Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

 

Really enjoyed this biography. I enjoyed the first hand account of Steve's brilliance and creative process and his total crazy-making. It was fun to read about the history of the Mac as I have had 8 Mac computers, 5 of which have been laptops. Like Steve I am all about my environment and the design of everything I use and come in contact with. I remember in my twenties making a conscious effort to never buy another poorly designed product again. And that is not easy. I know some of you are now thinking about how I don't eat off some colored or patterned plates and am funny about colored knitting needles. Oh yes the list goes on... but Steve would have understood.

Plus I owe a great debt to Apple. I make fonts on a Mac. I take pictures on my iPhone for this blog. I like all my Apple products. They work, they work well and they are well designed down to the tiniest last detail. I note that and am pleased by that.

I recommend the book. If you are a fan of Apple or Steve I think you will enjoy it. Here is what Amazon has to say...

Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.  

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.