Customer Reviews

Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer that Changed Everything

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1) This book clears up a myth about the Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) debacle: In the TLC documentary "Revenge of the Nerds" and in the recently-aired TNT original movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley", it is implied that the Xerox researchers were anxious to have their GUI receive exposure in the world of personal computers and were frustrated by the Xerox executives' lack of interest. Levy contradicts this: according to his account the PARC people were "true" scientists, a lot more interested in theory than application and somewhat disdainful of unleashing their ideas on the masses (a notable exception, according to Levy, being Larry Tesler who later joined Apple.) He portrays PARC as something of an ivory tower of computer science academics who were unconcerned with any public reception of their ideas, rather than as a nascent software developer that was swindled of its "props" by the indifference of Xerox and the acquisitiveness of the Macintosh team. As I have not read any of the other books about Apple and the famed PARC heist, I don't know whether Levy's assertions have been confirmed by any other writers.

2) Another issue which is related to the above is the popular belief that the developers of the Mac OS owed everything to the work of the PARC people. Levy challenges this, siting several specific instances in which the Mac developers (notably Bill Atkinson and his "QuickDraw") completely invented solutions to problems in the interface that had been poorly or not at all dealth with by PARC. While Levy admits that the Mac team were indeed standing on the shoulders of giants (more than just PARC, too), he is also quick to point out that their creation was no mere heist, but a thoughtful and sometimes brilliant reworking and utilization of a pre-existing paradigm.

3) One of my few problems with "Insanely Great" is that it falls into the same rhetorical trap as many other writings about Apple and Mac: namely, that the Mac's loyal following is based on an affinity to the company's culture and philosophy rather than its technology; the terms "cult" and "religion" are bandied about liberally. This is a misconception. Loyalty to the Mac results from its ease of use: its intuitive interface is far superior to anything that has been made available in the consumer marketplace in the history of personal computing. I would be a Mac loyalist even if their corporate culture was one of xenophobia and conservatism: a good product is a good product, period.

I bought my first computer, a Macintosh, in 1984. I had wanted a computer for years, watching friends with envy at their Commodore 64s, Radio Shack Color Computers, and wonderful Apple IIs. When the Macintosh was introduced in 1984, I had to have it. It was the computer built "for the rest of us." Never mind that I could have had everything I needed in a computer--word processing program, a few games--for $$$, as soon as I sat down in front of the Macintosh, my life changed. The Macintosh, and the entire graphical user interface concept, was truly "insanely great," as Steven Levy quotes Steve Jobs, former chairman of Apple Computers. In his new book, Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything, Levy reveals how and why the Macintosh had such an impact on the world.

Although the Macintosh debuted in 1984, the seeds of its design had been planted as early as 1945. In a post-war statement, Vannevar Bush, then the director of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development, wrote an essay in which he contended that the next step of technology should be the way we collect and process information. Having seen the early use of computers in the war, Bush realized the awesome potential of high-speed information management, but also knew that progress would have to be made in the interface if ever information management could be useful. Levy follows the chain that links Bush to Alan Kay, who proposed the Dynabook, a forerunner of today's PDA technology, to the developers at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center who developed the first graphical user interface (GUI). Nearby, a small team of dedicated programmers were working on the low-cost hardware that became teamed with the new GUI concept that became the Macintosh.

Much has been written about the originality of the GUI concept, and more than one lawsuit has been fought over it. Levy attempts to go beyond the simple desktop metaphor and explain why it was the particular Macintosh implementation of the concept that changed the way people viewed computers. Xerox's researchers were quite happy just to discover "how" to do things; it was Jef Raskin, Steve Jobs, Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfield, and the rest of the Macintosh team that were driven to give GUI to the people. The concept alone didn't change the world of computing--it was the concept, in a reasonably priced computer, with a "killer application" that showed just how intuitive the concept could be that made things happen. Early Macintosh adoptees like myself thought it was the "What You See is What You Get" word processing and graphic programs that would make everyone see the light. It took Aldus' PageMaker to break the publishing barrier for the "rest of us" to wake up to the possibilities.

The Macintosh implementation had (and has) its problems, which Levy does not gloss over. The initial Macintosh, that computer that I bought in 1984, was released underpowered (128k RAM), without enough storage space (it only had a single floppy drive capable of holding 400k), and crippled in expandability (it was a "closed" system without expansion slots). Apple knew this upon its release, but "real programmers ship," as Jobs is quoted saying, and the Macintosh had to be out the door in 1984. Apple quickly followed the 128k Macintosh with an upgrade to 512k and a 800k disk drive, then with new models including a Macintosh with slots.

The author, Steven Levy, is perhaps best known in the field for his first book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Levy's position as an industry journalist kept him in the midst of the impact of the Macintosh, with access to Jobs, John Sculley, Jean Louis Gasse, Bill Gates, Aldus' president Paul Brainerd, and almost every member of the Macintosh development team. This chronicle of the development of the Macintosh is part history, part evaluation of the hits and misses, the politics and relationships, of all these people. Every implementation of the GUI interface as seen in the Macintosh was deeply argued, as was its cost, hardware, and "look." Levy shows you that a product such as Macintosh, which is usually attributed to a few people, is actually the culmination of the development team, and also their forerunners, including the Xerox team, and their competitors, most notably Microsoft and IBM.

Today, the GUI concept is ever present. My original Macintosh (which I fondly call the MacAntique), after being upgraded once, has been passed to my niece and nephew (who, to be entirely truthful, play more with their father's Mac II than with the antique), and I replaced it four years ago with an IBM-PC clone that runs today's most popular GUI, Microsoft Windows (the defection was a result of economics--I couldn't afford a new Macintosh). The last command-line holdout, UNIX, is battering down the hatches in defense against the migration of the GUI in the form of the WWW, Java, and its ilk. The Macintosh revolution is twelve, and shows no signs of dying anytime soon. For those who want to understand the early shots--computerdom's equivalent's of the Boston Tea Party and the shot that was heard round the world--Levy's book is a good primer.

Once upon a time, a guy named Steve had a vision: to take IBM's place in the computer industry. Not by copying IBM's ideas as Michael Dell did. No. By innovating...
Steve Jobs, a charismatic and driven individual, who wears the same outfit so he doesn't have to waste his time deciding what to wear, and who once was exiled from his own company, came back. Although many critics always thought of Jobs as an opportunistic individual, more than creative and visionary, and labeled him as a "One Hit Wonder" was able to make a "Come Back." This book tells the story of the first Mac, the one that only a few people knew about, and then, it takes you through a journey of one of the greatest companies ever founded: Apple, Inc. The story that almost wasn't told. After years of mismanagements and senior executives not understanding what Apple Computers was all about, Steve Jobs returned not just to save the company, but also to redirect where the company was headed. As many people said, "Apple was off track," and it was, it really was. However, Jobs' return not only brought blood back to Apple, but also put them on the black ink once again.
Before picking up this book, ensure that you have enough time to read it all at once. You won't be able o put it down. If you are a Mac fan, or if you are just interested in knowing a bit more of what Apple has gone through, this book is for you.
Enjoy it!

To many, Steve Jobs is a hero and to others he is the computer equivalent of Simon Legree. Amazingly, there are many people who view him both ways. Without question, his greatest achievement was the relentless, passionate pursuit of the development of the Macintosh. At a time when command line interaction was the norm, it took a tremendous act of courage and foresight to create a computer with a GUI interface. Many computer users were dubious about the value of running a computer by points and clicks. I was a college professor at the time it came out and one of the members of the combined math and computer science departments questioned the value of a GUI interface, wondering why anyone would want to use it.
Of course, the new paradigm of pointing and clicking opened up the computer to many users that otherwise would not have gotten involved. This is the story of the tyrannical, yet effective manner in which Jobs drove his team to build a revolutionary product. While it is sometimes a bit soapy in the praise for Apple as a darling of a company, the author does stay on target and delivers a fascinating tale. Hopefully, managers will not take his actions as a blueprint for their management style, as there are few people who could pull off what Jobs did without destroying everything else. Furthermore, let us not forget that he was ousted from Apple, an event that was not without justification.
This is more a tale of the relentless pursuit of an ideal than a story of how a computer was created. It is another demonstration of the adage that the difference between genius and insanity is measured more by the end result than it is by the actions in getting there.

Let me preface this review with the fact that I love Steven Levy. Well, his books anyhow. That said, this review is necessarily tainted by my experience with some of his other work. The curse of the author who pens a masterpiece (i.e. "Hackers" by Levy) is that everything that came before, and after, will be compared against said masterpiece. The case of "Insanely Great" is no different.

While I found this book to be an enjoyable read (I've read and re-read it more than once), and containing some decent detail about the origins of the original Macintosh, I also found it to be somewhat half-hearted in its presentation. Relative to "Hackers", of course.

I really got the sense that Levy was just plowing through the history, rather than lovingly exploring the details. While it's clear from the book that Levy truly loves the Mac, it's less clear that he loved the story of how it came to be. The writing lacked the obvious fascination and passion that he presents in "Hackers", and the breadth of research and intricate technical detail that he shows in "Artificial Life" and "Crytpo". In "Insanely Great", he just seems to be going through the motions of telling the story.

The most passionate and moving bits of writing in the book are when he is describing his love and respect for the machine. He clearly recognizes and conveys the absolute technical epiphany that Macintosh represented to the computer industry (heck, to the world). These bits are closely followed by some great (and well thought out) rants about the weaknesses of the machine - and the metaphorical medium it has spread across the world.

Finally, the book almost accidentally documents Levy's interesting relationship with Steve Jobs. Clearly any book about Macintosh will prominently feature the Mac Daddy (sorry, I had to use that term) - but the writing clearly shows that Levy was quite affected by Jobs. This is also not surprising, as Jobs' personality is as powerful and complicated as any great human being. In my opinion, the insight into Jobs that Levy offers - as well as the shadows of their relationship that are cast upon the walls of the book - offer a fresh view that other Mac/Apple histories might not offer.

Insanely Great takes a look at how the Macintosh evolved from a garage with two hippies and a soldering iron into a multi billion dollar company. Unlike what the title suggests this book does not spend a whole lot of time talking about Steve Jobs. Instead, this book focuses on a part of Apple's history that is really, as far as I have seen, not very well documented. It discusses in detail the evolution of the Macintosh from the inside, talks to people directly involved with the project and really shows this part of the computer revolution from the inside out. For those of you who are PC users this book will help you understand the Mac way of thinking. Levy is a true Mac person but writes in a fairly unbiased manner. This book is a great read for anybody who enjoys the history of how computers became what they are, as well as all Mac users.

This book shines for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of how the Macintosh came to be. Everyone knows the basic story of how Apple based the Mac on the innovations of Xerox, but the real story is much deeper than that. Xerox PARC provided the innovation and spark, but there was a lot more blood and guts work that followed, especially considering the state of computer technology at the time. While there is of course a lot about Steve Jobs, equal attention is given to the various engineers who did nuts and bolts software and hardware development. Those looking for corporate intrigue and board room warfare could probably find better accounts elsewhere, although these are also covered here (as they inevitably had an effect on the Mac's development over the years.)

Given how commonplace the GUI and its various metaphors (folders and files, desktop, trash can, etc.) are today, it's easy to lose sight that the original Mac (and Lisa) team were really venturing way off into the unknown.

This book is a great read for anyone or any company trying to do the same.

This is a pretty interesting and well-written book about the history of the Macintosh and how it almost did not make it into the computing world. Although Stephen Levy is basically not a computer scientist, he shows great understanding of the area and seems to have the sufficient rabid inquisitiveness that one has come to expect from those dabbling in and/or writing about computers.

In brief, this book is about the work ethos prevalent in certain segments of Apple driven by the ever-controversial but charming Steve Jobs who, along with his band of "pirates", takes it as a personal mission to change the face of computing. The trials and tribulations faced in the makings of the only computer in the world with which one can associate the word "panache", are expressed in a very readable fashion. It is almost a Brief History of Apple From 1976-1985.

Quick but gripping read with sprinklings of computing techniques and terminology that should appeal to anyone who has ever used a keyboard.

This is the story of how a multi-billion dollar company was started by some friends trying to impress one another. I think the work is dated, which is easy to become in this cyberworld. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the founders and thier habits, such as eating pizza or riding to work on a bicycle after high school. I would recommend this to anyone who has or is thinking of getting a Mac, and I think every man, woman, and child should have a Mac!

What I find most satisfying about Levy's style is that he resisted the urge to indulge in hero worship. It's really difficult when dealing with the sort of people he's talking about.After all, this is the computer that's always been "better", stands to reason the people behind it would be interesting. So it's a real relief for me that Levy didn't focus on any one of the people involved (it wouldn't have been easy anyway since the Macintosh project involved so many people who left their mark).The book is quite entertaining, and attains just the right level of concentration required to mimic the frenzied work that went into the mac. When you come out of 'insanely great' you get the feeling that you know a lot of these people, and that you understand what they did. This is only true because Levy speaks of their faults as well as their amazing abilities. The book isn't a blow by blow account of the development of the mac. I got the sense that numerous little details had been kept out of my view so that the bigger picture could present itself. This was probably a good decision to make, since the book could have gone on endlessly. If you want to know how the germ of an interface that felt like home was born, how it took a group of people who believed it would change the world to make it a reality, to get some idea of what went on while the great texts of the Macintosh religion were being discovered and written, and if you want to hear some of the greatest corporate/computer metaphors you'd ever encounter, you need this book. Maybe, just maybe you'll come out of this with a real understanding of why 'real artists ship' and what it means to make a dent in the universe. If you've ever used a Mac and wondered why it felt so good, you should read Levy's book.