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

One of the great innovators

this book gave me much more respect for Steve Jobs than I had going into the book. excellent biography, but longer than it needed to be.

Riveting

A riveting and nuanced biography of Jobs that also enlightens on Apple’s technology, design and business marred by sub par narration.

excellent biography

A very detailed book that explains jobs' bad and good sides. I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it for people who want to learn about how to do business.

Great book

Surprisingly i learned a lot from this book. Not just about Steve Jobs but some things about people, personalities, clashing and in a funny way leadership abilities... Damn good book

Megalomaniac

Steve Jobs was an interesting character as I am sure we all know. He was certainly obsessed with power and his ambitious nature helped propel his ideas into the mainstream. You certainly learn a lot about Jobs and I cannot say I like him or hate him, but I learned to appreciate Jobs for the visionary he was (I still, nor do I plan to buy any Apple products).

There are a lot of things that made me question who Jobs was as a person and how he really seemed obsessed with himself. One of them was his partner, Steve Wozniak who really seems like a genuine, good guy and he took care of the people that Jobs forgot about, people that helped him along the way to achieve some of his greatest achievements.

Fruitarian diet? Yeah, that is a thing. Jobs was obsessed with the health of his body.

And the no deodorant thing!

This book is certainly a must listen (great job by Dylan Baker) for anyone who is interested in getting to know the man who created an iconic brand that we all have come to know.

Wonderful job on this Walter Isaacson - he has a podcast that is really good, too, called "Trailblazers."

Enthralling and Disappointing

This book really held my attention, even though I have no knowledge of and minimal interest in either technology or business. And face it, that's what this book was about, which is where the disappointment comes in. This book is really a biography of Apple products, and Steve Jobs as he plays a role in them. It barely touches on family or feeling, and then only in the most superficial ways. Steve Jobs was a man who faced death, and he was a man who had pursued spiritual paths all his life. I would really like to have heard more about how he faced this final path -- the inner struggles -- not the fact that he whined when he was in pain.

But this brings us to the narrator. He did an okay job with most of the subject matter in the book. He sounded like a TV news anchorman, or like a sportscaster. The problem is that this was all he could do. In those few moments when the book began to touch on Jobs' heart or soul, the narrator was unable to switch to a matching tone. He just read it off like the scores from the day's baseball games, and it robbed the little bit of humanity right out of the book.

I did enjoy hearing about the creation of all the Apple products, and even their marketing. I did find myself cheering for Jobs, even when he was being a jerk. He was a man of vision, and a man or courage to be willing to take those extra steps to make his visions reality rather than going an easier, more cost effective route.

Fascinating !!

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

Brilliant, Arrogant, Charismatic

What other book might you compare Steve Jobs to and why?

A great biography, with lots of personal detail. You get an up close glimpse into the life and thinking of one of the legends of our time. Isaacson shows us Jobs' strengths and weakness, and his humanness.

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.

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

The last few months of Steve Jobs life. Sad to lose such a brilliant man so soon.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended.

A Twisted Walk down Memory Lane

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

The audio version was better for me, because I listened while traveling.

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

When Jobs and Woz were trying to sell their Captain Crunch black box for making free phone calls, and Jobs was negotiating with the "bad guys."

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

Dylan Baker brings honesty to the telling of the story. I felt like I was in the room, watching events unfold.

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

I was moved by Jobs pride for the accomplishments of his son.

Any additional comments?

I was in the computer business in the late '70's and early '80's - and knew Steve Jobs professionally, though not very well. This book was a walk down memory lane for me, remembering the technological innovations in hardware and software of that period, what was happening politically and economically, especially in California, and all of the key players. I laughed out loud in places and shook my head at Steve's antics in others. Mostly I was intrigued by his obsession with perfection in everything he did. I would not want to be married to Steve Jobs, but I sure wouldn't want to be without my iPhone, my Mac mini, my iPad, my iPod, etc. Well done! Lorraine Mecca, President and CEO, Micro D, Inc.

Steve Jobs is my idol

I loved this book about Steve Jobs and what he did to succeed in making Apple. He worked as hard as he could and his different reality managed to change the world.
Thank you Steve Jobs for all that you did to change the world. Your legacy lives on.

great book!!

easy to listen and a great story.
made me feel like I was there.