The reviews are coming in, which has been fun, and interesting to see—people have very different ideas about this book and what they want out of a history of the iPhone. Silicon Valley watchers tend to want more blow-by-blow Apple drama; international readers appreciate the global scope and holistic approach a bit more.
The New York Times has a good one, from Lev Grossman, TIME’s former tech correspondent (and who wrote the iPhone story for the mag back in the day), though it’s firmly in the former camp.
The Times of London has a great one, too, which nails the themes and primary thrust of the book.
My favorite, though, is this one, from the online magazine of bulk business book seller 800 CEO Reads. They do a killer summary and appreciate the theme and aim of the book.
The Apple blog folks are into it, though, understandably, some wanted even more Apple; here’s a nice Mac Rumors writeup.
I feel like every author is doomed to be reviewed by at least one or two writers who clearly do not in anyway understand what you’re trying to do—behold, the USA Today review, which, in the course of reviewing “The Secret History of the iPhone” complains that I did not write enough about the iPad or Google’s Android phones. Oh well.
brianmerchant.org 