Insightful, eye opening, and motivating

Steve jobs. The book is about him

Steve in his younger years.

The journey of the modern Einstein.

Great work on the biography. This was an incredible window into the life of Steve Jobs

1

Learning about the back story of his life

Havent listened to many audio books

The end story leading to his death

#1

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

He is very transparent in his read, very well done!

yes, though I couldn't

The audio version is better than the print version because the performance is great. The inflection he gives to the words makes a huge difference.

Hearing about how Steve Jobs was such a tyrant during the original Macintosh days is just fascinating.

This book is so easy to listen to and every moment is entertaining.

This is not a book I would normally have read but my book club selected it. I loved it! It is an outstanding book, well written and well read. A great story about a fascinating man who changed the world but was, at the same time, very difficult to be around. Additionally, it is the story of the birth and growth of a company, and gives the reader insight into what makes Apple different from PC and Google products.

I was looking forward to this biography, since so many people I know had read it. But it is the exulted story of a truly awful person, and I'm not at all sure I can make it through to the end, to see if it gets better and if Jobs is EVER able to gain a glimmer of compassion for another human.

Sure, its obviously well research and greatly detailed, if boringly, written. I can see why Jobs chose this author to be his biographer. He accepts Jobs' view point, excusing his obvious narcissistic personality disorder and beguilingly reports things he was told...like that Jobs was interested in enlightenment, when nothing in his life suggests he had ANY spiritual interest, unless it was to understand his own greatness or to see if he could exploit it for profit.

Now I'm sorry I have so many apple products, since Bill Gates is CLEARLY a better human being.

Monotone narrator does not help either.

Absolutely -- a fascinating story -- well structured and delivered

Both the personal as well as the details of his life and business dealings.

The saving of apple, creation of Pixar and formation of I-tunes

no -- way too long for that.

The audio book is a great way to get through material I would otherwise not have the time for.

Isaacson brings Steve Jobs to life with an unsanitized account of his complex personality, inventions and cultural context. The book is inspirational and thought-provking in its account of Jobs constantly moving forward and pushing slowers, naysayers and B-graders out of his way. Isaacson puts all this in a historical context that can be appreciated even while we lived in Jobs' time. An excellent book for whatever mood you are in. Read this.

So, Steve Jobs was a total freak. Let's just get that out there. I mean not the slightest criticism of the man by that. It's just true that a guy who refuses to eat anything other than apples for weeks on end (really), has something going on.

First, let's just get the normal book criticisms out of the way. This book's length is appropriate to the accomplishments of it's subject's brief life and is extremely well organized. The "performance" on the audiobook is very good and the author shows his mastery of his craft by maintaining a level of tension across a story (which many readers will already know) and whose conclusion even Amelia Earheart probably knows, wherever she is. I'm exactly the age to have watched Apple introduce its products, soar, crash, get saved, and triumph and I was never bored.

This book is long and complex as befits its complex subject. That said, anybody over 35ish with a dim recollection of the evolution of the personal computer will find a reassuring familiarity in the subject matter of this tome that will undercut the burden of its many pages.

Ultimately, Isaacson (whose timing could not have possibly been better unless dictated by Steve Jobs, thank you, God) has produced an amazingly compelling portrait of a very troubled genius whose deep flaws were overcome by his profound insights. One walks away from this book with profound admiration for Jobs at the same time that one feels deeply sorry for the many people around him for whom his emotional torment must have been very, very difficult.

Jobs, as he often admitted, was a total asshole. Was he a visionary? Totally. Was he right with his integrated ecosystem philosophy? Absolutely. But (and here's the most interesting part of the book) was Bill Gates equally right with his non-integrated approach? Definitely. This is the most intriguing part of the book from a modern computer/business perspective. Jobs unquestionably frustrated innovation and contributed to the first death of Apple by his insistence of total control in a closed system. In the 1990s the Gates perspective of an open ecosystem clearly prevailed and led to many, many innovations. But there were problems, right? Viruses, beta products, and the poor integration across computer platforms which continue to plague owners of PCs, Android phones, and MP3 players. Jobs's closed ecosystem eliminated that, which was great, as long as inventors were willing to kiss his ring when submitting new apps for approval. There was a trade involved. Great when the right genius was at the helm at Apple. Problematic should that genius or his successors go mad and open the doors to God knows what or, worse, close the doors and force us all to live a 1984 style electronic life.

When I grew up in the 80s, I recall thinking that Apple products were probably the best on the market but too expensive for me. Turns out that Jobs agreed with me but couldn't cut prices for various business reasons before the age of globalization. I also remember hating Microsoft well into the late 1990s for producing a version of Windows (and Word, etc.) that was just obviously substandard and full of bugs. In retrospect, I realize that these bugs may have genuinely been the result of Microsoft's indifference, but they might just as well have been the result of a nascent industry producing a product on which we all immediately came to depend upon so heavily that a computer crash or glitch seemed like an apocalypse and an affront to our humanity. I also recall the Apple-Microsoft rivalry as a zero sum game not dissimilar to how many understand the situation today in Israel/Palestine. Turns out that that was not the case.

And that is one of the most interesting historical aspects of this book. Yes, Apple and Microsoft have long existed as rivals, but they also have a very long history of partnership. People over a certain age will recall Bill Gates's investment (bailing out so as to stave off anti-trust litigation) of Apple in the late 1990s. What was surprising to me was to learn about the long and troubled periods of COLLABORATION between Apple and Microsoft. Besides the fascinating and ultimately tragic details of Steve Jobs's personality, it is this unexpected history of collaboration that may surprise readers most.

So, a great book altogether. Exactly what a biography is supposed to do in portraying and revealing a human life. This is no hagiography, but the author demonstrates respect for his subject even as he is unafraid to point out his many, many flaws. I won't go so far as to call this book a triumph, but its author should feel considerable pride in himself as a professional. What's the bronze or silver in a triumph race?

For anyone who is interested in the information technology revolution this is a must read. I recommend it highly. It combines a great story about the development of the communications revolution and a very revealing description of the personality of Steve Jobs. I especially enjoyed the detailed description of the intensity and focus which Jobs brought to his efforts to build Pixar and Apple. His excursions into the distortion reality field and explosive outbursts are examples of this intensity. His development of 1 or 2 outstanding products at a time are examples of his focus.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Apple as the company moves forward without its visionary leader.