Sublime

What I discovered was a company exulting in creative disorganization, even if the creativity was not always as substantial as hoped for.

On his desk and permeating his conversations was Apple interface guru Donald Norman’s classic tome The Psychology of Everyday Things, the bible of a religion whose first, and arguably only, commandment is “The user is always right.”

“Steve has a reality distortion field.” When Hertzfeld looked puzzled, Tribble elaborated. “In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he’s not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules.”

Then, Max wrote, S. S. Van Dine called “to give notice” that he would bring in his newest manuscript—

Although he was largely an observer of the technical community that created Silicon Valley, his various ideas and crusades around the Whole Earth Catalog, which he created in the fall of 1968, foreshadow and resonate with the techno-utopian culture that the Valley spawned.