I have just finished reading The Search, a fascinating book which provides an historical context to the search industry, dominated today by Google, and how in such a short period the search culture has permeated many facets of our day to day lives.
The book explores the evolution of search technology, the business models which today underpin their success and concludes by considering how search might evolve in the years ahead.
John Battelle, the book's author, is a seasoned technology veteran. He is co-founder of Wired magazine and founder of The Industry Standard and is currently the program chair for the Web 2.0 conference and a columnist for Business 2.0.
We now all take search for granted - a means for us to quickly navigate the web to find answers to our questions and curiosities. In 2003, Piper Jaffray, an investment bank, estimated the world conducted about 550 million searches each and every day and forecast annual growth of 20%.
But how do search engines work? What are searchers typically hoping to find when using a search engine? Why does Google have so much influence in our connected world? And will we ever see "perfect search"?
It's these questions and more that Battelle addresses in The Search. The book is well researched and an easy, insightful and thought-provoking read. I highly recommend it to all online searchers - the book is a must read for those in the information, research and technology sectors.
So go buy The Search and check out Battelle's Searchblog.
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