About the Book: In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin—a pair of Stanford PhD students—launched a groundbreaking search engine called BackRub, powered by their innovative PageRank algorithm that ranked web pages based on backlinks. After realizing the algorithm’s scalability and success, they renamed the project Google, a playful spin on the mathematical term googol (10^100), symbolizing their mission to organize the world’s information. Their vision gained early momentum when Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim delivered a $100,000 seed investment, which prompted the formal incorporation of Google Inc. on September 4, 1998, in the garage of Susan Wojcicki in Menlo Park. From humble dorm rooms and a garage, Google rapidly ascended to dominate internet search, eventually redefining how billions access information across the globe. The phrase “Google it” emerged from this meteoric rise, becoming synonymous with searching online—a testament to Google’s cultural impact and dominance in search engine technology.