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

A well rounded, honest, and inspiring biography.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this audiobook to a friend.

Walter Isaacson does a great job of reviewing both the personality of Steve and the details of his career. He does a fair analysis of Steve, examining not only his strengths and triumphs, but also his faults and failures. I feel like I got to know Steve as a person, the details of his career, and why his life turned out the way it did.

Have you listened to any of Dylan Baker’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I thought the narrator did a good job. He was clear, not distracting, and added a small yet appropriate amount of inflection when quoting characters.

Great look at Jobs' life, but strange narrator

Isaacson did a great and very thorough job of investigating the pluses and minuses of Steve Jobs. Jobs is an extremely intriguing person. He has so many negative qualities, but has had such a huge impact on technology and our society in general that I could had to finish the book despite me being absolutely appalled by his horrendous behavior. The book is absolutely needed to understand how the PC market developed and how Microsoft really needed Apple at times and helped Apple when it really needed it despite their heated competition.

The narratortook me out of the story at times in the odd way he pronounced things and the strange way he read quotes and emphasized things. I thought the producer or recording engineer are as much to blame though. They really need to be sat down and given a good talking to.

Fascinating book

Would you listen to Steve Jobs again? Why?

Yes. It has several examples of encouragement and motivation.

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

When he was kicked out of apple and at a low point in his life. He then decided to create a new company and continue to change the world.

Have you listened to any of Dylan Baker’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The man who changed the world.

Great book

There's so many reviews on this book there really isn't much to add - it's just an excellent book about a very interesting and important person. As a tech guy I enjoyed a lot of the stories from Job's perspective about how things happened. The book is long but moves at a good pace, it never really felt like it dragged. Isaacson is an excellent writer, I've read his Franklin bio as well and it was equally good. The book never came off like a fluff piece, I think it was for the most part fair and just told the story from Job's perspective, which is what I wanted to hear - I know the other perspectives.

The reader is very bland, at the beginning of the book it almost sounds like he's reading to children - but as it went along I either got used to it or he did it less as it didn't bother me as much by the end. 3 stars doesn't mean he bad, he just wasn't what I'd call good. He was average.

Overall I'd absolutely recommend the book to anyone, regardless of their level of interest in Jobs or technology.

Read this book

What made the experience of listening to Steve Jobs the most enjoyable?

Isaacson has done it again with another incredibly perceptive and comprehenisve biography, this time of a hugely complex individual. I hated Jobs in the first half and admired him greatly in the second. I don't really think that anyone will remember Jobs in 25 years -- good accomplishments for those of us who like to listen to music or books while we are on the treadmill but hardly of the transformational level of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, or Louis Pasteur. But people will be reading this book because of the way in which Isaacson has developed a personal portrait with all its complexities. I cannot wait for Isaacson's next book. I am more than happy to wait for, and skip, the next biography or article about Steve Jobs.

Couldn't turn it off.

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

Never read the print version.

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

When he convinced/badgered the glass company to supply the glass he needed for the tablet on his schedule.

What does Dylan Baker bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Never read the book.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Steve Jobs, not to be denied.

Any additional comments?

This is a long book, but we listened to it while driving from Kansas to California and back. There were times when I didn't want to stop driving in the evening and not be able to listen. Steve was not the kind of person I would want to be but I would love to have been the kind of visionary and business man he was.

Well told story about Jobs & Apple.

Kudos to Jobs for allowing all of his story to be told. It was awesome!

Good Life Review....Inauthentic Reading

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend the story but not the audio version. Dylan Baker is a memorable character actor but doesn't capture Jobs at all when reading his words.

What did you like best about this story?

The access the author had to Job's life.

Would you be willing to try another one of Dylan Baker’s performances?

Depends on the story. He's good at inflection...but if I know who he's trying to sound like and he fails, it might ruin it. I think he talks like Dylan Baker and thats who his characters will sound like.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

I had to learn more about this man.

What made the experience of listening to Steve Jobs the most enjoyable?

Having lived his dreams from the consumer side. I bought my first Mac the week it was released. It was the most amazing experience.

What did you like best about this story?

His unabashed love for the product, for simplicity, beauty and for how he managed to prove all the suits that they had no idea how to run Apple.

Which scene was your favorite?

His take-over of the Mac project.

Any additional comments?

I did not particularly care for the very personal stuff (relationship with ex-wife, child, sister, etc.)

Wow - great book

I knew the story of Jobs would be an interesting one. That's an understatement.