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Steve Jobs Biography Discussion Thread
- Thread starter wordoflife
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Kind of odd there isn't a bigger thread on this.
Anyway, I have been reading it and I am about 1/2 through it. I was taken aback by a lot of his personality. I knew he was a rough character but some of the ways he treated his friends, family, and employees was insane.
The way he slammed the Lisa team when they merged was disgusting. Especially since he was originally the manager of the project. Then the way he treated Lisa and her mother early on. Getting it all squared away before the IPO. I guess he did make amends later.
Then when Woz wanted to use Apple's design company for his remote control and Steve went legal on him. Big teddy bear Woz just didn't want a fight. BTW, did anything ever come of that?
One of the worst things in my mind was how he screwed Kottke, one of the original garage employees, before they went public by not getting him any shares. Then Rod Holt said he would match whatever options Steve would give him out of his. Steve replied, "Okay. I will give him zero."
Yet Woz sold some of his personal shares cheaply to the mid level employees and they made enough to buy a house.
However, given all of his AssHat moments it was very interesting how the Macintosh team, at least the core, backed him. Some actually leaving with him to go to NeXT. I guess he was one of the great motivators of the time. He had a very harsh method, but it definitely worked.
One thing about the book and someone mentioned it earlier. It is a little disjointed. It bugs me at times where he writes about a certain period and the next chapter you expect it to continue from there, yet he jumps back ten years and discusses another facet of that time. However, once I get to reading the chapter I am once again very interested in t he topic and overlook that I just went through a time warp.
It is a very good read though and I am thoroughly enjoying the book. It has jaded my view on him a good bit though. However, it doesn't take away how passionate he was with everything he did. It is amazing the effect he had on the entire industry.
Hopefully, things just get better as Apple goes forward.
Anyway, I have been reading it and I am about 1/2 through it. I was taken aback by a lot of his personality. I knew he was a rough character but some of the ways he treated his friends, family, and employees was insane.
The way he slammed the Lisa team when they merged was disgusting. Especially since he was originally the manager of the project. Then the way he treated Lisa and her mother early on. Getting it all squared away before the IPO. I guess he did make amends later.
Then when Woz wanted to use Apple's design company for his remote control and Steve went legal on him. Big teddy bear Woz just didn't want a fight. BTW, did anything ever come of that?
One of the worst things in my mind was how he screwed Kottke, one of the original garage employees, before they went public by not getting him any shares. Then Rod Holt said he would match whatever options Steve would give him out of his. Steve replied, "Okay. I will give him zero."
Yet Woz sold some of his personal shares cheaply to the mid level employees and they made enough to buy a house.
However, given all of his AssHat moments it was very interesting how the Macintosh team, at least the core, backed him. Some actually leaving with him to go to NeXT. I guess he was one of the great motivators of the time. He had a very harsh method, but it definitely worked.
One thing about the book and someone mentioned it earlier. It is a little disjointed. It bugs me at times where he writes about a certain period and the next chapter you expect it to continue from there, yet he jumps back ten years and discusses another facet of that time. However, once I get to reading the chapter I am once again very interested in t he topic and overlook that I just went through a time warp.
It is a very good read though and I am thoroughly enjoying the book. It has jaded my view on him a good bit though. However, it doesn't take away how passionate he was with everything he did. It is amazing the effect he had on the entire industry.
Hopefully, things just get better as Apple goes forward.
I just finished and it was one of the most interesting books I've ever read. The words flowed naturally. I thought his food comments were most amusing. Those poor waiters.
Just finished reading it.
Gotta say, I learned a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits about Jobs and Apple, other things were pretty common knowledge if you paid any attention to Apple in the past decade, and other things were heartbreaking.
Anyone else kind of get choked up on the last 50 pages or so?
Gotta say, I learned a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits about Jobs and Apple, other things were pretty common knowledge if you paid any attention to Apple in the past decade, and other things were heartbreaking.
Anyone else kind of get choked up on the last 50 pages or so?
I thought it was very fair and balanced. Steve knew the choices he was making, and had few regrets. And yes, he was an *******. Even his wife said that she wanted to make sure the biography made that clear.
I got it now instead of Christmas, very good so far, in the middle of the book and started yesterday.
I thought the first third was pretty boring since I already knew the story. The middle third had some interesting insight into Jobs' and Ive's approach to products and design. The last third of the book was too evangelizing IMHO. It seems clear Isaacson is also not a "product" person and doesn't really know anything about the tech industry. In any case he's easy to lead into beliefs like the iCloud being revolutionary etc. Also I would have liked to read about the failures of Apple and what the decision process was in those instances. Apple Ping isn't even mentioned. MobileMe is, but only as a prelude to the "revolutionary" iCloud.
Also, I can't count the number of times Jobs' reality distortion field is mentioned, along with his binary world view and opinion of other people. His temper tantrums become really repetitive. I'm sure they are reported correctly but it's just not that interesting after a while.
I consider the book slightly above average.
Also, I can't count the number of times Jobs' reality distortion field is mentioned, along with his binary world view and opinion of other people. His temper tantrums become really repetitive. I'm sure they are reported correctly but it's just not that interesting after a while.
I consider the book slightly above average.