11
From the Inside Flap
"While there have been other books chronicling the company's amazing rise, I know of none that looks so broadly and smartly, soberly but entertainingly, at the implications of this giant new global fact of life. Siva Vaidhyanathan has set the table brilliantly for one of the most important conversations of the early 21st century."- Kurt Andersen, author of Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America and radio host, Studio 360
"Vaidhyanathan is everything you could want in a cultural critic: funny, fantastically readable, and insightful as hell. It's always a treat when a new Vaidhyanathan comes out."Cory Doctorow, author of For the Win and co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net)
"Siva Vaidhyanathan's lively, thoughtful, and wide-ranging book makes clear, in detail, how Google is reshaping the way we live and work. He finds much to admire, but also challenges us to not only use Google's services, but to go beyond them to create a new and genuinely democratic information order."Anthony Grafton, author of Codex in Crisis
A provocative and irreverent book that aims to knock the Google-dust out of our eyes and teach us to be much more aware of the ruthless logic of Googles growing power over how we view information and understand our world.- Pamela Samuelson, Berkeley Law School
"This is a critically important book because it's really about the Googlization of All of Us. This is a brilliant meditation on technology, information, and consumer inertia, as well as an ambitious challenge to change how, where, why, and what we Google. Vaidhyanathan forces us to think long and hard about taking responsibility for what we all know and how we know it."Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor of Slate Magazine
This is such an important bookcourageous and wise, with not an ounce of blather or hyperbole. Vaidhyanathan reminds us that We are not Googles customers: we are its products, and then explores the many profound implications of this reality. Its going to be a long Age of Google, and were going to need this book throughout. - David Shenk, author of Data Smog and The Genius in All of Us
A powerful and gripping tour de force. Siva Vaidhyanathan uses Google to examine our capacity for blind faith and to worship innovation as an end in itself. You cannot read this book and remain unstirred.-Tim Wu, author of The Master Switch and Professor, Columbia Law School
"This is an important and timely topic, and Vaidhyanathan's head and heart are in the right place to guide the public through the thickets of 'googlization'."Paul Duguid, co-author of The Social Life of Information
"Finely written and engaging, this is a book for anyone who has used Google."Toby Miller, author of Makeover Nation: The United States of Reinvention
From the Back Cover
"While there have been other books chronicling the company's amazing rise, I know of none that looks so broadly and smartly, soberly but entertainingly, at the implications of this giant new global fact of life. Siva Vaidhyanathan has set the table brilliantly for one of the most important conversations of the early 21st century."- Kurt Andersen, author of Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America and radio host, Studio 360
"Vaidhyanathan is everything you could want in a cultural critic: funny, fantastically readable, and insightful as hell. It's always a treat when a new Vaidhyanathan comes out."―Cory Doctorow, author of For the Win and co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net)
"Siva Vaidhyanathan's lively, thoughtful, and wide-ranging book makes clear, in detail, how Google is reshaping the way we live and work. He finds much to admire, but also challenges us to not only use Google's services, but to go beyond them to create a new and genuinely democratic information order."―Anthony Grafton, author of Codex in Crisis
“A provocative and irreverent book that aims to knock the Google-dust out of our eyes and teach us to be much more aware of the ruthless logic of Google’s growing power over how we view information and understand our world.”- Pamela Samuelson, Berkeley Law School
"This is a critically important book because it's really about the Googlization of All of Us. This is a brilliant meditation on technology, information, and consumer inertia, as well as an ambitious challenge to change how, where, why, and what we Google. Vaidhyanathan forces us to think long and hard about taking responsibility for what we all know and how we know it."―Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor of Slate Magazine
“This is such an important book―courageous and wise, with not an ounce of blather or hyperbole. Vaidhyanathan reminds us that ‘We are not Google’s customers: we are its products,’ and then explores the many profound implications of this reality. It’s going to be a long Age of Google, and we’re going to need this book throughout.” - David Shenk, author of Data Smog and The Genius in All of Us
“A powerful and gripping tour de force. Siva Vaidhyanathan uses Google to examine our capacity for blind faith and to worship innovation as an end in itself. You cannot read this book and remain unstirred.”-Tim Wu, author of The Master Switch and Professor, Columbia Law School
"This is an important and timely topic, and Vaidhyanathan's head and heart are in the right place to guide the public through the thickets of 'googlization'."―Paul Duguid, co-author of The Social Life of Information
"Finely written and engaging, this is a book for anyone who has used Google."―Toby Miller, author of Makeover Nation: The United States of Reinvention
About the Author
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Product details
- Publisher : University of California Press; 1st edition (March 1, 2011)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 280 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0520258827
- ISBN-13 : 978-0520258822
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.3 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,496,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #295 in Internet Web Browsers
- #1,733 in Computers & Technology Industry
- #4,204 in Company Business Profiles (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Siva Vaidhyanathan is a cultural historian and media scholar and is a professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Vaidhyanathan is a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues in various periodicals including The Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times Magazine, The Nation, Slate, and The Baffler. He is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Institute for the Future of the Book. He directs the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia, which produces a television show, a radio program, several podcasts, and the Virginia Quarterly Review. He has appeared in an episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss early social network services. Vaidhyanathan has appeared in several documentary films, including Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013), Inside the Mind of Google (2009), and Freedom of Expression (2007). In 2016 Vaidhyanathan played a prominent role in the higher-education documentary, Starving the Beast. Vaidhyanathan was portrayed as a character on stage at the Public Theater in New York City in a play called Privacy (2016). Vaidhyanathan serves on the board of the Digital Public Library of America.
In March 2002, Library Journal cited Vaidhyanathan among its "Movers & Shakers" in the library field. In the feature story, Vaidhyanathan lauded librarians for being "on the front lines of copyright battles" and for being "the custodians of our information and cultural commons." In November 2004 the Chronicle of Higher Education called Vaidhyanathan "one of academe's best-known scholars of intellectual property and its role in contemporary culture." He has testified as an expert before the U.S. Copyright Office on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Vaidhyanathan was born in Buffalo, New York, and attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning both a B.A. in History and a Ph.D. in American Studies.
Customer reviews
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I would also recommend that readers look at work by Tim Wu and Larry Lessig if they found this to be particularly interesting.
I got the feeling that I should have been given certain amount of Google shares since the company successfully used and sold each individual's marketing profile. :)





