Published in the US and the UK by W.W. Norton in 2011. Also published in France, Italy, Japan, and South Korea. Excerpted in Wired News, Wired UK, and Contagious. French edition excerpted in Books.
“As Frank Rose writes . . . ‘a new type of narrative is emerging—one that's told through many media at once in a way that's nonlinear, that's participatory and often game-like, and that's designed above all to be immersive. This is deep media.’” —Robert McCrum, The Observer
“Compelling . . . From Star Wars to Lost . . . it is the immersive, ‘fractal-like complexity’ of storytelling that turns on digital audiences.”
—P.D. Smith, The Guardian
“It's a grand trip, taking in everything from Charles Dickens to Super Mario and Avatar . . . Refreshing [and] thoughtful.” —New Scientist
“We're in the midst of a fascinating—and delirious, often overwhelming—cultural moment, one that Rose, with his important new book, astutely helps us to understand.” —KCET-TV Los Angeles
“Like Marshall McLuhan’s groundbreaking 1964 book, Understanding Media, this . . . is an essential read.” —Library Journal
THE AGENCY: William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business
Published in the US by HarperCollins in 1995. Excerpted in the Los Angeles Times.
“More than a titillating string of bold-face names. . . . Rose uses the saga of the Morris Agency's rise and fall as a prism through which to examine the constantly evolving nature of show business itself.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Reveals the shark tank at its most lethal and hilarious.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“How deals were made, bluffs called, booze guzzled, pills popped and stars born.” —Chicago Tribune
“A darker side of show biz.” —USA Today
WEST OF EDEN: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer
Published in the US by Viking Penguin and in the UK by Century Hutchinson in 1989. Also published in the Netherlands and Japan. Named one of the ten best business books of the year by Business Week. Excerpted in California and Advertising Age. Now available in an updated edition.
“No other book has done a better job of presenting the bitter breakup between Sculley and Jobs.” —Newsweek
“Rose’s . . . smooth and lively story captures better than any previous attempt the spirit of Apple under Jobs. . . . Of them all, West of Eden seems most likely to endure as the definitive account of the convulsive period that saw Apple grow up.” —Katie Hafner, Business Week
“A vivid, intriguing portrait . . . The Steven Jobs that West of Eden describes would be a magnificent fictional character, an apprentice sorcerer with powers beyond his ken.“ —Chicago Tribune
”Provides convincing proof that life at young California companies was anything but laid back.” —Michael Moritz, The Wall Street Journal
“A bracing keyhole view of a swarm of rich, talented people frequently at each others’ throats.” —San Francisco Chronicle
INTO THE HEART OF THE MIND: An American Quest for Artificial Intelligence
Published in the US by Harper & Row and in the UK by Century Hutchinson in 1984. Also published in France, India, Japan, the Netherlands, and West Germany. Excerpted in Esquire. Book-of-the-Month Club main selection.
In a cramped laboratory at the Berkeley engineering school, a small team of scientists is attempting to teach a computer named Kim to think—not just to shuffle data, but to learn, remember, understand English, make associations, and exhibit that curious quality we call “common sense.”
“A science book that reads like a novel. . . . Fast paced and fact filled.”
—American Library Association
—Washington Post
“Heady reading.” —Publishers Weekly
“A good, accessible report for the general reader on one of the most bizarre fascinations of modern science.”
—Theodore Roszak, San Francisco Chronicle
REAL MEN: Sex and Style in an Uncertain Age
With photographs by George Bennett. Published by Doubleday/Dolphin in 1980. Excerpted in Esquire.
“‘Real men’ are making a comeback. You know the kind I mean: The strutting, curly-haired guys whose pectorals move more frequently than their mouths. . . . Isn't anyone going to call these guys' bluffs? A new book does. . . . Rose and Bennett uncover an apprehensiveness among men and women that rings true.” —Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
“What Rose has drawn out are the fascinating—sometimes even intemperate—self-revelations of seven men living in what he calls an ‘uncertain age.’ . . . Their willingness to share their doubts without fear of forfeiting their masculinity is what makes these men more real than their predecessors.” —Washington Post
“Vivid, meticulous portraits—sharply written, insightfully photographed, enthralling as no myth can ever be but reality always is.”
—Village Voice
Books as contributor
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"Glories of the Loire" in Travel + Leisure's Unexpected France. Published by Dorling Kindersley in 2007. Introduction by Nancy Novogrod. Originally published in the March 1999 issue of Travel + Leisure.
"George Harrison," "Ronnie Lane," and other entries in The Rolling Stone Record Guide and The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Published by Rolling Stone Press│Random House in 1979 and 1983. Edited by Dave Marsh and John Swenson.
"Garrett Morris" in Rolling Stone Visits Saturday Night Live. Published by Rolling Stone Press│Doubleday/Dolphin in 1979. Edited by Marianne Partridge.
