Books by Frank Rose

The Sea We Swim In

How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World

“If you want to connect with customers — that is to say, with the audience for the experience you’ve created — Frank Rose shows not only that you have to think narratively but how to go about it, element by element. And he wonderfully exemplifies his ideas, for his stories about storytelling are superbly written and expertly woven together. Read this book to be immersed in the sea of storytelling that’s so crucial to business success today.”

— B. Joseph Pine II, coauthor of “The Experience Economy” and “Authenticity”

BUILDING ON INSIGHTS from cognitive psychology and neuroscience, ‘The Sea We Swim In’ shows us how to see the world in narrative terms, not as a thesis to be argued or a pitch to be made but as a story to be told. This is the essence of narrative thinking. More about this book…

The Art of Immersion

How the Digital Generation Is Changing Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories

“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.”

— Holly Willis, KCET-TV Los Angeles

NOT LONG AGO WE WERE passive consumers of mass media. Now we approach television, movies, even advertising as invitations to participate. We are witnessing the emergence of a new form of narrative that is native to the Internet. More about this book…

The Agency

William Morris and The Hidden History of Show Business

“‘The Agency’ is more than just a titillating string of bold-face names, though; 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.”

— Gregg Kilday, Los Angeles Times Book Review

FOR DECADES, the Morris agency made deals that determined the fate of stars, studios, and television networks alike. But everything changed after the agency’s president dismissed his own best friend, the man who’d brought Barry Diller and Michael Ovitz out of the mailroom. A multi-generational saga of loyalty and betrayal in Hollywood. More about this book…

West of Eden

The End of Innocence at Apple Computer

“A textured, multi-dimensional work which might be described as a history, saga, philosophical tract, or analysis of the workings of capitalism. . . This book can be enjoyed on a number of levels, and each will be rewarding. It’s exciting reading.”

— Robert Sobel, Barron’s

IT SEEMS UNTHINKABLE TODAY—but nearly 40 years ago, when personal computers were still new and the World Wide Web had yet to be invented, Steve Jobs was cast out of Apple. And it wasn’t just Wall Street that applauded—it was most of Silicon Valley. More about this book…

Into the Heart of the Mind

An American Quest For Artificial Intelligence

“A good, accessible report for the general reader on one of the most bizarre fascinations of modern science.”

— Theodore Roszak, San Francisco Chronicle

IN A CRAMPED LABORATORY in the Berkeley engineering school, scientists are trying to teach a computer to think—not just to shuffle data but to learn, reason, remember, understand English, and exhibit common sense. But first they have to get it to put on a raincoat before going out in the rain.

Real Men

Sex and Style In An Uncertain Age

“What Rose has drawn out are the candid — sometimes even intemperate — self-revelations of seven men living in what he calls ‘an uncertain age.’ All seven . . . admit to being confused about themselves, unsure of what comes next. Their willingness to share these doubts . . . is what makes these men more real than their predecessors.”

— The Washington Post

THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT BEING MALE. About power and discipline, sex and violence, and the roles they play in the lives of American men today. Think of it as a personal and idiosyncratic survey designed to produce not statistical data but individual answers to the question of what it means to be a man.