The Perfect Thing, Steven Levy

Ebury Press - £14.99

ISBN: 978-0-09-191009-9

Genesis of the iPod

Despite the fact that you can open it at virtually any page and find a serious candidate paragraph or two for Private Eye’s Pseud’s Corner, this is a fascinating book. And the perfect Christmas gift if your house contains a shuffling creature with two white buds growing out of its ears and attached by a thin cord to a small white sliver of electronic magic.

That sliver of white (actually now available in as many colours as Joseph’s coat) is a portable music player that can hold literally thousands of tunes.

Can there be anyone who has not been affected by the iPod? It has conquered the world and journalist Steven Levy was there as it happened. A confidant of Steve Jobs, he had access to the inner world of Apple during the whole time the phenomenon developed.

In this fat little book (more than six times the size of its subject matter!) Levy examines the massive cultural shock wave generated by the iPod and the explosive growth in popularity of downloaded music.

Even if you have no interest in music, the primary raison d’etre of the iPod, you will find this a fascinating account of the development of a new cultural icon and the often weird people, attitudes and machinations that have surrounded the 40+ million seller that has virtually defined the 21st century.