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Isaacson Shares a Touching Preview of the Steve Jobs Biography

Generally I'm not a fan of biographies but I think I will almost certainly make an exception for this one. Looking like it will be a fascinating read for a fascinating man.

Still in complete disbelief he's no longer with us.
 
I'm usually not emotional over the deaths of public figures, but every time I read something about Steve, my eyes get watery.

I think this biography is going to be a great read. Its sad that this is the way his kids get to know him better.
 
Myself and a co-worker thought that it would be fitting if we could somehow organize the night that Steve Jobs is laid to rest where everyone goes outside at a certain set time across the U.S. when it is dark and we put our iPhones, iPods, iPads and point them to the sky so they display a glowing and bright white Apple logo on their screens (sample attached)..or even just the trademark white glowing screen of Apple devices.

We would need obviously someone to create a simple iOS application for this that displays a illuminated/glowing Apple Logo on a black background on the screens of these iOS devices and it would be a free download so everyone could participate it so we can pull this off.

I think this would be a fitting tribute to Steve. And I think it would be stunning if we saw the imagery of this from above from the various cities.

:apple:
 
rdowns said:
Damn, that last paragraph made me tear up. I hope his kids got to know their dad better these last few months.
Click to expand...
I'm sure his kids and family knew him well. But as Steve Jobs said in 2005, "[you need] to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months."

It's not that his kids didn't know their father, it's that Steve had a lot more to say and not enough time to say it.
 
To hear his reason why he wanted to write the book is truly so touching. Even in his death his reasons for living his life and motivations were so simple.
 
Ryth said:
Myself and a co-worker thought that it would be fitting if we could somehow organize the night that Steve Jobs is laid to rest where everyone goes outside at a certain set time across the U.S. when it is dark and we put our iPhones, iPods, iPads and point them to the sky so they display a glowing and bright white Apple logo on their screens (sample attached)..or even just the trademark white glowing screen of Apple devices.

We would need obviously someone to create a simple iOS application for this that displays a illuminated/glowing Apple Logo on a black background on the screens of these iOS devices and it would be a free download so everyone could participate it so we can pull this off.

I think this would be a fitting tribute to Steve. And I think it would be stunning if we saw the imagery of this from above from the various cities.

:apple:
Click to expand...

Somehow. Tweet that and use the hashtag #shineyourlight
 
Wow!
The insight is amazing.
Prelude to insightful writing. I can visualize myself there in the conversation.
Preordered!
 
"He had moved to a downstairs bedroom because he was too weak to go up and down stairs. He was curled up in some pain, but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant."

That passage, with a change of the sex, could have been written of my mother who passed from the damned cancer 16 years ago. Her passing was quick too, just a little over half a year. :(
/
/
/
 
All you guys are making me feel bad about myself. I don't know if there is something wrong with me, but I'm really not feeling the same way about his death as most of you are. I am not crying. I'm not thinking about some fitting tribute I will perform. I'm not going to encase my iPad, or this new hardcover, in glass. I don't feel the "s" in 4S stands for "Steve".

Why not? Because although I own a small army worth of Apple products (and want even more), I never really knew the man. Heck, his own kids, it turns out, didn't even know him. Did he change my life in a positive way? You bet. My iPhone is like a 3rd arm to me. I'm certain sadden by his death, but I feel much sadder for his family he left behind who will miss him immensely.
 
Peace said:
Like I said yesterday. This man is the epitomy of class.

"I wanted my kids to know me," he said. "I wasn't always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did."
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Hmmm..

I think the exact opposite, someone with more class would have been there.
 
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impulse462 said:
Usually the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is a death sentence. Steve still introduced the iPhone and iPad after this diagnosis.

Simply Amazing.
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From what I understand, he actually had a neuroendocrine tumor, which us not exactly the same as a tru pancreatic Cancer (in terms of aggressiveness and prognosis). Nevertheless, I'm sure his Premature death was due to extensive metastasis.
 
That is unbelievably touching. We all know of his successes, but we don't really know much about the man himself. This should be a fantastic read.
 
kas23 said:
All you guys are making me feel bad about myself. I don't know if there is something wrong with me, but I'm really not feeling the same way about his death as most of you are. I am not crying. I'm not thinking about some fitting tribute I will perform. I'm not going to encase my iPad, or this new hardcover, in glass. I don't feel the "s" in 4S stands for "Steve".

Why not? Because although I own a small army worth of Apple products (and want even more), I never really knew the man. Heck, his own kids, it turns out, didn't even know him. Did he change my life in a positive way? You bet. My iPhone is like a 3rd arm to me. I'm certain sadden by his death, but I feel much sadder for his family he left behind who will miss him immensely.
Click to expand...

Each person mourns in their own way.

But for some of us, like myself who started in the desktop publishing industry when the first Apple computers came out, you realize what visionary you lost and how the man changed the computer industry..from the personal computer to the iPod, iPhone and iPad. No person has had that much impact on one industry...let alone 3 (music, computers, phone)

I fear to think how the computer industry would have turned out if we continued to have 'engineering' types like Gates and others who have no clue what 'design' truly is...and it's not just how it looks...it's how it works and functions especially for people who don't want to waste time with things that you shouldn't have to do to get something to work as it should. We'd be still on Windows X and everything would be opened ended and breaking all the time, devices wouldn't work with one another and so on.

Steve just 'got it' that things need to fricking work...period.
 
That last paragraph...

Man, what an emotional day - that last paragraph really got to me. Often we are all too busy trying to forge careers, make ends meet and focused on the mundane aspects of life that we forget to pay attention to those that matter most.

:(
 
I just wanted to post these pictures, after his last keynote at WWDC 2011.
33.jpg

34.jpg


It looks like he already knew back then... :(
 
r2shyyou said:
I am further saddened to read that he, in part, wanted to do the book in order for his children to get to know him, to get to know a person in a way that all of us who read this book will get to know. By this I mean that we will know him almost just as well as they know him, if what he says is true.
Click to expand...

His children would know the father and the private person of Steve Jobs. Many children wouldn't know what their dad does at work all day; but in his case it is a story worth knowing. They know a side of Steve Jobs that we will never know.

Wildog27 said:
The last line about him wanting his kids to know him is simultaneously touching and disturbing. I'm torn because I know how important I found him and the products that he helped design and bring to market, but is all of that really worth it if he felt like he needed a biography to help his kids know him? I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

There is a lot of interesting history that they would never have learned. How Apple, Next and Pixar were started, for example. His children wouldn't know that.
 
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I cannot wait to read this. I haven't read any of the other biographies on Jobs, and now I am purposefully staying away from them. I want the stories and anecdotes to be fresh.

RIP, Steve, and thanks.
 
archipellago said:
Hmmm..

I think the exact opposite, someone with more class would have been there.
Click to expand...

Class has absolutely nothing to do with how you raise your children. Using your logic, people who fight for their country should not go. They should stay home and "raise" their children like rich people who used to buy their way out of the draft. The reality is, just like someone in the military, he was fighting for something far greater then you could ever imagine. Without him, the world WOULD be a different place. Most people, never see the big picture. He did.
 
archipellago said:
Hmmm..

I think the exact opposite, someone with more class would have been there.
Click to expand...

Not saying he was a "good" or "bad" dad, but I never really got to "know" my dad until I was older. I quickly searched and couldn't find his kids' ages, but if we married in 1991 then there's a likelihood that his children (with the exception of his oldest) are not really old enough to "know him".
 
kas23 said:
All you guys are making me feel bad about myself. I don't know if there is something wrong with me, but I'm really not feeling the same way about his death as most of you are. I am not crying. I'm not thinking about some fitting tribute I will perform. I'm not going to encase my iPad, or this new hardcover, in glass. I don't feel the "s" in 4S stands for "Steve".

Why not? Because although I own a small army worth of Apple products (and want even more), I never really knew the man. Heck, his own kids, it turns out, didn't even know him. Did he change my life in a positive way? You bet. My iPhone is like a 3rd arm to me. I'm certain sadden by his death, but I feel much sadder for his family he left behind who will miss him immensely.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm the same. I'm sorry that he is gone and sad about what is clearly an early death with unrealized potential but it is not a personal loss for me. He was a great man that accomplished a lot but he also had his flaws like we all do.

The one thing I will say is that the death of such a public figure often reminds people of their own mortality and that of their loved ones. People tend to shut out those thoughts in their day to day lives until something like this happens and we are forced to re-evaluate the choices they've made in life and where they are headed. So, much of this grief may not be over Steve Jobs per se.
 
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