The Cult of Mac (Paperback edition)

No product on the planet enjoys the devotion of a Macintosh computer. Famously dedicated to their machines, many Mac fans eat, sleep and breathe Macintosh. In `The Cult of Mac,` Wired News managing editor Leander Kahney takes an in-depth look at Mac users and their unique, creative, and often very funny culture. From people who get Mac tattoos and haircuts, to those who furnish their apartments out of empty Mac boxes, the book details Mac fandom in all of its forms. This paperback edition includes an all-new chapter about the iPod, updates throughout, and new photos that reflect current Apple technology.

User review
New Religion
Apple is one of the few companies, such as Harley Davidson, that has such a strong loyal base of customers that they even tattoo the company's logo on their bodies. These two quotes from the book say it all:

`Apple is like a strange drug that you just can't quite get enough of.`

`They shouldn't call it Mac. They should call it crack!`

With the invention of iPods and iPhones, it seems like the entire world is getting addicted to Apple. In this book, readers learn just how loyal the company's customers are toward the brand. For example, people travel around the country to celebrate Apple store openings. I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in Apple.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

User review
Incredible insight into the minds of Mac fanatics!!
This book is great. Die hard Mac fans can relate to some if not many of the people/experiences in this book. Non-Mac fans or even computer-illiterate people can still enjoy the stories and accounts in this book due to their sometimes extreme passion. Check this one out!!

User review
A very optimistic book
I have read Leander Kahney's Cult of Mac and liked it a lot. Even though I am not a Mac user and never owned any Mac gadgets I thought that the book is very interesting. It is describing a unique phenomenon in our culture when lots of people go crazy for a computer.

Being a computer user is not always an enjoyable experience. The software is not intuitive, the hardware is not reliable and so on. In fact, it is quite possible to imagine a society that abandons computers in favor of handwritten book-keeping. After reading this book I got convinced that this would never happen.

Computers are surrounded with eternal love. They are taken care of throughout their life cycle. Their purchase or birth is marked with extensive parties often videotaped. Even their packaging is saved - furniture is built of it. As computers get older their guts are replaced with newer content. There are computers 30 years old and still working. Often, one family owns as much as a dozen Macs. If one of them is not used then it is converted into a Macquarium. People decorate their computers with pictures, place Apple graphics on their bodies and cars and advertise them in hundreds of different ways.

In general, people do not treat each other as carefully as they treat their Macs. A take-home point from this very optimistic book is that beautiful things are not created but rather developed. Everybody is welcome to the exciting world of computing technology!



User review
Insight into the Apple Faithful
Do you think that you love Apple and are passionate about their products? This book is all about the passion and the ways in which people show their devotion. You might dye your hair one week a year, or have a logo cut into it, but those efforts quickly return to `normal.` This book details arguably the largest subculture in computing: The Mac Faithful. Where an Apple logo tattoo is not unusual.

Contents:
Part 1: Macintosh Madness. Techno Fetishism, Macs and the Counterculture, Worshipping the Two Steves, Mac Tattoos and Haircuts, Macspotting, Mac Evangelism, The Mac Web.
Part 2: Gatherings of the Clan. Tales of MacWorld, Macs in Japan.
Part 3: Incessant Tinkerers. Macquariums, Fantasy Macs, Hardware Mods, Paper Macs.
Part 4: Hoarders and Recyclers. Mac Collectors and Collectibles, Antique Macs.
Part 5: New Frontier. iPod, What Makes Mac Fans So Loyal?
Index

The Cult of Mac, by Leander Kahney, is an amazing book on an interesting part of the computer world. While you may be put off by the use of the word `cult` in the title, make no mistake, Leander means this is in a loving way. His chapters focus on one aspect concerning `Macheads,` from the simple Apple logo sticker, to tattoos, to collecting boxes, to the prevalence of the iPod, and beyond. Each chapter is well written and includes many colorful pictures of the subject matter. As you can tell from the contents, Kahney spends time on many topics, allowing the principals to share their story. Some of the subjects may be hard to rationalize (which is the point, I think), but Kahney allows them to their needed time which only adds to the colorful Mac culture.

I picked this book up specifically to see the extremes of the Mac faithful. Yes, it does deliver those examples but without any editorial comments. Kahney presents these people as they are, and allows the reader to make their own judgements. However, somewhere along the way, I was struck by what this book delivers to the casual Mac user as well as people outside of the Mac culture. Kahney shows how many of these Mac faithful give up their time to sell, without any compensation, Apple products in big box stores, like CompUSA (you can see that some of the information is a little dated). But think about that - would anyone do the same for a Windows machine? Or any other personal computer? The chapter on Hardware Mods is one of my favorite. Kahney presents people that turn their Macs into gorgeous works of art. Or creating a Mac product where none exists (like a Mac-based Web pad fashioned out of a touch screen iBook). I could continue to expound on this book, as there are many reasons that I like it. Suffice it to say that this is an excellent book.

If you have one of the Mac faithful in your midst, this would make an excellent gift. If you don't use a Mac or if you can't understand why people fuss over the Apple brand, this book will provide you with many of the answers. You will not get a history of Apple from this book, but you will get a fascinating look into the Apple faithful.

User review
Mac Enthusiasts Unite!!
'The Cult Of Mac' is a Mac fans ultimate guide to learn about the legions of people around the world who not only enjoy their Mac but LOVE their Mac. Packed with 260+ pages of full-color shots, this shows all the praise that people have in the form of tattoos, artwork, detailing, etc etc etc!

The first word that came to mind when skimming through this is the word FUN. Every page turn, every picture it's just a whole lot of fun and anyone that either likes or is a macaddict, this is a very entertaining book.

MACTABULOUS!!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED