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Apple Praises 'Becoming Steve Jobs' as 'Better Than Anything Else We've Seen'
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I think this is an important distinction to make.
Just because Apple praises this book, doesn't mean it is more accurate than isaacsons book. Just because Apple hated Isaacson's book, doesn't mean this it is less accurate either.
it just means that Apple wishes the memory of SJ to be more like this book.
Remember, history is often dictated by the "Victors".
Chances are, if you read both books, Mr Job's was probably closer to the middle between each.
It might be better for Apple to keep quieter about their enthusiasm for this book. Otherwise, it starts to sound like a company promotion which then taints any thoughts of accuracy in the book. Jobs interacted with a lot of people during his life, not just Tim Cook and Eddie Cue. Some interactions were positive and some were not. I thought Isaacson's book did a good balancing act; I'm not sure what Cook and Cue are complaining about.
Edit: Rogifan beat me to it!
Edit: Rogifan beat me to it!
It would make sense that Apple and co. are praising the book, because they're the interviews primarily featured in the book.
So essentially they're saying that what they said is an accurate representation. Not that the book in general is. Although with the whole Isaacson thing, I am surprised that Cook disagrees with it. But some time has gone by since Steve passed away and maybe the harsher memories are easier to forget. Who knows.
So essentially they're saying that what they said is an accurate representation. Not that the book in general is. Although with the whole Isaacson thing, I am surprised that Cook disagrees with it. But some time has gone by since Steve passed away and maybe the harsher memories are easier to forget. Who knows.
It's hard to say what exactly is an "honest" portrayal of Steve Jobs. Probably only those closest to him really know.
I'm suspicious of a book endorsed by Apple itself as it is in their interest to have Jobs portrayed in a certain way. Likewise, some of the other books may have exaggerated or mis-portrayed certain aspects of his life for sales.
I'm suspicious of a book endorsed by Apple itself as it is in their interest to have Jobs portrayed in a certain way. Likewise, some of the other books may have exaggerated or mis-portrayed certain aspects of his life for sales.
I have full respect for Jobs accomplishments and society changing idea shaping (many not his original ideas, he just knew how they needed to be formed and packaged to get noticed and have maximum effect). But even Jobs admins in his own authorized biography that he was mercurial and an SOB at times -- something he regretted, which was purportedly the reason for him agreeing to participate in the book.
So now comes along another book, now with explicit help from Apple execs, to take the stink out. The motivation? Who knows, but with the Apple's legacy so tied to Jobs, having him remade as a saint from a highly intelligent, but flawed, mortal could be one.
Count me in as skeptical and thinking this is going to be an attempt to rewrite history in the style of Soviet historians after a General Secretary or other high ranking official mysteriously vanished into the night.
So now comes along another book, now with explicit help from Apple execs, to take the stink out. The motivation? Who knows, but with the Apple's legacy so tied to Jobs, having him remade as a saint from a highly intelligent, but flawed, mortal could be one.
Count me in as skeptical and thinking this is going to be an attempt to rewrite history in the style of Soviet historians after a General Secretary or other high ranking official mysteriously vanished into the night.
So, why not be skeptical also of the other stories. Negative stories also sell. Actually, from past history, they sell better than the positive ones.
If I'd have to question the motivation of someone, I'd question the motivation of previous authors; especially the book that got released within a short time of Jobs death...
If anything, I'd call those past stories the equivalent of clickbait, and would be wary of them. But, I guess they have their place too; despite their sensationalism.
This book may sell less because it doesn't say Jobs a full time bastard. Does it mean they're wrong. Maybe its just another view point. Jobs must have had some good side to instill the loyalty people had. You're going to get that point of view that has not come fully to light before.
Not funny at all. Its an affiliate link and MacRumors gets 7% on every link through purchase from Amazon. That would end up being a lot of money if they get 10,000-20,000 links.
iBooks doesn't do affiliates or pay commissions.
I actually got the impression that Isaacson admired Jobs by the end of it all. The fact that Cook was unhappy with it is troubling. Both Steve and his wife wanted an accurate portrayal and instructed Isaacson to paint the complete picture which he did. He could have been a lot harsher about certain aspects, such as the whole Lisa fiasco, but wasn't.
So this is the official Steve Jobs hagiography, fully blessed by Apple. It's like a Kim Jong Il biography endorsed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
It seems Steve Jobs was more honest about who he was than current Apple leadership is. Jobs worked with Issacson on his biography, and it paints an unflattering picture in many cases - but that's what everyone expected. Why is Apple trying to whitewash Jobs now?
It seems Steve Jobs was more honest about who he was than current Apple leadership is. Jobs worked with Issacson on his biography, and it paints an unflattering picture in many cases - but that's what everyone expected. Why is Apple trying to whitewash Jobs now?
I own Isaacson's book. I liked it because it showed the good and not so good stuff. To me, that is balanced. Nobody is perfect and I don't want to read a bio that's all roses.
So, again, why dismiss Cook being unhappy. His opinion means nothing? He was as close to Jobs as can be.
Isaacson may have hidden some less savory part of Jobs past, but he was also kinda weak in demonstrating why people would be so incredibly loyal to him and what made him so different from others, what is this passion that drove him. I think if he'd gone stronger on the negative AND positive, it would have been a more accurate book.
I completely agree. Any book "praised" by the execs, can't be all that truthful, and would only portray the positive side.
I just read an excerpt of the new book, and something came to light that was never in Isaacson's book....
Steve Jobs liked to get home every night and spend it with his wife and family. He was not a typical CEO in that he did not attend conference after conference in far away cities. Many CEOS have private jets they use all the time, while Steve did not do this as he wanted his family time.
Just that paragraph there DOES paint a different picture than what Isaacson's book portrayed.
I'd love to read the rest of the book.
That was my first thought as well. A postmortem book that attempts to paint Steve in a separate light. I'm still really pumped for this book - can never have too many Steve stories - but I'm definitely taking it all in with a big grain of salt.
I understand why people are going to view this book with a discerning eye, but why is it that so many people will willingly accept whatever negative things that other movies and books say about Jobs? It's as if some people have made the decision that only negative things about Jobs are truthful, and anything positive is a load of polished crap.
After all, if you're trying to sell something that talks about a famous person, you're going to put as many scandalous details as you can in there, truthful or not.
Again, I'm not trying to say that this new book is going to be without embellishments, but I think people should look at the other Jobs biographies with just as much of a critical eye.
It would be healthy to be skeptical of those if we didn't have good multiple corroborating sources and a confession from the subject himself. We must consider:
1) In Jobs bio, we have Steve Jobs, in a deathbed confession, telling many of these stories or agreeing they happened as they were told to Isaacson.
2) Before the authorized Isaacson book there were many unauthorized books about Jobs. All seem to corroborate the stories of the others. Nobody at the time the books were published bother to disabuse any of them as pulp fiction.
It's only now that a book is coming out to suggest Jobs was a not the person portrayed in the other books, including the authorized one. But we know for a fact about his relationship with his daughter Lisa. We know for a fact Jobs was not philanthropic. We know for a fact he could be tyrannical and mercurial because thats what got him kicked out of Apple the first time.
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Really, weird.. I'm not even arguing against the negative info, just saying the positive and the main reason Jobs what he is and inspired loyaulty was really weakly portrayed in EVERY single book.
Writing a book like that is like making a documentary. The author has a editorial bias because he wants to sell a story. That's how it is done. Claiming little bias from one book, and bias from another, makes little sense.
They're both biased obviously simply because of the change of point of view.
Books like this sell more to the general public if they'Re negative. Because then you get more people outside fans of the company, person to buy it. For those people, the merely positive, world building Jobs, may be boring; though that's how he spent 95% of his time.
This book will appeal more to people who have made the Apple brand, and what it aspires too, a bigger part of their life. That's a smaller public that's probably more interested in that world building, loyalty building, charismatic Jobs.
i'm not one to leap to jobs' defense at any given moment, but i'm more than willing to jump to the defense of people like Jobs... most passionate creative types are somewhat unbalanced. add the very unique quality of being an outstanding business man, and you've got yourself a rare creative type indeed. i can't fault him for being somewhat like the creative geniuses i know personally. they're frikkin weird, man. loving and kind one minute and detached and outwardly vicious the next.
i think jobs had inner turmoil in that he hated that he had hate inside him (so into buddhism and such) - and hate leads to all kinds of problems. i think he loathed the fact that people didn't see things exactly his way because to him, they were CRYSTAL clear. so when he did commit the now notorious personal mistakes that some consider worse than 'average', he seemingly felt pretty bad about it afterwards, and did things to rectify them in his own way.
now it DOES sound like i'm defending him specifically, but really, i'm using him as illustrative to my broader point.
A few books that painted Jobs more negative traits, even one that was written based on his own testimony on his death bed are basically ignored by apple
Suddenly one that tells a different narrative that is more favourable to him is the only one that Apple seems to officially like.
while it's not propaganda (as long as everything is factually true), it is absolutely Apple using this book to attempt to 'rewrite' or at least influence written history of the man.
as mentioned earlier, for those of us who didn't know the man personally, The real truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But by officially supporting only this book, apple is declaring THIS to be Job's true life, which, may or may not be entirely representative of who the man really was.
Nothing in this new book can make me forget that Jobs denied his own daughter for several years. Pathetic.