An engaging but unduly lopsided history for budding tech entrepreneurs.
An illustrated narrative of Google’s growth from a doctoral thesis topic to a tech giant; the latest in a series of nonfiction business books for children.
Sichol (From an Idea to Disney, 2019, etc.) starts with the early experiences of the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both gifted children growing up in intellectual families who encouraged their interest in computers. She recounts their odd-couple meeting at Stanford University, their eventual partnership to create a search engine, and their persistence through initial setbacks. From there, it’s a breezy journey through raising initial funding; turning a profit from ads; growing the business through hiring, innovation, and acquisition; and, finally, restructuring. Business terms such as “invest” and “acquire” are defined in brief callouts, with several pages devoted to “going public.” Jennings’ cartoons add to the approachability of the text, which is sprinkled with quotations and fun facts, including an entertaining look at what it’s like to work at the Googleplex. However, the author’s lionizing account sidesteps the recent controversies around tax avoidance, antitrust laws, consumer privacy, censorship, racial diversity, and treatment of women employees. It also skims over the roles that extraordinary women such as Susan Wojcicki and Marissa Meyer played in Google’s success while ignoring many others, reinforcing the stereotype of “brilliant men with big ideas”; “Larry and Sergey” are both white.
An engaging but unduly lopsided history for budding tech entrepreneurs. (timeline, sample interview questions, source notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-95491-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
The author of The Snake Scientist (not reviewed) takes the reader along on another adventure, this time to the Bay of Bengal, between India and Bangladesh to the Sundarbans Tiger Preserve in search of man-eating tigers. Beware, he cautions, “Your study subject might be trying to eat you!” The first-person narrative is full of helpful warnings: watch out for the estuarine crocodiles, “the most deadly crocodiles in the world” and the nine different kinds of dangerous sharks, and the poisonous sea snakes, more deadly than the cobra. Interspersed are stories of the people who live in and around the tiger preserve, information on the ecology of the mangrove swamp, myths and legends, and true life accounts of man-eating tigers. (Fortunately, these tigers don’t eat women or children.) The author is clearly on the side of the tigers as she states: “Even if you added up all the people that sick tigers were forced to eat, you wouldn’t get close to the number of tigers killed by people.” She introduces ideas as to why Sundarbans tigers eat so many people, including the theory, “When they attack people, perhaps they are trying to protect the land that they own. And maybe, as the ancient legend says, the tiger really is watching over the forest—for everyone’s benefit.” There are color photographs on every page, showing the landscape, people, and a variety of animals encountered, though glimpses of the tigers are fleeting. The author concludes with some statistics on tigers, information on organizations working to protect them, and a brief bibliography and index. The dramatic cover photo of the tiger will attract readers, and the lively prose will keep them engaged. An appealing science adventure. (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-07704-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In no particular order and using no set criteria for his selections, veteran sportscaster Berman pays tribute to an arbitrary gallery of baseball stars—all familiar names and, except for the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, retired from play for decades. Repeatedly taking the stance that statistics are just numbers but then reeling off batting averages, home-run totals, wins (for pitchers) and other data as evidence of greatness, he offers career highlights in a folksy narrative surrounded by photos, side comments and baseball-card–style notes in side boxes. Readers had best come to this with some prior knowledge, since he casually drops terms like “slugging percentage,” “dead ball era” and “barnstorming” without explanation and also presents a notably superficial picture of baseball’s history—placing the sport’s “first half-century” almost entirely in the 1900s, for instance, and condescendingly noting that Jackie Robinson’s skill led Branch Rickey to decide that he “was worthy of becoming the first black player to play in the majors.” The awesome feats of Ruth, Mantle, the Gibsons Bob and Josh, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and the rest are always worth a recap—but this one’s strictly minor league. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3886-4
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
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