sydneysider88
macrumors member
Release in June for me... nice Birthday gift!
He did write the 'missing manual' books so it's very on brand.
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'Apple: The First 50 Years' is the Ultimate Apple Encyclopedia
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alexandr
macrumors 603
Dirk Pieters
macrumors 6502a
I have a few coffee table books on various subjects but given the amount of information in this book, I don’t expect it to be of the coffee table quality. There’s probably waaaaaay too much information in it.
A book that size with coffee table paper quality would be a challenge to hold and read.
To be fair, it’s not priced as an upmarket coffee table book either.
A book that size with coffee table paper quality would be a challenge to hold and read.
To be fair, it’s not priced as an upmarket coffee table book either.
Never understood this argument, can I not criticize a movie unless I've made one? Not like a song unless I make music? Why have any opinions at all then, everyone should just praise and consume.
Mr. Bear
macrumors regular
I’ve been HUGELY enjoying the Audible version, and I’m not a big audiobook fan.
I won a $25 gift card at work, so I spent $10 to buy the hard cover version. Thinking I should have gotten the Kindle version instead. I wonder if it has audio & video clips
I got my first Mac in 1984 and I’ve read most of the books about Apple until it’s resurgence when a new book was published almost every week (it seems)
I won a $25 gift card at work, so I spent $10 to buy the hard cover version. Thinking I should have gotten the Kindle version instead. I wonder if it has audio & video clips
I got my first Mac in 1984 and I’ve read most of the books about Apple until it’s resurgence when a new book was published almost every week (it seems)
conmee
macrumors 6502a
Just received my copy. It's not "coffee table book" quality, which is ok with me, given the price. If you've ever purchased any IT training books from Sybex or Wiley or have a "Linux Bible" or any of the For Dummies guides or any of the "missing manual" books from David, it's that quality. I have some Red Hat Linux certification study guides and the paper weight, printing, and photos are nearly identical in quality to The First 50 Years book. I purchased the book on Amazon for $34.38 and that's about what I'd end up paying for a study guide of the same size and print/paper quality. So that alone I feel is a fair price. Then when you add in all the work the author has done to document Apple's product history, it's well worth the price, in my opinion.
Unlike the study guides or missing manuals, this is a hardcover and it feels good size/weight-wise. The jacket looks low-effort. The font choice and plain white jacket aren't inspiring, but I was surprised that the iPod wheel is embossed/raised, which you don't see from online photos. The same layout actually looks better on the spine as there isn't as much space between title/wheel/author. The cover just looks sparse. The back has a nice, but grainy picture, of Steve. Not sure if that's by design or that was how the original photo was taken. But a clearer or glossy photo of Steve on the back wouldn't have been out of place. In fact, the ONLY glossy, high-res photo in the entire book is on the back liner of the author himself. lol 🙂 If all the photos included in the book looked as good as the one of David in the liner notes, that would have been a home run (and probably also more expensive) for the book.
Some of the actual print quality is spotty and in some cases it looks a bit blurred. Not often, but often enough to notice, if you're looking with a critical eye (see attached). Depending on how OCD you are, you can also slightly see the content from the other side of the page, sometimes more evident than others. A heavier stock would eliminate this, but as others have said, would make the book a good deal larger/heavier and more expensive.
All that said, the book content is great. Not just a list of products and specs from 1977 to now, but also, who led the development team and anecdotes and interesting info you may not know that helped bring a product to market.
Biggest surprise for me so far was seeing Jony Ive with a full head of hair (p. 317).
Unlike the study guides or missing manuals, this is a hardcover and it feels good size/weight-wise. The jacket looks low-effort. The font choice and plain white jacket aren't inspiring, but I was surprised that the iPod wheel is embossed/raised, which you don't see from online photos. The same layout actually looks better on the spine as there isn't as much space between title/wheel/author. The cover just looks sparse. The back has a nice, but grainy picture, of Steve. Not sure if that's by design or that was how the original photo was taken. But a clearer or glossy photo of Steve on the back wouldn't have been out of place. In fact, the ONLY glossy, high-res photo in the entire book is on the back liner of the author himself. lol 🙂 If all the photos included in the book looked as good as the one of David in the liner notes, that would have been a home run (and probably also more expensive) for the book.
Some of the actual print quality is spotty and in some cases it looks a bit blurred. Not often, but often enough to notice, if you're looking with a critical eye (see attached). Depending on how OCD you are, you can also slightly see the content from the other side of the page, sometimes more evident than others. A heavier stock would eliminate this, but as others have said, would make the book a good deal larger/heavier and more expensive.
All that said, the book content is great. Not just a list of products and specs from 1977 to now, but also, who led the development team and anecdotes and interesting info you may not know that helped bring a product to market.
Biggest surprise for me so far was seeing Jony Ive with a full head of hair (p. 317).