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Lisa Brennan-Jobs Shares Memories of Steve Jobs in New 'Small Fry' Memoir Excerpt

when growing up, my father was both very loving and full of care but I can also imagine him to react in same way regarding Porsche (or any other expensive car)... show me one grown up that can only remember positive things about their relationship with parents... my feeling is that she is capitalizing on whole Steve's image as "d-bag" (as someone wrote it here)
 
I guess genius and multi-millionaire/billionaire that he was, Jobs still had issues.
 
Kaibelf said:
That account of the meeting when she was three years old seems oddly very detailed. I remember things from my childhood but certainly not things like when someone moved their hair.
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She said it's what her mother told her.
 
craig1410 said:
For a man who appreciated simplicity and elegance in his products, he had a knack for introducing complexity and turmoil into his personal life! It’s hard to hear some of the things Lisa says.

I admire so much about Steve but, as a family man myself, I find it hard to overlook how he dealt with Lisa and Chrisann. If it was a pure numbers game then perhaps he has helped many more people through Apple products than he has hurt by being an imperfect parent but family life is rarely a numbers game...

What I really struggle with is why such an intelligent man as Steve Jobs didn’t try harder to reconcile his obvious mistakes as his own mortality gradually became evident. One of my own greatest fears is being snatched from life without the chance to say sorry/thanks/goodbye/I love you to those closest to me. If I was gravely I’ll over many months then I’d like to think I would have said my “one more thing” - before I departed.
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You’re very considerate in your thinking.
Not only was he put up for adoption, but his first adoptive parents “gave him back/rejected him”and he was put up for adoption again and was then adopted by the Jobs family. That has got to have had a huge negative impact on him. I think I’ve seen him mention that a few times. I’m sure the bitterness ran deep. Not to excuse his behavior to his own child, but it does kind of give context. Who knows though. I knew people who worked in Apple in the mid 90’s in just regular positions and they would just about freak out if he got in the lift at the same time. Withering!
 
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The sad thing is that Jobs is hailed as a hero and an amazing person. By the sounds of it, he treated his child like trash. I would do or give anything to either of my 3 kids without a single hesitation. He may have been rich and idolised by some but he was a terrible human being and a terrible father.
 
inkswamp said:
If what she's recounting is the worst of what Jobs did to her, then she should consider herself very lucky. He's hardly a d-bag by comparison to some of the horrific stuff other parents out there have subjected their children to. Me personally, I'd have gladly traded my abusive parents for a "d-bag" like Steve Jobs. Probably best to put it in perspective.
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So sorry you endured that. Hope you found that there’s also love in the world.
 
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Jobs has always been into child abuse. That's how his early iPhones were made.

The man was scum to put it nicely. They knew for years about children working in slave like conditions, well before it was exposed and it took them too long to even address it.
 
So many brilliant and successful people are jackasses; one hopes, and suspects, that Lisa Jobs had the power of forgiveness for her father
 
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Anyone who read the Isaacson Bio is unsurprising by this. If that Bio said anything it acknowledged his marketing genius, vision while also acknowledging he wasn't the nicest guy. I do know that his widow takes issue with the Bio but I tend to think it is closer to the truth of the man.
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MacDawg said:
That's what you got from reading this excerpt?
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I actually think Tim Cook is doing a great job. I think under his leadership, Apple is a little more willing to take a chance and let something imperfect out into the marketplace to see where it goes which Steve was not necessarily willing to do.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
Of course it's true. Steve Jobs was a huge D, and egomaniacal narcissist and sociopath to boot. Yeah, he had a magnetic personality - just watch the 2005 commencement address he did at Stanford for an example of just how well spoken and charming he could be (it's available on youtube) - but he was still a huge D. And even at his very best his narcissism was still there - in that very same commencement speech he tells an anecdote about how his cancer doctor allegedly cried when he found out that The Great Steve Jobs was cured of his pancreatic cancer. That almost certainly never happened I'm wagering.

The tales of him blowing people off for little or no reason (giving rise to the probably urban legend of how he fired a guy in an elevator who didn't even work at Apple, and so on), his 'reality distortion field' where he would claim ideas of others that he had previously dismissed as stupid or bad as his own, or that time he cheated Steve Wozniak out of something like US$1650 (1970s dollars btw), or you know, the whole "you're holding it wrong" thing... There's so many examples of Jobs being an abusive D; him disowning his own daughter is just one in a long line. Why he's being held up as the 2nd coming by so many Apple fans is rather beyond me.

Yeah, he was influential and even inspirational at times, but he was also a huge D. And most likely the reason he's dead now is because he was a fool who believed in 'alternative medicine' despite having been a computer industry leader for decades.
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You knew him of course, if you are saying all this? Steve may have been difficult to work with and pushy, but then simply being nice and asking people if they would mind working hard seldom gets the job done.
Steve did make it up to his daughter Lisa when she was 9 and did admit he was wrong and he said he was sorry.
hardly the actions of a sociopath or a real evil sod as you paint him out to be. Yes he was flawed as a human being but he was not the devil either.
 
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Lets also remember, this is his personal life and you need to separate that from his professional life. He had what are obvious mental issues, which ironically was his genius.

It was mentioned in his biography, when his adopted parents told him he was adopted, he ran out of the house across the street and told a girl. She responded as most children would 'Does that mean your real parents didn't want you?'

I believe in Steve's mind was a fear in itself of owning up to the responsibility of another human. Doesn't justify his behavior. As Lisa said, her birth to him probably seemed like a flaw in what should have been been an immaculate history. In Steve's mind, the only woman he probably should have children with are Barbara Streisand or some other Hollywood Oscar winner to make him feel good about himself.

The adoption story seems to have affected his behavior towards life. Everything in it must happen for a reason and be a personal achievement.

Is this gonna make me stop using Apple products, no. His contributions to life, economies; to the world and humanity are very important. Besides, he tried to reconcile with Lisa. He didn't physically abuse her, but he probably left some mental trauma behind.

What her mom should have instilled in her is that your father is like a spoiled brat. So, if you are gonna ask for the porche and he snaps at you; insist or you are gonna let the whole world know how much of a dead beat dad he is. Don't be afraid to threaten him honey. See how quick he would be acting out the perfect parent role.

Steve seemed to be an individual you just had to know how to drop the F-bombs on every now and then to put him in his place whether you are young or old.
 
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Absolutely unforgivable to treat one's daughter this way. What on earth would motivate someone so rich and successful as Jobs to treat his own flesh and blood in such a terrible, disrespectful, and insulting manner? What an eye opener.

Also, Jobs would still be with us if he accepted medical treatment when he was diagnosed. Unfortunately, he chose to go "alternative" for an entire year while his cancer grew and spread to the point where it would eventually kill him.
 
chucker23n1 said:
Steve seemed to be more aggressive about killing off the old, so we probably wouldn't have any Mac mini at all. Nor a MacBook Air.
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In many ways perhaps that would be better. At least then there would be some clarity. Keeping a 4 year old product alive - one which is actually less powerful, less useful, and less adaptable than a product from 2011/2012 is just wrong.
 
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Sounds like Steve inherited mental issues from his own father. It is my personal belief that Steve had mild Asperger's Syndrome. He certainly fits the symptoms with problems in social situations, depressive mood, and difficulty in empathizing with other people.

No doubt he was a genius, but it is obvious he would never have been able to hold down a job working for someone else. He (and society) is lucky he found his niche early in a company he controlled. He was a gifted visionary, but he was still a complete ******.

In a way I feel sorry for him because he likely had very few true friends in his life. Sure, there were a lot of hanger-ons who were in it for the financial benefits, but Steve had a way of insulting everyone he came in contact with and anyone with a little intelligence should have realized he didn't care one little bit about anyone but himself.
 
RedGala said:
I find it very ironic that someone who was left by his biological parents and put up for adoption repeated the damage to his child in a way. Steve may have been a great entrepreneur and visionary, but hurting one's family members at a crucial age – especially when he was wealthy – is no small thing.
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Same thing with my eldest child's father. He was an abandoned child who was adopted by wonderful parents, but he refused to have any contact with his eldest son. He eventually allowed my ex husband to adopt my son so all my kids have the same father and the same last name, but really... who just flat out ignores their own kid after being abandoned themselves? It's really weird and oddly ungrateful.
 
What a shame that it took a forced paternity test for him to man up and take responsibility for his actions.
 
Person has troubled relationship with a parent after being born out of wedlock and not being in their home? News at 11!
 
2010mini said:
for the life of me, i still can't understand people who deny the existence of their child.
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They don't want kids. Pretty simple.
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bladerunner2000 said:
In every recall, Steve Jobs is almost always described as a giant d-bag. Could it be.... TRUE?

Probably. But most of us knew that already anyway.
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I also don't care. I never met him, so what's it to me? Just make stuff I want to use and we're good.
 
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