West of Eden: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer

by Frank Rose

Journalist Frank Rose provides a riveting, behind-the-scenes account of a business and a technology in tormoil. The fall of Steve Jobs, the visionary entrepreneur who founded Apple Computer, is also the story of a freewheeling California youth culture on a collision course with corporate America.

Named one of the Ten Best Business Books of 1989 by BusinessWeek.

Genres: Apple, Business, Nonfiction, Computers, History, Technology

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

FRANK ROSE is the author most recently of The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World, published in 2021 in the US and the UK and described as "critical thinking for an age of pervasive media" by The Wall Street Journal. His previous book, The Art of Im­mer­sion: How the Digital Gen­era­tion Is Remak­ing Holly­wood, Mad­ison Ave­nue, and the Way We Tell Stories, was a landmark work that showed how technology is chang­ing the age-old art of storytelling. Sparked by a decade of re­porting on media and technology for Wired, it has been called “a grand trip” by New Scientist and “a new media bible” by the Italian daily la Re­pubblica.
A senior fellow at Colum­bia University School of the Arts, Frank teach­es global busi­ness execu­tives as faculty director of the execu­tive edu­ca­tion seminar Strategic Story­telling. He is also awards director of Columbia's pioneer­ing Digital Story­telling Lab, where in 2016 he launched the annual Break­throughs in Story­telling awards to honor the most innovative approaches to narra­tive from the past year.

Reviews

[Steve Sarrica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rose's book covers a lot of ground that has been covered in other books about Apple and Steve Jobs. "West of Eden" is well researched and well sourced. Despite having read widely in this area over the years, there is a lot in this book that is new to me. Well written with a conversational style that makes it a quick read.

This is the story of Jobs and the damage he did prior to being forced out of Apple. For all of the good Jobs brought to the table, he was a divisive leader that choked off the Apple II line (which was successful and paying the bills at Apple) long before the Mac ramped, mismanaged the Macintosh Office, and prematurely killed the Lisa when it's sales finally started to pick up when it was recast as the Macintosh XL. Of course, Steve would go on to his Next and Pixar days and would return to Apple in what became the most extraordinary second act in business history, but the picture painted here is uncompromising on his early faults.

The human toll of the chaos at Apple is also clearly detailed. The careers that faced drastic changes or ended and the scores of "what ifs" about certain people, products, and technologies make for interesting speculation.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable romp through the ousting of Steve Jobs from the company he founded

Well written and researched, an easy read and fascinating history of the silliness that can go on in corporate America alongside the almost religious fanaticism of many at Apple and on the original Macintosh team.

[Robert Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are books that I call "business narratives." These have the feeling of taking you inside the walls of the office, boardroom and sometimes, garage. West of Eden really dives deep into the dynamic relationships at Apple Computer with great insight into the history and corporate culture all leading to a tight, unbiased focus on that between Steve Jobs and John Scully.

[Steven Arenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story of the early years of Apple, but too much detail in parts…and too much digression.

[Donal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant account of Job's genius and quixotic personality.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apple doesnt want you to know about this nasty little book