Children's Literature - Barbara L. Talcroft

Today’s teens have a new set of heroes, explored here in the “Wizards of Technology” series. In this volume, readers meet Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the team who gave us Google. Though Sergey was born in Moscow and Larry in Michigan, both boys started playing with computers at an early age. Sergey’s parents brought him to the U.S., hoping for a better education and future for their son. (The family is Jewish and faced discrimination in Soviet Russia.) In 1995, the pair met at Stanford’s graduate school and became close friends. Combining their complementary skills, they began to work on an Internet search engine, with Page specializing in links that connect web pages, while Brin was interested in the actual data. Page also developed PageRank, a system to rank sites according to their usage. The end result was Google—it was time to start a company. Though it took intense and challenging work, by 1999 Google was named the top choice for search engines by PC magazine. While Brin and Page are always expanding their business, they remain committed to access for all and having fun with Google—witness the changing logo to celebrate selected events—and encouraging their employees to work on ideas of their own one day each week. Gmail was introduced in 2004 and Google Maps has become an outstanding success. Always looking to the future, Google keeps developing innovative ideas (driverless cars and wearable computers). Like many of their entrepreneurial peers, both men have become philanthropists, donating to medical research with special meaning for them. Large color photos of mainly Google web pages or products are included, as are glossaries, quizzes on the text, and ideas for research projects. Some editing for clarity and a timeline would have been helpful. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft; Ages 12 up.