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Steve Jobs Biography Discussion Thread

wordoflife

wordoflife

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 6, 2009
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Just thought I'd make a thread discussing the book since I haven't seen one yet.
Anyways, has anyone started reading it? I just got mine in the mail.

The book looks good. I was flipping through it and found some funny things. (page 531 lol)
 
wordoflife said:
Just thought I'd make a thread discussing the book since I haven't seen one yet.
Anyways, has anyone started reading it? I just got mine in the mail.

The book looks good. I was flipping through it and found some funny things. (page 531 lol)
Click to expand...

I'll be sure to flip to page 531 as soon as I get my copy.
 
Just finished reading it. I thought by now there would be a more extensive discussion thread.

In a way I'm glad I read it, in a way I wish I didn't. Finished about an hour ago, still have a tear in my eye.
 
I appreciated a more realistic portrayal of Steve Jobs. The deification of him after his death was bizarre, considering that he treated people really badly for much of his life - and this was public knowledge. He was also a crap father. A brilliant visionary, to be sure, but a flawed human being just like the rest of us.

Overall, I thought the book was a tad disjointed.
 
Queen of Spades said:
I appreciated a more realistic portrayal of Steve Jobs. The deification of him after his death was bizarre, considering that he treated people really badly for much of his life - and this was public knowledge. He was also a crap father. A brilliant visionary, to be sure, but a flawed human being just like the rest of us.

Overall, I thought the book was a tad disjointed.
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Yeah - how he handled Lisa (his first daughter, not the computer! ;)) was pure douchebaggery, and really shows that he's, like you said, a flawed human like the rest of us. At least he admitted to it in the end, though.
 
I just started reading it, and although I appreciate Steve's genius and his products, I was amazed by his behavior towards other people, particularly his parents. He did not allow them to see him on college?!? He threatened them with things like "Either this college or none".

Determination is a good thing, but I think Steve could have been a bit more considerate towards others. To be honest, from time to to time I was disgusted by this harsh, uncaring behavior.
 
genosseinski said:
I just started reading it, and although I appreciate Steve's genius and his products, I was amazed by his behavior towards other people, particularly his parents. He did not allow them to see him on college?!? He threatened them with things like "Either this college or none".

Determination is a good thing, but I think Steve could have been a bit more considerate towards others. To be honest, from time to to time I was disgusted by this harsh, uncaring behavior.
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Agreed.

Too much focus on the dark side of his character is in the book. That's the Authors choice. I don't think it was necessary and results in a poorly written book.

Okay, I get it, Steve could be a prick, it's common knowledge. Why waste so many pages in a book dwelling on it. Steve did many, many great things, no doubt many not mentioned because the author instead wrote repeated examples about him being a prick.

Thumbs down to the author, in fact I wish I didn't read it.
 
You don't want to read this if you think Steve is some sort of person to worship. It certainly makes sense when it's suggested he had narcissistic personality disorder. His complete lack of empathy being the major part of that.

While I knew of his history the really early hippie times and the bizzare fasting/diets and hygiene was an eye opener. Sure, some of it was a sign of the times, but he was pretty messed up in my opinion.
 
I just finished reading this book. I do have a new found respect for Steve Wozniak and Bill Gates. It's pretty sad that Jobs had to go so early in life.
 
tyche said:
While I knew of his history the really early hippie times and the bizzare fasting/diets and hygiene was an eye opener. Sure, some of it was a sign of the times, but he was pretty messed up in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Yes after reading the book, my opinion of Steve has definitely changed for the worse.
 
entatlrg said:
In a way I'm glad I read it, in a way I wish I didn't. Finished about an hour ago, still have a tear in my eye.
Click to expand...

+1 I've actually sought out this thread for counseling. I've been an Apple evangelist since 1984 when I first started using the Macintosh. I've been part of the cult ever since. The cult leader is gone and I'm very sad. I nearly teared up at multiple points throughout the book.
 
I enjoyed it and overall found it quite inspirational. Given how synonymous Jobs was with Apple it was a nice little biography of Apple as well. For the first time I felt like I'd got a glimpse of how Apple works on the other side, not just the media-managed product releases.

It did surprise me a bit just how much of an arse Jobs could be. Anyone following apple knew this already but personally I was a bit taken back just how far that extended into every aspect of his life. Perhaps that's what is required for the drive to achieve perfection? In some ways I thought less of him and in others my opinion grew - for instance his dedication to design, attention to detail, and the accuracy of his vision.

Similarly I was surprised at how closely interrelated all the companies in silicon valley really were initially (and continue to be) and how that shaped Jobs. For some reason his fondness of HP and Microsoft struck a chord - and his dismay at them losing their way under the control of the sales teams instead of following the engineers. I also got a sense of his admiration of Gates and even a competitive friendship even thought this wasn't explicitly stated. He seemed to really love the industry in which he was working and cared about it's welfare as a whole, even when berating all other companies as "sucking" :D.

For some reason this sentence stood out for me;
He ordered a mango smoothie and a plain vegan pasta, neither of which were on the menu
Click to expand...
It seems like a perfect summation of all the personality quirks, beliefs, and confidence that Jobs possessed.

Overall I think Isaacson did a great job of a difficult brief.
 
I haven't read it yet but I'm really looking forward to it. I've heard nothing but good things about the book.
 
entatlrg said:
Too much focus on the dark side of his character is in the book. That's the Authors choice.
Click to expand...
Could it be that the Author did not focus too much on his dark side but rather it was his actual personality?

You (and I ) don't know Steve, we go by perception and with his RDF we had one image of Steve, but none of us don't really don't have a clue to how he was in reality. This book offers a glimpse.
 
I thought it was an excellent read. Very interesting, truthful and to the point just as Steve Jobs asked.

Jobs was never a man to mince words or sugar coat things so it makes sense that the book reflects that. I don't think it dwelled excessively on his flaws and never questions his focus or sharpness in business.
 
You know what's interesting is the section of Woz when they first met. It illustrates the differing engineering skills. Woz was designing circuits chips that was better then the manufacturer was able to do, and Steve was building basic circuits. Steve was more interested in the overall design and selling and Woz was looking at improving the internal design. Like building an all digital blue box.
 
It's good, but it feels partial. I feel that 600 pages doesn't fill enough of Steve Jobs' life.

Got about 8% left to read.

I preferred reading about Apple and Steve in the early days - lots of stuff I didn't know. The recent stuff has been well blogged.
 
Very Interesting

I was aware of most of the facts of Steve Job's personal life. He is much like other historical figures particularly an automobile builder by the name of Ettore Bugatti. Bugatti was a unmitigated "A"hole in much the same way Steve Jobs was. But his cars are too this day works of mechanical art and each one is worth millions. The part of the book I find the most interesting is the design process at Apple. This is what I was hoping to read about and I was not disappointed. The little tid-bit about the brushed metal ring on the iPhone 4G and the worry by engineers at Apple that it would interfere with the Antenna function, illustrated Steve Jobs' "My way or the highway" mind set. Getting inside Steve's design and marketing mind is the best part of this book. This aspect of Steve Jobs life will be studied in business schools for decades to come.
 
A lot of the book repeated itself over and over, to the point where it got old. To cover the same subject, stated by 5 different people, in the same level of detail each time... those pages could have been filed with material covering other subjects.

And yes, did learn he was a lot more of a jerk than I ever thought.

At the end I contemplated something... that I'm not sure Steve would be as successful had this story taken place 30 years later on. It seemed there were so many opportunities then that just do not exist now. The corporate and manufacturing landscape has changed so much since then... for the worse. If that makes sense at all.
 
I read the first chapter (my friend let me read the first chapter) and it seems like a good book so far. I will probably order it by christmas. Hopefully the price goes down.
 
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