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'Apple: The First 50 Years' is the Ultimate Apple Encyclopedia

lepetitnicolas said:
Pretty much all comments on Amazon of people having bought this book says it's bad quality for the price : pictures are bad quality, paper feels super cheap.
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I don't think so at all.

The cover is uninspired, yes. The paper is fine, I don't know what they're talking about. The pictures are fine and the book is extremely generous with them (and color; what do you want, a slideshow?)

But the important thing is that I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Every time I pick it up, I find it very hard to put down. And as much as I normally read from cover to cover, I find myself skipping around, getting lost.

You may not like him but David Pogue is one of the ideal people to write this book, and he did an excellent job. If you're worried about paper, pictures, or price, get the ebook or wait.

It's a great book, imo. Perfect for what it is (except for the cover; I can't remember disliking or even caring about a book cover before now, but its really the worst part about it.)
 
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darthbane2k said:
I ordered this, I ignored the criticism but I can confirm that the quality of the presentation is cheap and appalling. The cover is insulting, the typeface is insulting , the paper is extremely thin. Almost feels like a pre-published preview copy.
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Love how someone disagreed with my post. It is a fact. I’m not lying. The book is very cheaply produced. Most of the Amazon.co.uk reviews mention this.
 
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I’m reading it for free, checked out from my local library, Kindle edition. Yeah, the photos are meh, but that’s usually the case with Kindles.
 
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darthbane2k said:
I ordered this, I ignored the criticism but I can confirm that the quality of the presentation is cheap and appalling. The cover is insulting, the typeface is insulting , the paper is extremely thin. Almost feels like a pre-published preview copy.
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I was about to ask, after seeing a few of these photos. You just confirmed what I was suspecting...
 
alexandr said:
Please choose one:

A. You've created your own smartphone/computer/smart watch/earphones
B. You've never complained about anything  has created
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This is a little different because:
1. Most of the complainers haven't bought the book and have no interest in it or the content beyond aesthetics, or literally judging a book by its cover. 🙄
2. Most of the same people seem to want a different type of book than what Pogue wrote.

In the case of #2, give it a shot. Do your own research. Build up enough industry cred to get a few days of in-person interviews at Apple Park the way Pogue did. Or don't. MR forums are always here for you.
 
I grabbed this on audible with a free credit. Loved hearing pogue read it. $50 seems a bit steep, but it will likely come down in the future.
 
Apple MessagePad said:
People can complain about things they don't like while not offering a solution of their own. I'm sure you've never complained about anything that you didn't have a replacement offering for.
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Thank you. I'm so tired of this "I have to have done something before I'm allowed to criticize how someone else has done it" attitude. If I go to the dentist to have a root canal performed and walk out with my arms amputated, I think I'm within my rights to cry "malpractice" without having a medical degree.
 
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mlayer said:
This is a little different because:
1. Most of the complainers haven't bought the book and have no interest in it or the content beyond aesthetics, or literally judging a book by its cover. 🙄
2. Most of the same people seem to want a different type of book than what Pogue wrote.

In the case of #2, give it a shot. Do your own research. Build up enough industry cred to get a few days of in-person interviews at Apple Park the way Pogue did. Or don't. MR forums are always here for you.
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It's not that different. I think Balenciaga sneakers are uglyAF, and I've never created sneakers. As far as this book goes, I have 0 reasons to doubt the quality of the research, however several photos that I've seen of the book made me question its quality (both design and production). And it is a field that I work in.
 
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Frixo Cool said:
As the curator of a computer museum, I can say that I know a lot about Apple, since the early days. Although I have already encountered most of the information from Pogue's book in one way or another, the way and ease with which he put everything together, witty and easy-to-read style is really worth reading, especially for those of the younger generation who have not followed Apple's development from the beginning.

David has done a tremendous job, both professionally and with so much enthusiasm and love. The book is a must-have for anyone who loves technology and is interested in how the devices we all love are made.

I don't have enough words of praise, if you haven't read it yet, get it and enjoy! Thank you David for this masterpiece of Apple history.
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Required reading for Macrumors members, you think? 🤔
 
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I haven't bought the book, but just reading the two pages that appear in the image above, I know I won't buy this. It's clearly written from a non-neutral, Apple fanboy perspective with that same old, constant Windows bashing and Mac OS glorification. Some guys seem to never get out of that schoolyard fight mentality that already bothered Steve Jobs by 1997. The war between XP and OS X is long over and, like it or not, has been won hands down by Microsoft in terms of sales. Consumers have spoken, just accept democracy.
This is like writing a book on why Bêtamax was superior to VHS, or why the Nintendo64 should have prevailed over the Sony PlayStation. Yawn!
 
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darthbane2k said:
Love how someone disagreed with my post. It is a fact. I’m not lying. The book is very cheaply produced. Most of the Amazon.co.uk reviews mention this.
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Is it a remarkably well made book? No. No deckled edges for you.

But it's certainly not bad. People are acting like this is a step above toilet paper or a phone book.

It's fine! It's good!

It's a big ass book that tells the story of Apple. You already know if you want it or not or if you're going to buy it or not.

Having good taste is extremely important, but there is no pleasing some of you people... It's a book. It's fine. It's good.
 
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kinda hate pogue (watched his presentation at CHM about this book to really drive myself nuts) but this book is really good. it's sort of like a bunch of short anecdotes about various products and episodes at apple. in fact it feels a lot like https://folklore.org which is very enjoyable. easy to digest and read in short bursts.
 
szw-mapple fan said:
Agreed. This would have worked much better as a coffee table book like what Ive made in 2016 but with descriptions and background.
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Are there 600-page coffee table books? Pogue didn't write a picture book. It's a dense historical narrative with pictures as a bonus. That's not for everyone and that's okay.
 
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alexandr said:
It's not that different. I think Balenciaga sneakers are uglyAF, and I've never created sneakers. As far as this book goes, I have 0 reasons to doubt the quality of the research, however several photos that I've seen of the book made me question its quality (both design and production). And it is a field that I work in.
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Don’t judge a book by its photos or cover. It is not google slides
 
mlayer said:
This is a little different because:
1. Most of the complainers haven't bought the book and have no interest in it or the content beyond aesthetics, or literally judging a book by its cover. 🙄
2. Most of the same people seem to want a different type of book than what Pogue wrote.

In the case of #2, give it a shot. Do your own research. Build up enough industry cred to get a few days of in-person interviews at Apple Park the way Pogue did. Or don't. MR forums are always here for you.
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Rubbish. Most who are complaining HAVE bought the book, and perhaps the reason so many are calling out the quality of presentation is because the content is actually very good (which it is).
 
subjonas said:
Required reading for Macrumors members, you think? 🤔
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Yes, I think it is, it's a must-read for any Mac enthusiast. It was very interesting - even for me, who has been a curator in a computer museum for 19 years and thought I knew everything about Apple because I have been a user myself since the first days. It is still a very valuable book, at least the most comprehensive.
 
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darthbane2k said:
I ordered this, I ignored the criticism but I can confirm that the quality of the presentation is cheap and appalling. The cover is insulting, the typeface is insulting , the paper is extremely thin. Almost feels like a pre-published preview copy.
Click to expand...
DunedinD said:
The page layouts shown here look pretty uninspiring.
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lepetitnicolas said:
Pretty much all comments on Amazon of people having bought this book says it's bad quality for the price : pictures are bad quality, paper feels super cheap.
Click to expand...

I think they really leaned into the 1990s software manual look… even down to those pale blue info boxes.

🙂
 
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