Show HN: A self-published art book about Google's first 25 years

[johndamaia]

This took me 3 years to finish. (It is 100% self-published, not endorsed by Google.)

So… I wrote a book. It’s a different book with a unique approach. It’s not a novel or a technical book. It’s a biography, a company’s biography. My hope is that it serves two purposes: to inspire founders and to captivate interior designers.

It all started three years ago. My wife and I were discussing interior design for our living room and she brought up what beautiful coffee table books should we have. After looking at her favorites I realized there’s nothing like this for tech startups. Digital products are intangible, how cool would it be to make them tangible and a beautiful art/decor book for your home office or living room?

This idea of consolidating my particular interests with my wife’s decorative goals got stuck in the back of my head for a while. I searched and searched. I could only find these kinds of books related to design, architecture, fashion, or travel. Nothing about tech startups. The next logical step for me was to do it myself…

And oh… what a “mistake” it was. This whole project was done during nights and weekends - the first half while working on my startup and the last half while helping create Webflow Labs. You have no idea how many times I “quit” the project. In the end, perseverance and discipline were key to making it happen.

During my founder journey, I collected several notes about successful (and unsuccessful) tech startups to help me learn from them. I decided to write about Google’s fascinating story: a true generational company and one of the most valuable companies in the world.

It’s with great pleasure and satisfaction that I’m introducing you to “Google - First 25 Years”. A book celebrating the minds behind the tech giant's incredible journey from Stanford to global dominance.

I have absolutely no idea if this book’s format and concept make sense or if it has an audience willing to invest ($169). Here are some of the unique features:

▪ Silk hardcover

▪ Limited edition

▪ Handpainted edges

▪ More than 30 handmade illustrations

I’m producing only 1,000 copies. If the book concept seems interesting enough, leave a comment, I’d love to know your thoughts!

Either way, this project was a super fun ride where being outside my comfort zone was the best way to learn storytelling, graphic design, and product manufacturing.

At least, I hope this inspires you to go back to your side projects and finish them!

[bap]

Marques Brownlee recently published a video about the Humane AI Pin (device) [1] and I noticed this book in some of the device shots, found it curious and had (incorrectly it seems) assumed it was some kind of internal Google swag.

Well played Mr. da Maia :)

1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TitZV6k8zfA&t=867s

[johndamaia]

Yes! Good catch, it also shows very clearly in minute 3:51 [0]. Thank you so much for your support!

[0] - https://youtu.be/TitZV6k8zfA?si=1BmlLAP-5fCq0yW2&t=231

[101008]

As a fan of Google this looks amazing, but a bit expensive for me right now.

Just one question: aren't you worried about Google blocking it? You are using a lot of their trademarks, and it could be easily confused with an official book.

[topherjaynes]

Really cool, but I want the visual history of the internal meme generator!

[elwell]

Sigh... all my McMillen disappeared on Jan 10th.

[donalhunt]

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/shut-up-and-take-my-money

[johndamaia]

Hahahah that would be fun to work on next!

[PixelEngineer]

I pay great attention to the appearance of a book when I buy it. From this point of view, this book suits my taste very well. I like the design of the cover and the slightly frosted texture.

[xnx]

Nice job! I'm always surprised how relatively little is findably recorded about Google's history. It's one of the most important and influential companies of the past hundred years. I love to read all the different bits of insider info and company lore that I can. I think I have some old Apache log files that still contain lines with the "BackRub" user agent.

[johndamaia]

Thank you so much! Yes, it's fascinating to me how a massive and generational company like Google starts as a "side project".

[archagon]

Looks really nice! What service/publisher did you go with to publish the book?

[bwb]

Ya I was super interested in this as well for a project!

[subidit]

I remember watching it on YouTube. Really liked the book design. How expensive/difficult is it to have each page in different colour? Tell me more about the page quality. Also it looked like "product sans" at first glance, if yes then how is it licensed? Why didn't you choose flat binding?

Anyway congratulations on the book release. It's really a beautiful creation and worthy of being an art piece.

[johndamaia]

Thank you so much! Love your questions.

> How expensive/difficult is it to have each page in different colour? The production was very specific to our design needs. For this edition, each book cost me more than $65 to produce.

> it looked like "product sans" at first glance We have licensed all our fonts which are: ABC White, Affairs and IBM Plex Mono.

> Tell me more about the page quality The paper is Fedrigoni Arena Rough Extra White

> Why didn't you choose flat binding? This question is great! We wanted to have that characteristic curve of opened books. It was very much a thoughtful decision.

[theolivenbaum]

Sold out in the EU already? Any ideas when it's going to be available again?

[johndamaia]

Let's see how it goes in the US. If everything goes as expected, I'll maybe publish a second edition after the Summer :)

[kylethorne]

Why can't I buy this in / get shipped to Australia? :(

[raybb]

Does this thing have an ISBN? I can't find it on the site.

[8mobile]

I like the idea but aren't you afraid that Google won't approve or authorize the book? Try to contact them

[bwb]

This is awesome, I am so impressed :)

Added to my bookmark wishlist to take a look at when Christmas comes!

[flipez]

Already sold out in the EU :(

[johndamaia]

Yea... sorry about it :/

[datascienced]

Nice, this would be a great tabletop book for any SWE chill room.

[roynasser]

Nice! Ordered mine ;)

[johndamaia]

Thank you so much Roy! Can't wait to hear your thoughts about it :)