My friend Ben Fritz has written a hilarious review of The Perfect Thing, Newsweek columnist Steven Levy’s book about the iPod:

The iPod is in many ways the No. 1 star of our tech-obsessed culture, so it’s perhaps no surprise that it has gotten its own celeb bio. Steven Levy’s account of Apple’s uber-popular digital music player reads like one of those quickie books about Leonardo DiCaprio that popped up around “Titanic”: short on substance and full of wonderment over how lucky we mortals are to be blessed with such a good looking, talented, and dreamy device.

Levy, the technology correspondent at Newsweek, is clearly part of the cult that doesn’t just use an iPod, but worships everything about it. In many ways that’s a plus for a book written for iPod lovers, but it’s also a weakness. Levy’s account of the MP3 player and those who made it — especially Apple CEO Steve Jobs — is so reverential that it borders on hagiography…

When he’s not in awe of the brilliant minds that made it, Levy is amazed by just how meaningful the iPod is. Entire chapters are devoted to weighty topics like the “shuffle” function or iPod playlists. At one point, he ponders whether the iPod shuffle slogan, “Life is random,” had some connection to Jobs’ bout with cancer.

Most amazingly, Levy describes how his first experience with an iPod helped him get over the depression he felt after 9/11. If you can read that without losing your lunch, then by all means, pop in your little white headphones and pick up “The Perfect Thing.”

Kevin Drum, on the other hand, liked the book.