Return to the Little Kingdom: How Apple and Steve Jobs Changed the World [Hardcover]

Michael Moritz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2009

Twenty five years later, revisiting the first authorized biography of Apple and its co-founder and celebrity CEO, Steve Jobs

In 1984, The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer told the story of Apple?s first decade alongside the histories of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Now, completely revised and expanded, Return to the Little Kingdom is the definitive biography of Apple and its founders from the very beginning.

Moritz brings readers inside the childhood homes of Jobs and Wozniak and records how they dropped out of college and founded Apple in 1976. He follows the fortunes of the company through the mid-1980s, and in new material, tracks the development of Apple to the present and offers an insider?s profile of Jobs, whose genius made Apple the powerhouse it is today.

Required reading for everyone who?s ever listened to music on an iPod, Return to the Little Kingdom is timely and thorough, and the only book that explains how Steve Jobs founded the company that changed our world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

‘A fascinating story... succeeds handsomely in recounting how Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak... carved permanent niches for themselves in the history of the information revolution ’
— New York Times

‘Meticulous... the fascination never flags ’
— Washington Post

‘An intimate account of the company’s rise – backed by superb reporting and written at a cracking pace’
— Business Week

‘The Little Kingdom [demonstrates] that the next best thing to living the American success story is reading about it ’
— Philadelphia Enquirer

‘One of the best books about Apple ever written’
— Andy Hertzfeld, Author of Revolution in the Valley

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

A former journalist, Michael Moritz is now a venture capitalist with Sequoia Capital and a former member of the board of directors of Google, Inc. In 2007 he appeared in the Time 100, and in 2008 and 2009 was ranked #2 on Forbes’ “Midas List” of top dealmakers in the technology industry. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (October 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590202813
• ISBN-13: 978-1590202814
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #678,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is not really a new edition, April 11, 2010

By 

Robert S. Lyss "similyss" (Nevada City CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Return to the Little Kingdom: How Apple and Steve Jobs Changed the World (Hardcover)

Whatever the merits of this book, it's important to note that this is not really a new edition----it is merely the first edition with a new chapter added to each end. As such, there is really no detail about what went on at Apple from 1985 to the present. If you really want to read an up to date history of Apple, you must look elsewhere. This is actually stated in the book but not made clear in the presentation here on Amazon.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Insightful as Hoped, March 18, 2010

By 

Money Honey (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Return to the Little Kingdom: How Apple and Steve Jobs Changed the World (Hardcover)

I'm a huge fan of Apple, Steve Jobs, and have been fascinated by the company for years, so the appeal of this book was that it would provide some amazing insights into the evolution of the company, but unfortunately it was disappointing.

As mentioned the book itself is a revised version of Michael Moritz's highly acclaimed 1984 book "The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer", the original book was fantastic and based on the title and description, I could not wait to get Moritz's insights into the way Apple evolved from the early years, learning more on Apple after Steve Jobs left and how the company learned from those experiences to re-establish itself as the premier technology company I know and love. Unfortunately the book is really just a reprint of the original with an additional 20 page epilogue about the period from 1984-today. If you are looking to learn about today's Apple and how it re-established its brand you'll be extremely disappointed.

The book itself is insightful about the infancy of Apple Computer and provides interesting insights into the key players of its success in the early days. At times it jumps around between scenes past and present in a manner that is not necessarily fluid and a bit difficult to follow. It does a good job discussing how a company goes from a start-up in a garage to an industry leader, as well as how the sheer strength of Steve Jobs' personality helped push the company further than anyone ever imagined.

All in all the book was interesting, but having read a number of books on the beginnings of Apple Computer I was much more interested in the rebuilding years and how the company reinvented itself, which to me is a far more compelling and insightful story, and I was really disappointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive History of Steve Jobs, November 17, 2009

By 

davi strand "davi strand" (brooklyn, ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Return to the Little Kingdom: How Apple and Steve Jobs Changed the World (Hardcover)

I was drawn to this book after reading the feature on it in FORTUNE Magazine. I am a HUGE fan of Apple, from the iPod to the iPhone to the Macbook that is my life. I love their products, their marketing and their vision, so it was really wonderful to read about the origins of the company - and its creator - in this captivating book. Michael Moritz used to be a journalist at TIME before going on to be a business hotshot (he helped launch Yahoo, Google, PayPal, etc, according to the book's bio), so it's no surprise that the book is so well written.

A must read for fans of business books or pop culture or tech history or just interesting books in general!