This collection of papers by authors in different areas discusses how Google affects all aspects of our lives, our society, and possibly our future. The book contains 31 chapters, divided into seven parts. The topics range from the history, philosophy, and social values of Google as a tech company to its influence on or as a resource for religion, business, and social activities, including presidential elections and education.

This is a very good book for anyone who wants to know Google beyond simple keyword searches. Readers can find inspiring discussions that they may have never thought about before regarding Google and its connection to our daily lives.

“The Gordian Knot,” Part 1, discusses some fundamental questions about Google and life. What is Google’s philosophy? What is its social value (“Don’t Be Evil,” “Do the Right Thing”)? How does Google impact all aspects of our lives? The discussion is concentrated on some big questions about religion, death, and life. The three chapters in this section are very well researched with in-depth discussions, often followed by hundreds of references. Readers will be able to pursue the subject further if interested, given the amount of information presented.

Part 2 contains seven chapters that cover some of the most commonly used Google services, such as search engine optimization, advertisement and Google AdWords, maps and local search, and the impact of social media, as well as its effect on democracy. Chapter 9 accurately predicted the fact that future elections will be influenced by social media as to produce unexpected results in the traditional political sense!

Part 3, with four chapters, covers the topic of using Google as a library, or more generally, as a source of information. However, the authors correctly notice that the nature of the information on the web through Google is different from information traditionally available from books and research papers in a number of aspects: the way the information is generated, the way the information is accessed, and the way the information is maintained.

Education is the topic of Part 4, which examines how Google influences education. With the huge amount of and easy access to information through Google as discussed in Part 2, knowledge building as a critical part of education is heavily affected by the technology. The authors discuss skills of “critical thinking, collaboration, communication,” and “creativity” (or 4Cs) in the age of Google and how educators as well as students can prepare for their future and take advantage of what Google can provide.

Part 5 comes back to the subject of the influence of Google on our lives, covering topics including religion, gene editing, and driverless cars. The key difference between the discussion here and the ones in Part 1 is that while Part 1 examines the questions from a big picture view, the ones discussed in this part are very specific. Similarly, Part 6 discusses artificial intelligence (AI) in more specific terms.

The last part of the book, “The Transhumanist Age,” asks and discusses some of the fundamental questions raised in Part 1 of the book. What does it mean to work and live in a society with Google? How far would Google and technology take us in a human revolution?

The entire book concentrates on the subject of Google’s influence on our lives. Questions and discussions in the book will open the eyes of readers who might have never thought of some of the questions raised in the book.

The chapters of the book are of varying quality. Some are well researched and of high quality, such as chapters 1, 2, 3, and 12. Others are basically opinions of the authors without necessary discussion and elaboration. For example, chapter 10 is a two-page chapter without any literature references. Other chapters are not as relevant to the subject of the book, such as chapters 17, 18, 19, and 20.

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