The Cult of Mac

A fascinating History of the Macintosh and Apple computers focussing on the users, innovators and advocates of the technology.

Full of glossy colour photographs and lots of personal testimonials The Cult of Mac gives a comprehensive yet affectionate history of the Apple Brand and whose who consider themselves part of the Macintosh 'tribe'.

At close to 300 pages, and with it's slightly oversized format, the only thing preventing it having a coffee table heft is its cardback/paperback status.

A treat for mac fans and non fans a alike. An entertaining history of the technology and those who love it.

The Cult of Mac features a man with a logo shaved into the back of his head right on the cover. While I suppose I can understand a fervent allegiance to a brand, I would never do such a thing. Full disclosure; I think that a Mac is an overpriced computer where you pay more for the brand than for the actual memory or processing power. They certainly have a lot of things going for them, but recently with Steve Jobs dead, it seems they lost their way. This is merely my uneducated opinion. I have never purchased a Mac, but I have used one. I like the way the keyboards look, but the mice look stupid to me. This is my initial reaction to the cover of the book. It is also somewhat difficult to find the name of the author in the book.

The main show more portion of the book is dedicated to the people who love Apple and their products. People get tattooed, they get haircuts, they make comics, they have decals stolen from their cars and more. This book was printed in 2004, so it was during the point where Apple probably deserved its popularity. I am not really big on technology history when it comes to Apple. I know they took liberties with ideas from Xerox PARC along with Microsoft and so on. I know they developed the first Macintosh back in 1976 or so.

It even talks about stupid things like how Apple is portrayed in movies and such. Obviously, they pay to be seen in the movie in a positive light. I am not an exhaustive reference on this idea now, I have not watched every movie that prominently features computers, but the ones that I remember are pretty exemplary. Take Independence Day for example. Nerdy guy from MIT uses a Powerbook to create a computer virus to take down aliens. What’s his name? Ah, Jeff Goldblum, that’s right. While Mac doesn’t have a perfect track record of only being used by good guys in film, he only lists three times where the bad guy uses a Mac.

They had people that worked for free in major retailers repairing Macs and helping to sell them. This is entirely unfathomable to me. While I might enjoy computer stuff working for free is not my idea of a good time.

I dropped this since I couldn’t really relate to it. While it is interesting seeing the people that are obsessed with something like a brand, I can’t understand the motivation behind it other than that they were indoctrinated. show less

I never realized how much of a Mac Geek I was until I read this. I also never realized that there are people out there worse than me. And that makes me feel nice.

A must for anyone who's ever owned or operated an Apple product, from the Apple IIe to the iPod.

Nice table top book. The pictures are bright, the stories are interesting, and the writing is excellent. I highly recomment this book for anyone who considers themself an Apple fanboy. Although it could also be a great gift for a PC using friend.

Purty pictures, a fun quick read.

La traduzione italiana rende il libro illeggibile. Se avessero usato babelfish e poi chiesto a una scimmia di correggere gli errori il risultato sarebbe stato migliore...