Bestselling author David Pogue just published Apple: The First 50 Years, an ambitious book about the history of Apple.
The approximately 600-page, full-color book spans the company’s epic saga, from its founding by two college dropouts to its latest machinations with Apple Intelligence. It’s a fun and informative book, and an easy read despite being a doorstop.
I interviewed Pogue about his book and the wild ride that Apple’s been on for the last five decades.
David Pogue interview: Apple: The First 50 Years
In time for Apple’s 50th anniversary, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent David Pogue tells the iconic company’s entire life story: how it was born, nearly died, was born again under Steve Jobs, and became, under CEO Tim Cook, the most valuable company in the world.
- Comprehensive: Covers all 50 years.
- Well designed
- Easy and fun to read
- Full color photos throughout
- Recent history not as in-depth
- Full color = higher price
David Pogue is a renowned technology journalist, who was a long-time tech columnist for Macworld and The New York Times.
He’s a bestselling author who has written or co-written more than 120 books, including the Pogue’s Basics and Missing Manual series.
Pogue is also an Emmy-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, and he’s hosted a bunch of Nova science specials on PBS.
Pogue’s latest book is a comprehensive history of Apple. It’s the first book to cover the company’s entire history, rather than specific periods, like my own books about Apple.
It’s a big, fat phone book – about 600 pages – but it’s very easy to read and offers just the right level of detail.
I greatly enjoyed the book (see also our review: Apple: The First 50 Years is the best all-in-one history of Apple). It covers a lot of ground, but moves along at a breezy clip.
I think it’ll appeal to technical readers and lay readers alike.
I had a great chat with Pogue covering why he chose to write a book about Apple, what he thinks of Steve Jobs, how John Sculley actually helped to save Apple, the best Apple product ever made, who will be Apple’s next CEO, and a lot more.
Watch my interview with David Pogue on YouTube
https://youtu.be/e30bJ3dQJr0
In time for Apple’s 50th anniversary, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent David Pogue tells the iconic company’s entire life story: how it was born, nearly died, was born again under Steve Jobs, and became, under CEO Tim Cook, the most valuable company in the world.
- Comprehensive: Covers all 50 years.
- Well designed
- Easy and fun to read
- Full color photos throughout
- Recent history not as in-depth
- Full color = higher price
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 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.
