A book titled 'Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything' by Steven Levy, which has a classic computer analogy, is featured prominently among other books.

Apple at 50: Some great books in Apple history

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Posted by Jason Snell

March 30, 2026 10:00 AM PT

After I wrote my Wall Street Journal review of David Pogue’s brilliance Apple: The First 50 Years (Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books) my editor asked for a sidebar recommending other books about Apple. I looked through my collection and also asked a few of my friends.

If the 50th anniversary celebrations and speeches made you want to know about the history of Apple, there is a lot of books out there. Here are the suggestions:

  • West of Eden (1989) by Frank Rose. Inspired by Stephen Hackett, this book focuses on Steve Jobs hiring John Sculley, which led to Steve Jobs from Apple. (Amazon, used.)

  • Crazy Big (1994) by Steven Levy. This is the definitive story of the original Mac, set in the context of the computing revolution of the 1980s. Levy, whose 1984 book Mockers is a fascinating history of the early days of computing, getting to the bottom of what made the original Mac, and the original Mac family, so special. (Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, used.)

  • An infinite loop (1999) by Michael S. Malone. If the year of publication doesn’t tell you what this is about, the subtitle will: “How the Biggest Computer Company Went Crazy.” Inspired by John Siracusa, this is the story of Apple falling in the 1990s. (Amazon, used.)

  • In the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple (1999) by Gil Amelio and William L. Simon. Of course Gil Amelio says all about his short tenure as CEO of Apple is sacrifice. However I enjoyed reading it, because I believe that in the late 90s Apple was confused as he described, especially when it came to the failure to replace the old Mac OS which led to Apple buying NEXT and bringing back Steve Jobs. Was Amelio a bozo, as Jobs claimed? Maybe, but you can’t deny that he was there at an important time and made the most important decision in the history of Apple. (Used.)

  • Apple Secret 2.0 (2004) by Owen W. Linzmayer. Before the publication of David Pogue’s book, this was probably the best collection of stories about the history of Apple. Still a good read. (PDF, used.)

  • Revolution in the Valley (2011) by Andy Hertzfeld. One of the original members of the original Macintosh team has many amazing stories to tell. We think of the tech industry today as a business, but the original Mac was somewhat counter-cultural. (Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, used.)

  • The Perfect Thing (2006) by Steven Levy. Levy does his “Insanely Great” thing again, but this time about the creation of the iPod. You might be thinking, well, the latest iPod technology now, why does it matter? But this book gives you a clear insight into the entire product development process in the early days of Steve Jobs’ return to Apple. (Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, used.)

  • Creative Choice (2019) by Ken Kocienda. I’m not sure that a definitive history of the creation of the iPhone has yet been written. But between Pogue’s book and this account from one of the designers of the original iPhone keyboard, we at least have some good stories from that momentous time. Here are my main thoughts. (Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, used.)

  • Apple of China (2025) by Patrick McGee. This is the definitive book of the Tim Cook era, at least so far, but it also covers the back-to-back engineering decisions made immediately after Steve Jobs returned to Apple. Even if you are not interested in the Chinese character, this book is worth reading because it reveals how Apple was and still is a manufacturing powerhouse, which is why it seems to be able to build products that no one else can build. (Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, used.)

  • Steve Jobs in captivity (forthcoming May 2026) by Geoffrey Cain. A comprehensive look at Steve Jobs after he left Apple, including everything that went wrong at NEXT—and how it made Jobs a better CEO when he returned to Apple. This book isn’t out yet, but I’ve read it and it’s great. (Original order: Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books.)

(Pro tip: Used books are really cheap, and it’s fun to read an old book, which is amazing when you consider Apple’s history.)

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