Googled: The End of the World As We Know It book club questions

1. 1.

   Auletta portrays the newspaper and advertising executives as smart people who failed to adapt. What would adapting actually have looked like in 2005? Was it possible?

2. 2.

   Google's early motto was 'Don't be evil.' How does that slogan look in retrospect, given what the company became? Was it sincere, naive, or self-serving?

3. 3.

   The advertising cross-subsidy paid for local journalism. Should the companies that benefited from destroying it — Google, Facebook — have any obligation to replace what was lost?

4. 4.

   Google treats everything as a data problem. What are the things that data analysis handles well, and what does it systematically miss or distort?

5. 5.

   Auletta had unusual access to Google's leadership. Does the book feel like he was too close to his sources, or does the access improve the account?

6. 6.

   The book was published in 2009, before Facebook's rise and before mobile fully transformed search. Which of Auletta's predictions have aged well, and which look wrong now?

7. 7.

   Schmidt, Brin, and Page all have backgrounds as computer scientists. Does technical training produce a specific kind of business blindspot? What are its benefits and costs?

8. 8.

   Google disrupted industries whose disruption had significant social costs — local journalism, in particular. How should we weigh market efficiency against the social functions that inefficient markets were supporting?

9. 9.

   Auletta finds the media executives often more sympathetic than their detractors do. Does he convince you to see their situation as genuinely difficult rather than simply self-protective?

10. 10.

    What does the Google story suggest about the durability of Google's own position? What are the equivalent structural vulnerabilities that a future disruptor might exploit?

11. 11.

    The book's title is 'The End of the World As We Know It.' Was it? What was the world that ended, and what replaced it?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.