Books by Frank Rose

The Sea We Swim In

The Sea We Swim In

How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World

“Neuroscientists tell us and politicians . . . well know how much more convincing a good story can be than an account that’s based on data. A good reason to learn more about the brain mechanisms that are activated by stories and the tricks that storytellers use, both of which are revealed by the digital anthropologist Frank Rose.”

— Corriere della Sera (Milan)

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

The Art of Immersion

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

“Frank Rose has written an important, engaging, and provocative book, asking us to consider the changes the Internet has wrought with regard to narrative as we have known it, and making it impossible to ever watch a movie or a TV show in quite the same way.”

— Peter Biskind, author of “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls” and “Down and Dirty Pictures”

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

“A fascinating history of William Morris. It’s not about the stars as much as the men (and women) who helped make the stars — the ‘star-making machinery’ as Joni Mitchell sang in ‘Free Man in Paris,’ her ode to David Geffen, himself one of the William Morris men. . . . Classic stuff, this book.”

— David Rensin, author of “The Mailroom”

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

West of Eden

“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

Into the Heart of the Mind

“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

Real Men

“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.