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

Relatable

This book allows you to see the human side of an infamous innovator, showing all the faults and a connection to his story along the way.

well rounded

I've always heard how abrupt and, let's go with not nice, Steve Jobs was at Apple. It is good to hear the bigger picture, and to know that those he was rough with still wanted to work with him. it shows that even anecdotes with some truth don't tell the whole story.

Very interesting story

I love the way the writer wrote this book. The story it’s very interesting. Highly recommended

Interesting but a bit too long

There are some great points one can learn from the book such as the power and elegance of simplicity, or the importance to innovate and trying to see what consumers will want vs what they want now etc.
A definitely detailed look into who Steve was and how he operated. At the same time too many stories go over the same aspect that drags the book out to 25 hours unnecessarily.

Good balance between the myth and the man

Walter Isaacson does a great job of revealing and weaving both the extraordinary talents of Steve Jobs the businessman with the vast shortcomings at pretty much anything outside his business prowess. Isaacson gives a front row seat to the heights in which the ego can propel a human being and the destructive lows that will inevitably accompany these ego-driven achievements.
I hope the listener does not mistake the ruthlessness of Jobs’ management style as means to an end in their own lives when coaching, managing or parenting. Steve Jobs achievements were the result of the combination of his business and creative genius, not the terse manner in which he ruled his kingdom.

My favorite biography

Such a great story and so well told by Isaacson. Worth multiple reads/listens. This was my second listen and I certainly listen to it again in the next 5-10 years.

Outstanding

The author did a great job of letting us in to see who Jobs was and all of the things he had a hand in creating.

Magical though a bit long

Stunning story that I recommend to every American to read. At times, the author goes into repetitive narrative about Jobs but overall it’s an interesting read that reveals a lot of facts and conspiracies about the entrepreneur. The book doesn’t seem to be marred by Jobs’ own opinion, which is a huge plus. It’s pretty eloquently written, but I had to speed up the narrator a bit.

Unbelievably engaging

I feel like knew this story already and yet found myself fascinated the entire time.

APPLE'S Raison D'etre,

Would you listen to Steve Jobs again? Why?

NO, BECAUSE JOBS IS TOO BLEAK OF A PERSONALITY.

Who was your favorite character and why?

JOBS

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

GOOD READER

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

NO

Any additional comments?

AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE EXTRAORDINARY HISTORY OF AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL CREATIVITY.

I'VE NEVER BOUGHT AN APPLE BECAUSE THEY TRY NOT TO OPEN UP TO OPEN SOFTWARE CONTRIBUTIONS. VERY INTERESTING AS TO THE DEMONIC DRIVE THAT COULD BE CALLED CREATIVE GENIUS. OBVIOUSLY JOBS HAS FATHERED AN OUTSTANDINGLY SUCCESSFUL COMPANY BUT AS A PERSON HE'S AS BLEAK AS THE SIBERIAN STEPPES. AFTER READING THE BOOK I HAVE ONE MORE REASON NOT TO BUY APPLE BUT I UNDERSTAND BETTER AS TO WHY SO MANY ARE SO ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THEIR PRODUCTS.