Episode · Acquired · 2025-10-06
Books mentioned on Google: The AI Company. Google is amazingly well-positioned... will they win in AI? (audio)
Ben Gilbert recommended In the Plex by Steven Levy and Supremacy by Parmy Olson. David Rosenthal recommended The Genius Makers by Cade Metz.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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In the Plex
In the Plex by Steven Levy is a comprehensive, behind-the-scenes account of Google's origins, corporate culture, and meteoric rise to technological dominance.
Recommended“This is like a small little passage in Steven Levy's great book that's been a source for all of our Google episodes, In the Plex.”
Where to get it
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The Genius Makers
The Genius Makers by Cade Metz is a comprehensive history of artificial intelligence that chronicles the maverick researchers who brought deep learning to major tech companies like Google and Facebook.
Recommended“So, Jeff Hinton actually runs the auction from his hotel room at the Hera's Casino in Lake Tahoe. Oh my god, amazing. So, the bids all come in and we got to thank Cade Mets, the author of Genius Makers, great book on the whole history of AI that we're actually going to reference a lot in this episode.”
Where to get it
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Supremacy
Supremacy by Parmy Olson is an investigative journalism book that chronicles the intense corporate race for artificial intelligence dominance, focusing heavily on developments at DeepMind.
Recommended“Shane has a quote in Parm Olsen's great book Supremacy that we used as a source for a lot of this deep mind story.”
Where to get it
