Walter Isaacson Considering Expanding Steve Jobs Biography

[GovtLawyer]

He Was a Hippie

It's funny that people label him a "hippie" just because he dropped some acid. He was nothing like a hippie. Just thought himself one in his mind because he did some drugs and smelled bad.

Actually, he was a hippie in the truest sense of the word. I'm 6 years older than he was. I dropped acid and thought it was great how psychedelic everything seemed and how great music sounded while tripping. Ah, the hallucinations.

On the other hand, he dropped acid looking for enlightenment and answers to his existence. He traveled to India and lived in hippie communes in the states. I doubt he found it. According to the book he met a charismatic figure who taught him how to control others (not actual lessons, just by watching). He ate weird diets and took them to extremes. Perhaps those very diets he thought were good for him had the opposite effect.

He was a very complex person. I'm convinced that his early use of psychedelics and his search for enlightenment helped shape his psyche in profound ways. He was truly a fascinating person; and, I agree with most everyone else who read his book - he was a really miserable bastard.

 

[kasei]

I have not completed the book yet but I am shocked at the number of typos in it. It is clear the book was rushed and the editor missed a lot of things that would have probably been caught if there was time. It is still a great read about a Steve Jobs.

 

[isoMorpheus]

I also want to add that Jobs spent his teen and adult years looking for "enlightenment" but ironically he never found it.

Mostly because he was a narcissist. He only cared about enlightening himself and never considered other people in the equation.

He's actually a great study in delusional narcissism. I was surprised by just how dysfunctional he turned out to be. He was more than just an ass, I think the guy needed help. Felt bad for his parents.

He never considered other people? Instead of having a conversation with you, all I want to say is. **** YOU, YOU MOTHER ****ER.

 

[Naimfan]

I just finished reading it. Three thoughts:

1. I knew most of the skeleton already - I can't think of anything that was a huge revelation, although the respect that Bill Gates had for Apple and Jobs was apparently deeper than I had originally thought.

2. I'm disappointed in it - Isaacson needed to flesh things out more. There are numerous conclusory sentences and paragraphs with very little support. I understand there's a lot to cover, but making it longer would not have been a bad thing - Bill Clinton's "My Life" is almost 1000 pages, which would not have been out of line for Jobs.

3. Jobs comes across as an utter jerk. If I had ever met him, I'd have been very tempted to give him a forearm shiv just on principle. Talk about a case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

 

[jzpresto]

And clean up the first edition

Maybe he'll go back and correct some glaring errors, such as: I.M. Pei is not Japanese (p.127-128) but Chinese; and the Black Forest is not in Bavaria (p.132) but in Baden-Württenberg.

 

[rwilliford]

I'm only about 85 pages into the book, which I received for Christmas. But so far, I think it's a pretty good book. It's keeping me interested.

I'm sure after I've completed it, I'll be able to formulate my own conclusions.

 

[maddog91]

Felt blah about the book..I actually started skipping parts and just went to **** I cared about,like the launch of a product.Getting to read the behind the scenes o the iPad was cool..Shows how Apple works thus how steve works....

also, He was an *******. But we all knew that. He was almost impossible to work for, we knew that..

And Isaacson is milking this every chance he gets. He got more out of the death than anyone. He is on every single channel. Kinda feel like he is disrespecting jobs but hey,its his book and his job to sell as much. But the book is boring in a lot of ways. Guess I was expecting a lot more of APPLE and how it runs, not so zoomed in on Steve..

 

[rwilliford]

Felt blah about the book..I actually started skipping parts and just went to **** I cared about,like the launch of a product.Getting to read the behind the scenes o the iPad was cool..Shows how Apple works thus how steve works....

also, He was an *******. But we all knew that. He was almost impossible to work for, we knew that..

And Isaacson is milking this every chance he gets. He got more out of the death than anyone. He is on every single channel. Kinda feel like he is disrespecting jobs but hey,its his book and his job to sell as much. But the book is boring in a lot of ways. Guess I was expecting a lot more of APPLE and how it runs, not so zoomed in on Steve..

Well it was about Steve's life, more than anything. But that's what Jobs wanted Isaacson to do.

I do feel like it's a little rushed though. This is the same guy that wrote a biography on Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein. The only difference there though is that he was able to take his time because those guys were long gone, and they didn't ask him to write anything about them. I haven't personally read them though so I don't know how they are as far as quality.

Overall, I like the book. But that might be because I thought the book was informative from the start. I didn't know a lot of stuff about Jobs before I read it in this book.

 

[vitzr]

Enough already!

Sadly it appears as though the saga of Steve Jobs, will be milked for every dollar.

While it's no surprise, I've got far better places for my disposable income to go.

Steve Jobs ... A present day Elvis.

 

[Herdfan]

What is the update I am seeing on Amazon. I pre-ordered the book and then read it. But was managing a Kindle when I see in the list of books that an update is available. Any ideas what this is?