The Presses Are Rolling!

Not a dream! Not an alternate reality! Not a hoax!

Yes, the book is finally and truly available on Amazon for pre-order (see link below), and should be available for delivery after December 1, 2013.

The book was submitted to the printer during the past week, and the book cover design was finalized yesterday.

I am pleased with the final results, and expect that readers will like it also. As I was listening to the latest episode of the Open Apple podcast, in which Bill Martens and Brian Wiser discuss the newly released Wozpak Special Edition (another book I would strongly recommend), one of the comments made struck me.

Martens and Wiser were asked if the Wozpak was going to be available as a PDF, and they said that they felt the material was much more valuable as a print book that can be held in your hand. And I agree that the Wozpak is really better as a paper book. As a PDF, it can just go into a folder on my computer hard drive, and be forgotten. But in print form, it is simultaneously more real and more retro. It is something like the difference between running an emulated classic computer and running the real hardware. Personally, I more highly esteem physical hardware than some files on my computer, regardless of how much simpler it may be to operate.

In the same way, the release of Sophistication & Simplicity adds value to the Apple II History beyond what has classically been presented here in its online form. It is easier to read as a book that can held in the hand, rather sitting in front of your computer (or tablet) and go through all of the chapters and appendices.

At this time I will also announce that the Apple II History content on this web site will be removed for the foreseeable future at some time in the next month. Now, if you REALLY want to read the traditionally free version of this history, you can still download the old files from the Asimov FTP site, and you can probably find an archived version of this web site in its current form at Archive.org (just enter “apple2history.org” in the search window for the Wayback machine.

However, I will say that although the core of the material in the History has not changed much, there is additional information in nearly every section, as well as a more interesting presentation of that material. In other words, the $29.95 price of the book (before Amazon’s discount) is not a deal-breaker if you need the info in the history for research purposes.

Click here to pre-order!