Book #2 - Steve Jobs

As my wife has said, I’m a bit of an Apple fan-boy. I don’t unconditionally love their products, but I do have a soft spot in my heart for Apple and I give them the benefit of the doubt when looking at new products. I have a Macbook Air, an iPad, and I love my iPhone. The Steves (Jobs and Wozniak) were heros to me as a young kid. So when I heard this book was coming, I pre-ordered Steve Jobs. When Steve Jobs passed away, I was stunned, and saddened. I didn’t shed a tear then, but I did at the end of this book.

Near the end there are a few chapters, when Steve Jobs is dying, he knows it, his family knows it, and it’s an agonizing read.

The book is interesting. Isaacson does a good job, though the beginning is hard to read. Jobs is a jerk, he’s annoying, and I struggled through the first 1/3 or so. It’s just not a pleasant life early on, as the book jumps around, moving through time, but also back in time as different subjects are tackled.

The middle becomes more interesting, as Jobs matures, starts NeXT and Pixar, and goes back to Apple. We’re a little spoiled, thinking of Jobs as the iPad/iPhone guy, but there was a lot more to his life. Some back story, some evolution, some deals, it’s somewhat amazing what he accomplished.

And somewhat surprising as well how little his family is in the book. It almost seems like they were a second, or third priority in his life after Apple and Pixar. Sad to read for me, and I feel for the kids.

It’s an incredible life he led, not one I’d want, but amazing in how he has really changed the world, with this book giving a peak inside.