Remember Apple's brain drain a couple of years ago? Back when the "Cupertino Titanic" was most definitely a sinking ship, the talent was heading for the lifeboats quicker than The Mod Squad came to home video. Only the truly dedicated-- and a few truly delusional-- remained. Of course, once Steve Jobs re-energized things and got the company back on track, Apple became a relatively safe place to work again, and we presume that these days Steve's not having too much trouble hiring "the right stuff" to get the job done. Provided he's gotten past that whole "Are you a virgin?" interview style, of course.

So now is it all gung-ho and "Rah Rah Apple" behind the Silicon Curtain? Not necessarily. A faithful viewer who requested not to be named for modesty's sake (you guys crack us up) pointed out an interesting little Reuters article about Amazon.com. Apparently Amazon's getting a little heat about its practice of tabulating and revealing "group purchasing patterns." If you visit Amazon (<SHAMELESS PLUG> say, by clicking the "Books" or "CD's" buttons in the AtAT Home Shopping banner above </SHAMELESS PLUG>) and browse around a bit you may notice that there's a "Purchase Circles" page that lets you look at the top selling titles for a particular company, or geographical region. For instance, we notice that the top-selling book at Microsoft is Bill Gates' latest, Business @ The Speed of Thought. (Suppose it's just Bill buying as many copies of his own book as possible?)

Now, it seems that certain companies aren't too crazy about Amazon publicly disclosing the buying habits of their employees, and according to the article, Amazon plans to remove companies from the "Purchase Circles" listings if they are requested to do so. But what made us giggle was the disclosure of the top two best-selling books to Apple employees. Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc. by Owen Linzmayer was number one, which we hear is a great overall behind-the-scenes look at our favorite computer company, but number two is Jim Carlton's infamous Apple : The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders, which took a decidedly "the beast is dead" slant. So are Apple employees reading it in disgruntled glee, or is it a handbook of what not to do in order to do things right this time?

Incidentally, rounding out the top five at Apple are former Head Evangelist Guy Kawasaki's Rules for Revolutionaries, famed cyberpunk author Neal Stephenson's latest, Cryptonomicon, and Hannibal by Thomas Harris, the return of Hannibal Lecter. Make of that what you will. ;-)