Well written book that shows that Jobs was a genius but a very difficult man to work for.

Another well-researched, well-written book by Walter Isaacson. Despite being a tome of over 600-pages, I found I couldn't put the book down and finished it in a week. It gives the reader a captivating insight into the origins of Silicon Valley against the eclectic backdrop of its time, i.e. the LSD/hippie era, the early geek/hackers, and the search for enlightenment with yogis/meditation. Furthermore, all the big egos, e.g. Michael Eisner, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates and the rest of the Tech Revolutionaries, made the book very engrossing. Steve Wozniak's perennial kindness and generosity gives a stark contrast to Steve Jobs' volatility. I hadn't realized how erratic, and even cruel, Steve Jobs was. One wonders how much more difficult he would have been if he hadn't been so involved with Zen Buddhism. However, the Zen simplicity of line and function did show through in his products - everything from the Macintosh computer to the iMacs/iPod/iPhones to the Apple Stores. Steve Jobs and his products truly were an embodiment of the "intersection between the humanities and technology". It was also refreshing to read about a CEO whose prime objective was to create a phenomenal product, not increase profit margin...Built it and they came...One can only hope that the company he re-built thrives while maintaining his credo of product quality over profit. He was a gifted visionary. Many of us have reaped the benefits of his creativity and drive in our daily lives. Despite his foibles, he will be missed.

Lot o’ ground covered, much more to cover. Isaacson chosen to document for straight record. He gathered a lot of testimony and put it together very well, as Steve figured he would. No technology here. No apprehension of the vision Steve apprehended and shepherded to the physical plane. A good feeling of the personality. A lot of anecdotes that are revealing. Not the real story, however. Steve chose an extreme personality perfectly placed in circumstance to zap all the ingredients, and to do it as a visionary, one who grasps and holds the big picture and presents it to fruition. A Shaman, medicine man, black curtain man, artist. Various names in various places. The ip revolution is part of the same dream of ‘60s all the rest is from: a spiritual revolution, still happening now. John Markoff’s What The Dormouse Said, mentioned by Isaacson, fills in the missing link and lets us know what a miricle computers/internet is. Steve was the Magic Carpet that flew us here. Steve, with Syrian bazaar trader skills combined with short medium and long range vision of what is happening/will happen, allowed him to pull, as he described, aikido moves on his opponent. Time after time he used martial art skills to perfection to shanghai old school types. He old-old-schooled them. He got the ‘Dragon’ to ‘eat it’s own tail’ (example: ‘plasma bottles’ used in flying saucers, ours and theirs. Use the resonant frequency of an element’s metal to hold it in place w/o extreme temp/pressure. You thus have one thing acting as two.). For some more examples read the Steve Jobs chapter of Steve Knopper’s, Appetite For Self-Destruction. Some new metaphysics now: Steve was the end of the end. This is marvelous. He was in touch with all the ‘over-tones’ of the set of the status quo and, of course, the over-tones of the beginning of the new, which we are creating post Mayan calendar-style right now. Microsoft (now Google) was the Old, Steve finished them off. Being the true end of a set is also to be in touch with the pre-beginnings and over-tones of our new ‘Great Work’. Jobs brought us to the end of Phase One of the computer/internet Miracle, portable wireless computers, iPhone and iPad. Implants too. Isaacson tries to make sense of Job’s ‘Mission Impossible’ by citing union of hardware/software et al and various of Steve’s espoused Eastern Philosophic understandings. But really, Steve rode the Vision (he was in love throughout) and brought about what ever ‘next step’ was needed. Seeing and understanding this Vision/Dream explains all. Clarity and Excellence, ‘Tree of Life’ qualities. So it’s not really about cloning hardware or licensing software; just what ever is needed at the time. You love it and appreciate it’s Truth and Beauty. And you know.

great book for the history of this guy's life. also some great pranks in here for you wannabe pranksters

This was a very strange reading experience for me. There were times during the read when I was not sure if I was reading fiction or non-fiction. I don't think this was due to anything Iassacson did or didn't do necessarily, rather, I think it was due to the subject matter himself. Steve Jobs just seemed to be a person that embodied the kind of extremes one mainly finds in works of fiction. He is, at the same time, the hero of his own story and the anti-hero. How can I be both repulsed and inspired by the same person with almost identical intensity? In terms of the structure of the book, I thought the author did well to simply report and get out of the way. His editorial comments seemed appropriate and helpful for the most part. The book flowed with a basic sense of chronology but not strictly-speaking. The main benchmarks for the story were the various industries that Jobs had a direct hand in revolutionizing which meant that there is some chronological jumping around at times. This, however, does not distract from the general flow of time. Even apart from simply learning about Jobs' life, which is reason enough to read this book, the book offers the reader a number of principles to consider for life and business: integration, simplicity, control, focus, and purpose. To keep this review brief, I'll leave you to instantiate these principles through your own reading.

While you are waiting to read this book, you may be interested in listening to CBC's Under the Influence 2 part program titled "The Marketing Genius of Steve Jobs". Here is the link to Part 1: http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-1/2012/02/18/the-marketing-genius-of-steve-jobs---part-1-1/

This book is interesting because Steve Jobs' life is interesting. The writing is plain and the author expressed the same sentiments over and over and over. This book is twice as long as it needs to be to convey the same message. Read for the content, but you can skip a good portion of the writing.

Like most commentors I really enjoyed reading the book and good thoughts on how to motivate and perhaps not to motivate others. Also a great study on the value and impacts of being focused on the user's experience. Couldn't help thinking it ought to be mandatory reading for the folks that developed and run the Overdrive app for BC Libraries.

I could not put this book down. It is very well written and shows Steve's accomplishments as well as faults.

This is a useful summary of Job's life that helps one to understand how Apple became such a great company.