I can bet good money that if you're reading this site, you've bought at least one Apple product in your life. Apple is a huge company and created so many products and services that it's almost impossible to escape them.
This was due to the genius of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who created the company, and Steve Jobs, who saved it, but mainly due to Tim Cook, who brought Apple to stratospheric heights.
Book premise
This book follows the life of Tim Cook, a quiet person from Alabama who brought his tenacity, work ethic and genius to Apple. It covers his upbringing, studies and the changing of the guard from Steve Jobs, who was dying of pancreatic cancer at the time and thought (rightfully) that Tim Cook would be the best person to lead Apple.
The author
Leander Kahney is a great writer who used to be a managing editor for Wired. From Wikipedia:
He is also the author of five books centered on the subculture surrounding Apple products, as well as the company itself: The Cult of Mac, Cult of iPod, Inside Steve's Brain, Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products, and Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level.
Kahney is currently best known for his role as editor and publisher of a popular Apple-centric blog, also titled Cult of Mac. As a prominent writer on Apple- and Mac-related topics, Kahney was once theorized (incorrectly) to be the identity of Fake Steve Jobs.
Leander has worked for many other publications, including: MacWeek as a senior reporter, Scientific American, The Observer and The Guardian in London. Working as a newspaper reporter in the UK, he covered amongst other things, the war in former Yugoslavia.
Why did I like it?
I still remember when Steve Jobs was dying and it was announced that the shy and unassuming Tim Cook would be the next CEO. People predicted that Apple would lose its vision, stagnate, and never release a good product again. Tim proved them wrong. Apple went from $348 billion to (at the time of writing this) $4.7 trillion (read that again).
Tim is leaving Apple in September 2026 and handing over to John Ternus as the new CEO, so I think it's a good time for Leander Kahney to write a part 2 of this book that covers the period until the end of Tim's tenure as CEO. I would love to read it.
Exciting times with this CEO transition.
Where you can find it
Want more? Check my other book suggestions.
I have no affiliation with this brand or person (people), and the views here are my own. I didn't have any bad experiences, but if you do, please know that this is a recommendation, and you're always free to make decisions by yourself before buying something.
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