Steve Jobs
Ratings602
Average rating4.2
A well written book, but given the access he had of Jobs, I was disappointed about how little new information it had.
Nothing like having a bucket of cold water thrown at your hero. My first Mac was an SE, wrote my PhD dissertation on it, and I've never managed to escape the Mac universe. Not that I expected all to be rosy in wonderland, nor am I big into hero worship, but I had a lot of admiration for Jobs. But wow, too bad he was such an ass. I started reading the book before the Foxconn revelations, and that REALLY disappointed me. But you can't take the marketing genius and vision away from the man, and it remains go be seen if his shoes can be filled. While reading this biography, I also started Wozniak, Steve Wozniak's autobiography - the contrast was enlightening and gave me a much better feel for the context in which the Mac was developed. And what a sweetheart! But it's clear Wozniak would not have put Apple on the map like Jobs did. Does the end justify the means?
It was an interesting and inspiring book where i got to learn about the man behind great and innovative products. The book does a great job at describing how steve jobs was and how he thought and behaved.
I can't help but feel sad that such a great innovator has left us. But he left us with a great legacy. His legacy. Apple.
This is a pretty good book, don't get me wrong. Especially the early days and the last chapter. However, sometimes, it felt a little bit too much as a hagiography rather than a biography. Grandiose statements with almost no criticism about certain decisions or products are not something I am looking for in a biography. Another thing, maybe more of a perspective shift rather than a criticism, is that this book shows everything from a very American standpoint. I mean the impact and market penetration of apple. For someone like me, coming from a formerly Eastern block country, Apple had zero to no direct impact on digital literacy and access to products until more or less 2010 and it's sometimes hard for me to understand all those wows.
Walter Isaacson's ‘Steve Jobs' offers a captivating insight into the life and mind of one of the most iconic innovators of our time. As a long-time admirer of Apple, I found this book to be a riveting exploration of how much Steve Jobs' unique personality shaped the company into what it is today. His relentless pursuit of excellence, intense focus on detail, and unwavering dedication to creating revolutionary products resonated deeply with me. Isaacson masterfully portrays Jobs' determination and passion, allowing readers to vicariously experience the intensity with which he approached his life's work. A truly inspiring read for any Apple enthusiast!
This is an insanely great book.
I enjoyed every single page. It is highly informative, very entertaining and an absolute joy to read.
I highly recommend to any fan of Apple, but also any person interested in technology.
এই বইটাকে দুভাবে বিচার করা যেতে পারে। লেখক ওয়াল্টার আইজাকসন কীভাবে লিখলেন বইটা। এবং, যাঁর ব্যাপারে লিখলেন তাঁকে কতটা চিনতে পারলাম। আমি যখন বইটা পড়েছিলাম... ভুলে গেছি কবে পড়েছিলাম! (খুব বেশিদিন আগে নয়) ...যাই হোক, যখন পড়েছিলাম তখনও আমার কাছে অ্যাপেলের তৈরি কোনো বস্তু ছিলো না, এখনও নেই। স্টিভ জবস মানুষটিকে জানবার আগ্রহ থেকে বইটা পড়েছিলাম। স্রেফ একজন “অন্যরকম” মানুষকে জানবার আগ্রহ থেকে।
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
(বব ডিলান)
অনেকে ভাববে আদিখ্যেতা। একজন আপাদমস্তক ধান্দাবাজ লোক, প্রায় অসৎ বলা যেতে পারে, টাকা রোজগার করাই যাঁর মূল উদ্দেশ্য (এই ধারণাগুলো পুরোপুরি ঠিক নয় যদিও), তাঁকে জেনে কী লাভ? এইসব কথা মাথায় রেখে এই দারুন বইটা আমিও প্রায় স্কিপ করে যাচ্ছিলাম। ভাগ্যিস করিনি। যারা হন্যে হয়ে “দ্য গ্রেট আমেরিকান বুক”-এর খোঁজ করছেন, তারা এই বইটা পড়ুন। কল্পিত উপন্যাসের চেয়ে বেশি উত্তেজক উপাদান আছে এই লোকটার জীবনে। বইটা পড়লে আরো দুটো জিনিস জানা যায়। এক। ক্যাপিটালিস্ট মার্কেট-ইকোনমি কীভাবে কাজ করে সেটা হাতেকলমে, প্রায় ল্যাবরেটরির ভেতরে বসে, জানতে পারা যায়। দুই। আমরা সবাই, নিজেদের অজান্তে, কনজিউমারিজমের সঙ্গে কীভাবে ওতপ্রোতভাবে জড়িত হয়ে আছি/ আরো জড়িয়ে যাচ্ছি, এবং ক্যানো জড়িত হয়ে আছি/ যাচ্ছি, একটু চোখকান খোলা রেখে বইটা পড়লে তার একটা ইঙ্গিত পাওয়া যায়।
মানুষ হিসেবে স্টিভ জবস খুব একটা সুবিধের লোক ছিলেন না। অনেক জঘন্য কাজ করেছেন। জঘন্য বললে বাড়াবাড়ি হবে হয়তো। “অমানবিক” বলা যেতে পারে। (না না, কিছু কাজ তো জঘন্যই বলতে হবে!)। খুব দয়ামায়াহীন লোক ছিলেন। সাংঘাতিক স্বার্থপর ছিলেন। একগুঁয়ে ছিলেন। কাজ হাসিলের জন্যে নিচে নামতে দ্বিধা করতেন না। বাড়াবাড়িরকম পারফেকশনিস্ট ছিলেন (প্রায় প্যাথোলজিক্যাল লেভেলের)। এত খারাপ লোক হওয়া সত্ত্বেও এত বিখ্যাত, এত সফল, এত বড়লোক হলেন কীভাবে? (ভালো গুণ কিছুই ছিলো না?) বইটা যিনি লিখেছেন, তিনি আরো অনেক বিখ্যাত মানুষদের বায়োগ্রাফি লিখেছেন। বেন ফ্র্যাঙ্কলিনের জীবনী লিখেছেন (পড়িনি)। আইনস্টাইনের সম্ভবত সবচেয়ে ভালো জীবনীটা লিখেছেন (আইনস্টাইনের শুধু এই একটাই জীবনী পড়েছি, তবু এই কথাটা ক্যানো বললাম কে জানে)। লিওনার্দো দা ভিঞ্চির সম্ভবত সবচেয়ে ভালো জীবনীটা লিখেছেন (এটা কিন্তু সত্যি বলছি!)।
খুব যত্ন নিয়ে, প্রচুর গবেষণা করে, বিষয়ের গভীরে ঢুকে, বই লেখেন ইনি। বাকি যাঁদের জীবনী লিখেছেন তাঁরা সবাই মৃত মানুষ। স্টিভ জবসের বইটা যখন লিখতে শুরু করেছিলেন, উনি তখনও বেঁচে ছিলেন। মৃত মানুষের জীবনী লেখা সহজ। জ্যান্ত মানুষের জীবনী লিখতে হলে প্রচুর লোকজনের সঙ্গে কথা বলতে হয়, সাক্ষাৎকার নিতে হয়, ইত্যাদি। এই লেখক এইসব কাজ করেছেন। অনেক দৌড়াদৌড়ি করেছেন। স্বয়ং স্টিভের সঙ্গেও প্রচুর ঘন্টা বকবক করেছেন। স্টিভের স্ত্রী, ছেলেপিলে... তাদের সঙ্গেও। এরকম একজন জটিল মানুষের জীবনী লেখার কাজটা একেবারেই সহজ ছিল না। বইটা পুরোপুরি নিরপেক্ষ কিংবা পক্ষপাতিত্বহীন নয় যদিও। একটু ইয়ে আছে। কিন্তু স্টিভ জবসের ব্যক্তিত্ব ও চরিত্র বেশ স্পষ্ট বোঝা গেছে বইটা পড়ে। স্টিভ জবসকে নিয়ে, অ্যাপেলের বিজনেস মডেল নিয়ে, প্রোডাক্ট ডেভলপমেন্ট নিয়ে, পরে আরো কিছু বই পড়েছি, কিন্তু এটাই সবচে ভালো বই।
This book did a great job at painting Steve Jobs in a refreshingly human way; brilliant, innovative, narcissistic, imprudent. It also traversed the golden age of technological innovation in the computer industry in a way that filled me with wonder (causing me to look at the digital landscape of 2020 and yawn in response), and left me semi-nostalgic for those childhood years when new inventions were happening and products were painstakingly curated. From a product perspective Jobs is a true inspiration - a staunch believer in absolute simplicity and human-centric design - heavily influenced from those impressionable meets with the Bauhaus school of design. His philosophy of highly controlled hardware and software unity is delicately outlined and counter-balanced with the (kind of) open-source approach from Microsoft et al, which also took the book into the territory of his many business adversaries. His saving and reinvigorating of Pixar was another pleasant history lesson (a company he often isn't associated with) which was a nice break from the corporate backdrop of the biography.
Why did I pick this book?
I used to not be a big fan of Apple, and therefor also not a great fan of Steve Jobs. Heightened by the ‘artsy' appearance he has with his turtleneck shirts and typical appearance with his hand to his chin.
I'm a product designer by trade, but generally dislike overly designed products (a designer couch, for example).
However, Jobs got mentioned again and again on articles/podcasts etc I follow and my interest started to pique.
The books contents
Isaacson tells a very transparent story of Jobs' life; how he was put up for adoption, starting Apple, Pixar, etc. Isaacson starts with telling why he didn't want to write a biography of a living person, but why he did change his mind on this. For me this makes the book feel really like a description of Jobs' life, rather than an ode to him and putting him on a pedestal.
There's a lot of detail in this book and it's not only an ‘and then... and then... and then...' life story, but also features a lot of the lessons to be learned from Steve Jobs as a CEO of two very very successful companies.
My recommendation
I was surprised by how quickly I read this book. Jobs' life is highly intriguing. A lot can be learned from his story. It's a great book for creatives, anyone into product design and managers. I had expected to learn these lessons from Adrian Newey's ‘How to build a car', because Newey is also a designer, where Jobs was more of a Sales person. But this book is the more interesting one by far.
Also looking forward to other books from Walter Isaacson.
It's pretty good! I found myself not all that intrigued by Jobs after he stopped doing engineering, but my god is there a lot of good material here. It comes in terms of negotiating strategies, and in inspiration from having a single-minded artistic focus. Jobs is undeniably an asshole, but the book paints him sympathetically and it's engaging the whole way through.
Leuk boek over de man zelf. Had een jubelverhaal verwacht, maar dat was het gelukkig niet. Onmogelijke man, die onmogelijke dingen heeft gedaan.
Executive Summary: Despite my generally negative opinion of Jobs and my disagreement with his views of technology, I found this book excellent.
Audiobook: Dylan Baker's voice was instantly recognizable to me, even if I didn't know his name. Better known as an actor than an audiobook narrator, he nevertheless does a good job here. I'm not sure what to hope for with a non-fiction narrated apart from clear speech, good volume and inflection. You get all of that here. I tend to prefer to consume non-fiction in audio, and this is definitely a good option for this book.
Full Review
If you ask people their opinion of Steve Jobs, you may get a wide variety of answers. To many he was this brilliant innovator and designer, with a cult-like following. To me though, he's largely been an overpraised Asshole who got more credit than he deserved.
This book has changed my opinions somewhat. 1) He's a larger asshole than even I thought. 2) He does deserves more of the credit that I was was willing to give him for several key impacts to technology and culture.
I earn my living as a Software Engineer. My love of computers came at an early age. My first computer: An Apple IIgs. I came to learn this was basically a souped up version of the original Apple II with improvements borrowed from the Macintosh after that failed to be a success and Steve Jobs was maneuvered out of power at Apple.
While to most people that will never be a device of significance, it changed my life. I still have it. I still love it. It's also the only Apple product I've ever owned, and I wasn't the one who bought it, my parents were.
I've always had a hate/love relationship with Apple. I can appreciate the innovations of many Apple products: The Mac, The iPod, iPhone and iPad. But I've never wanted to own one. I find the closed nature of their products and lack of customization frustrating and a deal breaker. Steve Wozniak is my favorite Apple Steve, not Mr. Jobs.
Without Steve Jobs, some of these products may never have come to be, and certainly not as early. And they certainly wouldn't have been Apple products.
He didn't really design or innovate much though. What he did was push his talented engineers to innovate and accomplish things even they didn't think possible. He largely did this by being an asshole. Constantly. Calling people's ideas shit one week then taking credit for them as his own the next. Oh and that doesn't get into all the issues he had as a father or friend.
I could never have worked for Apple or Jobs. I probably wouldn't have been up to his standards anyways. As a huge computer/technology fan though, this is a must read book. Like him or hate him you can't disregard his impact on not only technology but culture.
My Windows PC (or Linux PC for that matter) wouldn't be the same without the Mac (although I think far too many people are unaware of the innovations of Xerox PARC engineers). My Android phone wouldn't be nearly as good without the iPhone.
My favorite quote from this book came from Bill Gates who said something to the effect that a closed system can work, but only with Jobs at the helm. I think Apple without Steve Jobs isn't nearly as good. I don't think that's because Tim Cook isn't an asshole though. It's because what Steve Jobs had was vision, and good taste for design. Not to mention amazing showmanship. I just don't like his products. But Apple fans are legion, and for good reason.
The Open vs. Closed debate rages on. Both sides have their merits. First it was Apple and Microsoft, now Apple and Google. I'm firmly on the open side, but understand why the closed side is so popular/successful.
Now it feels like innovation has largely stalled as companies are trying to push several technologies (I'm looking at you Smart Watches) that no one seems to really want or care about, and releasing only minor upgrades in hardware and software every year, rather than doing anything groundbreaking. I just hope Apple can start innovating again soon, because we can use the competition again.
Steve Jobs was a complicated person. I'm thankful for his contributions to technology. I'm also thankful I never knew him.
I loved Isaacsons brutally honest portrayal of Steve. Reading a biography of of a man who founded the industry you work in, who was only 2 decades older than you, and then you end up working at his company can make for an odd experience. Reading this book was very exciting for on a personal level because of the many points were I could stop and say “Hey I know that location” or “I remember reading about that in the newspapers” or, on a sadder note “I remember the day we got that email from Steve and/or Tim” or even “I will always remember the place I was standing when I got the news of his passing.”
Steve was a deeply flawed man and Isaacson pulled no punches when it came to them. But he also presented his choices in a fair light. Every child should read this book as it lays out perfectly how and how not to act if you want to build the best company/product that you can.
Great read and as we already knew, Steve ain't then nicest of chaps on a good day but goddamn he is one smart mofo
It was wonderful to read about a man to whom we as a society are so indebted to today. I teared up at the end, it's such a shame he's no longer with us.
- Just over a month later and I continue to think about this book a lot. Not to sound too dramatic, but it changed the way I live.
As biographies go, this one was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, nearly every anecdote was something I'd read before, but there was still much in Jobs Next and Pixar years that was great to learn about.