Book Reviews: O'Reilly, Apple, Release 2.0

We have dozens of books to review, and (at least in our on-line version) plenty of space for reviews. The trouble is finding the time to do the reading and the writing.

We have three quick notes for this month, the hope for more next month, and a plea for help. If you like to read, send us a note; maybe you can be a book review columnist!

We are very much enjoying a series of new books from O’Reilly & Associates that are really not just a list of what is annoying, but also advice on what to do about it. You will want to have the ones that relate to the products you use, because they’re (1) very useful and (2) help you feel that someone else knows how frustrated you can get. In my case my reaction is (1) Thank goodness! and (2) Yes!!!

Our understanding is that more are coming, but we haven’t inquired to see if there is some reason that they are focused on Microsoft products. Do you think O’Reilly is trying to send a subtle message that they are more annoying?

Each of the books follows the architecture and features (and annoyances) of the product. For instance, in Windows Annoyances, you’re offered chapters on So You’re Stuck with Windows (Basics), Customizing your System, The Registry, Advanced Customization Techniques (you’ll find Systems Administration here), Maximizing Performance, Troubleshooting, Networking, and FAQ’s. There’s also an MS-DOS Crash Course and a Glossary.

The next book in the series will be on Office 97 and we’ll try to review it in more detail. All of them are getting a permanent place on our computer table. We were even thinking of them as Christmas presents!

It’s always fun to read a book about the business you work in, particularly when it’s about a company you were involved in. Here I am reading about a book where the author is describing, based on his second- and third-hand knowledge (he wasn’t there) meetings which, in some cases, I was sitting in. It’s always tempting in this case to allow the fact that you know better to interfere with seeing what a terrific job the author has done.

This book is great! It gets the tone exactly right. I felt like I was back in the Apple of the mid-1980’s when I was consulting for first Steve Jobs and John Sculley, then Bill Campbell and the marketing guys, amidst triumph and disaster (more of the latter than the former – no one needs a consultant when everything is going well).

There are a wealth of details and most of them (as best I can tell) are right. A few are a little off, but not in any way that matters (a lunch is described as a dinner, for instance – I know because I was there, sitting between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at Tavern on the Green).

More important, the many moods of Apple and the many decisions of its managers are described in wonderful detail, in many instances with new source material, like a memo, circa 1985, from Bill Gates, telling Apple why and how it should license the Mac. I have some 1985 memos on this subject in my Apple files, too, but Gates’ is a lot better! If only I had known then he was on our side.

It may be too late for Apple – or they may rise, Phoenix-like, to play some new game, but since Steve Jobs has returned to lead the parade a book like this is all the more important in predicting what the outcome could be. Read it.

Incidentally, when I went to file this book on my library shelves (we file this type of book by company), I found ten more books on Apple to keep it company. With the thought that you might like to read some more of the history, we're listing them here for you.

I first met Esther Dyson when she first started working for Ben Rosen (he hired her to help write his always overdue newsletter, then mainly about PC hardware and chips). Ben sold her the newsletter so he could devote himself full time to being perhaps the most successful venture capitalist of them all (Compaq, Lotus) and Esther became a PC Industry star, pushing people to consider where they were going and why.

Her specialty is insightful thinking, not always easy to understand and often way ahead of the marketplace. That makes this book a special prize because it’s clearly written for a much broader audience who aren’t the industry insiders she normally hobnobs with.

The book is a clearly written set of opinions (and I stress they’re opinions, both because Esther has some and because you won’t necessarily agree with all of them, which is fine) about how the Digital Age is shaping up and what you need to do about that. If you have a parent or sibling who keeps saying "what do you do," and then looking confused when you answer the question, you may want to share this book with them. (I thought of my mother-in-law, for instance, who could never understand just why I was always on a plane and that computer consultants went to their clients; in fact she didn’t understand what or why a computer really was all about.)

Much of this book is about the on-line world and the shifts in thinking, organizing work, society and leisure, that it is already bringing about. Most of all, this is about a future that you are going to be living in and how you can prepare, participate in it, and find new business opportunities and ways of living. I found it very exciting.

If you've reached this page, obviously you like to read and buy books. For your convenience, we have established a link that will allow you to order this book from Amazon.com. You should be aware that we receive a small commission for this service, but that our goal is to make it easy for you to purchase the books we review.

If you are interested in ordering:
Windows Annoyances, click here
Word 97 Annoyances, click here
Excel 97 Annoyances, click here

Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders,
click here
The Computer Curmudgeon, click here (out of print)

Selling the Dream, click here
Defying Gravity: The Making of Newton, click here

West of Eden: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer,
click here (out of print)
Insanely Great, click here
Steve Jobs & The Next Big Thing, click here
Steve Jobs: The Journey is the Reward, click here (out of print)
Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, click here (out of print)
The Macintosh Way, click here

The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer,
click here (out of print)
Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age, click here

*Title*	*Author*	*Date of Publication*
Windows Annoyances	David A. Karp	April, 1997
Word 97 Annoyances	Woody Leonhard, Lee Hudspeth & T. J. Lee	August, 1997
Excel 97 Annoyances	Woody Leonhard, Lee Hudspeth & T. J. Lee	September, 1997