David Pogue grew up in Shaker Heights, OH. He was a music and theatre geek from Day 1. He was starring in, composing, playing piano for, or conducting musicals, and choirs from elementary school through high school. He was also a language jock, winning the Ohio Spelling Bee in 1977, and a magician, performing over 400 magic shows during his teen years.

Mr. Pogue studied music, English, and computer science at Yale. He graduated summa cum laude in 1985, with Distinction in Music, having continued to write and conduct musicals each year. In his senior year, Apple was selling Macintosh computers at half price to impressionable students. Eager to take the drudgery out of music copying, he snapped one up—and got hooked. He went on to co-design, and write the manuals for such music software as Finale, from Coda Music Technology.

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