Steve Jobs

By: Walter Isaacson

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Length: 25 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Featuring a new epilogue read by the author.

From the author of the best-selling biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, this is the exclusive biography of Steve Jobs.

Based on more than 40 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 21st 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. 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.

©2011 Walter Isaacson (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Isaacson's Masterful Biopic on Jobs

Walter Isaacson masterfully recounts the troubled soul and genus of Steve Jobs. Like all of us, Jobs was both a sinner and a saint; and there were those who loved him and those who hated him. After performing a post-modem psychoanalysis of Jobs, many experts believe Jobs suffered from a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and this book supports that conclusion. To put it in laymen's terms, Jobs was a control freak, saw the world in black and white, and was the living antitheist of the Golden Rule. I think Jobs himself put it well when he said, "I'm an a** hole!" Does his genus justify his bad behavior? I'll leave it up to the reader to decide for themselves. As for me I'll quote Jesus, "What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lost his own soul?"

Fantastic Book

Well narrated!! Fantastic book about an amazing innovative man's struggles and triumphs. An incredible leader!

Great story

What did you love best about Steve Jobs?

Very easy listen. Interesting story. Well rounded description of Jobs.

What did you like best about this story?

His relationship with his kids towards the end of his life.

Amazing story ... mediocre reader

I won't go into detail about the content of the book itself -- other reviewers have covered that adequately -- but I'll address the reader.

I generally stick to non-fiction audiobooks because I almost always dislike the way a single reader will deliver a work of fiction. Most non-fiction audiobooks I find enjoyable, or at least listenable. This one is only mediocre; my least favorite of the thirty or so non-fiction books I have heard.

Dylan Baker reads in a sing-song voice that makes the conversations and commentary of those interviewed sound like a kids' book. Everything sounds a little silly. Harsh critiques are inappropriately softened, and painful memories are presented matter-of-factly. The value a human reader can bring to any printed book seems to be lost here, particularly when Baker is reading direct quotes.

Other reviewers noted that Baker's reading was sub-par. I listened to the sample offered by Audible, so I could decide for myself. What I didn't realize is that the sample is from the introduction -- by the author, not the reader. Really, Audible? No one noticed that the sample captured the less than one percent of the book not read by Dylan Baker?

Don't be fooled by the sample. Isaacson does a decent job. He would have been a better choice to read the audiobook.

The come back

The book was excellent and i think its a unique bio. But my opinion is that from part were jobs return to apple onward it was focused on apple products were i wish the author shed more light on jobs relationship with his family.

Great Bio, Better Than Expected

I knew a bit about Jobs and Apple from being a fan of the products and all the news around the time of his death. The book is a really great read. Jobs has a really fascinating life story. From adoption to a legacy that will live for decades and beyond. Hats off to Isaacson, I'll be sure to check out more of his books.

Long but captivating book

so much I didn't know. so much more respect for his life and apple. Though a very long book none of the details are wasted. Ready to listen again.

An excellent read/listen.

Would you consider the audio edition of Steve Jobs to be better than the print version?

As an Apple computer lover, I thought this insight into Steve Jobs was brilliant. It gave me a new perspective into all the Apple products and what has set this company apart from everyone else.

Fascinating

If you could sum up Steve Jobs in three words, what would they be?

revolutonary,passionate,productive

What was one of the most memorable moments of Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs said his getting fired from Apple and leaving college and getting cancer.

I think another one was his hooking up with Steve Waz(spelling).

Which character – as performed by Dylan Baker – was your favorite?

Steve Waz (spelling)- great counterpoint to Steve Jobs - I admired his intelligence, creativity, ethical persona, unassuming ways and gentleness.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The last meeting that Steve had with the Apple board when he handed in his resignation and offer to be the chairman.

Any additional comments?

I am a dunce when it comes to the electronic ways we communicate now- so this book was an enlightening venture for me - I loved it - it seemed like a fair balanced biography and it made me appreciate how much computers, internet, iphone,ipads etc have changed our world - I found it fascinating throughout the whole book - I am a walker and a reader so it was a complete joy to be able to listen to this book as I walked and it was especially wonderful to learn how much Steve Jobs liked to walk. I think his genius was based on his love of integrating liberal arts and technology, his abilities to see and create the overall vision as well as his ability,interest in the details of any project he took on. I now know why the Apple products are so beatutiful and well made. Great book.

The person who narrated the book was wonderful as well, great voice,

Great listen!

If you could sum up Steve Jobs in three words, what would they be?

Passion, vision, focus.

Any additional comments?

I really liked the book, so complete, detailed, with good narration. I liked to know the history of computers.

A biography of a person that was "insanely great" and passionate at what he did. In constant conflict with people, impatient and living in a reality distortion. Rules didn't applied to him. He was always pushing people to do what they thought impossible. In his bipolar view of the world everything was great or sh*t. He really was a genius as a businessman. As a person I wouldn't have liked to be around him.