If you’re looking for a holiday gift for an Apple fan, consider The Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition. This great-looking coffee table book about the Apple community is on sale right now for just $9.99 — a whopping 71% off.
Co-written by David Pierini and yours truly, the gorgeously designed, full-color book details many aspects of the Apple fan universe.
An Apple book with an innovative design
“We published the first edition … and it was a huge hit,” said Bill Pollock, founder of No Starch Press, which published the original and the updated versions. “Like the first edition, this completely new edition delivers a picture of Mac fandom unlike any other — inside and out.”
In the book, you’ll meet collectors with massive, museum-quality collections of vintage Apple computers. You’ll learn about a Ukrainian man whose side hustle gold-plating iPhones in his garage turned into a business. And you’ll meet the German magician who made a career performing tricks using an iPad.
For the second edition, designer Derek Yee went all out. The book’s innovative silver cover makes it look like a MacBook Pro. And the first page looks like a keyboard.
Reviews of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition
On Amazon, the book has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars. “Love this book, can’t believe it’s been 20 years since the first edition,” writes reviewer T.C. Riddick. “The book is cleverly designed to look like a MacBook and the content/photography is amazing. Well worth a read. Get the book though as you’ll miss out on the design of the book with the Kindle version.”
The book, published in December 2019, is much more than an update of the original 2006 book, The Cult of Mac (which gave this blog its name).
The second edition is a companion volume crammed with all-new stories and tons of fantastic pictures and photographs. Its 224 pages should surprise and delight anybody who’s into Apple or wants a closer look at one of the world’s most vibrant subcultures.
Cult of Mac book showcases Apple culture
The period between the two Cult of Mac books proved a time of huge change for Apple. The company exploded from a relatively small computer-maker into a consumer electronics giant with devices like the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
And, of course, there was the untimely passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2011. As recounted in the book, his legacy is not just reflected in Apple’s products, but also in paintings, sculpture, a Grammy-winning opera and tattoos of his face.
Meanwhile, a community of vintage tech collectors and Apple-related museums popped up in places as disparate as the Czech Republic and a small town in Italy.
No Starch Press is currently selling the hardcover version of The Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition for just $9.99 (original price was $34.95).
Buy from: No Starch Press
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
