The Four

Starred review from November 27, 2017
Behemoth tech companies are favorite subjects for Galloway, a serial entrepreneur and New York University business professor, when he talks on digital media panels, and actor Ross captures the author’s swagger in the audio edition of Galloway’s book. The effect is similar to hearing Galloway in full stride. The book’s thesis is that each of the four technology giants—Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google—appeal to consumers’ instinctual needs: Amazon sates the hunger for acquisition, Apple appeals to the need to create, Facebook plays on the need for love and human interaction, and Google satisfies the need for God. It may sound outlandish at first, but the book manages to be both fun and convincing, as Galloway details the eight key factors each company uses to establish dominance in the marketplace. The book ends with a sober warning about the “distortion created by the steady march of digital technology,” which Galloway believes is “dangerous for society.” Narrator Ross delivers this coda with a gravity that counters his earlier animation. The combination makes the audio edition of this timely book all the more forceful. A Portfolio hardcover.

October 1, 2017
Galloway, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, writes about four tech giants that have become today's digital-age influential powerhouses: Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook. In common, these four companies share their accessibility and daily use by millions of people seeking their services and products. Galloway describes the rapid rise of the four through their strategic business models, and how each company has refined new services and products to serve more people around the world than any other company. Galloway also addresses setbacks that these giants have faced in their journeys, providing useful lessons for business leaders. In discussing how the four have defended their markets carefully and strategically against competitors, Galloway explores the rise of new retail giants in the field, such as Alibaba and Netflix. Readers interested in innovation and strategies in technology and business management will find this book to be a provocative and insightful look at four powerful forces that dominate our social, psychological, and economic states today.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)