# Steve Jobs Book!



## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

The new authorized book on Steve Jobs is coming out Monday, October 24th! 

*The book will be available in Hard Cover from:*

*Amazon Canada*
$23.19

*Amazon US*
$17.88

*It will also be available as a digital Apple iBook:*

*iBook Store Canada*
$17.99

*iBook Store US*
$16.99

I really can't wait for this book to come out. 








*FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING BIOGRAPHIES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND ALBERT EINSTEIN, THIS IS THE EXCLUSIVE BIOGRAPHY OF STEVE JOBS.*

Based on more than forty 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 twenty-first 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 nor even the right to read it before it was published. 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.

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***


















*AppleInsider* has a story with some information about about the power that chief hardware designer Jonathan Ive had at Apple and continues to have a Apple even with Steve gone. 



> "He told Isaacson that Ive had 'more operational power' at Apple than anyone else besides Jobs himself -- that there's no one at the company who can tell Ive what to do," the report said. "That, says Jobs, is 'the way I set it up.'"


Really interesting stuff! I don't think I've ever look forward to a book more.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

*** More Spoilers ****
























*The NY Times details more information from the upcoming Steve Jobs book. *

Here's where maybe it wasn't such a good idea to be one of the "crazy ones". NY Times outlines from the book, how at first, Steve mad the "decision to put off surgery and rely instead on fruit juices, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments — some of which he found on the Internet". 

Towards the end, he shifted to much more advanced treatments, "Mr. Jobs was one of 20 people in the world to have all the genes of his cancer tumor and his normal DNA sequenced. The price tag at the time: $100,000." 

"Andrew Grove, the former head of Intel, who had overcome prostate cancer, told Mr. Jobs that diets and acupuncture were not a cure for his cancer. “I told him he was crazy,” he said."

"When he did take the path of surgery and science, Mr. Jobs did so with passion and curiosity, sparing no expense, pushing the frontiers of new treatments. According to Mr. Isaacson, once Mr. Jobs decided on the surgery and medical science, he became an expert — studying, guiding and deciding on each treatment. Mr. Isaacson said Mr. Jobs made the final decision on each new treatment regimen."


I can't help but wonder what the outcome would be if Steve didn't wait 9 months before aggressively treating it.


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

Pre-ordered that pup two months ago - $21!


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## ComputerBoffins (Oct 18, 2011)

Pre Ordered today from Amazon - also ordered "I Steve, Steve Jobs in his own words"


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## bob99 (Aug 16, 2007)

If anyone hears of stores selling this book early (in Vancouver, especially!) please post them here in this thread. Would love to read it this weekend, and it seems like a few places have got their hands on them already!


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## DempsyMac (May 24, 2007)

I can't recall the last book that I read from front to back...I am sure it was in high school (I know I never did in College) anyway that is a LONG time ago, but none the less I am very much looking forward to reading this book. For anyone looking for a feel of what is to come in the book, the first article in the Time Magazine special Jobs issue was wrote by the same guy as the book.

Very interesting stuff.


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## Dennis Nedry (Sep 20, 2007)

[deleted]


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

Dennis Nedry said:


> Steve Jobs had the right to do whatever he wanted to his own body.
> 
> I don't understand this sensationalist, selfish view the media has recently adopted on his death. It basically amounts to "He's a prick for depriving us of his holy presence", and I don't agree with it.
> 
> ...


I've ready a TON of stuff online about the book and reaction to his death, and I haven't come across a single instance of someone in the media taking on the view that you described. I have read lots of excerpts from the book in which his very close friends and family tried to influence his decision on his treatment. 

In the end, of course he had the right to do whatever he wanted and he did. People are still free to speculate whether it was a good decision or not. 

There was another excerpt in which Jobs stated he was quite afraid of surgery and the intrusiveness of it to his body. There's a great movie on Netflix called "One Week" in which a man finds out he has terminal cancer and could only have one week to live and the struggle with fighting it which would be very interesting for people to watch. 

I can only imagine what Steve or anyone who battles cancer and I'm quite certain Steve did what he thought would be best.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

For me, it's just wondering why an intelligent person makes one choice or another with their body. It's a kind of cancer with a low survival rate, made lower by not having the operation, with a life extended after the operation by any means possible. It's a conundrum.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

HowEver said:


> For me, it's just wondering why an intelligent person makes one choice or another with their body.


It is interesting. In an *interview*, the author Walter Isaacson reveals:



> Steve Jobs was regretted not getting cancer surgery immediately in an interview. He also revealed Steve Jobs was afraid of operation as that looked like he was opened by others.
> 
> "I've asked [Jobs why he didn't get an operation then] and he said, 'I didn't want my body to be opened...I didn't want to be violated in that way,'" Isaacson recalls. So he waited nine months, while his wife and others urged him to do it, before getting the operation, reveals Isaacson. Asked by Kroft how such an intelligent man could make such a seemingly stupid decision, Isaacson replies, "I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking...we talked about this a lot," he tells Kroft. "He wanted to talk about it, how he regretted it....I think he felt he should have been operated on sooner."


I've been having some health issues as of late, and I've put off for over a year getting a full physical done by my doctor. Recent events have actually "inspired" me to finally book the appointment. 

The very Canadian movie "*One Week"*, touches on the subject... that fear, and a persons inner battle to deal with things similar really nicely:

_Out of the blue, Ben learns he has stage IV cancer; survival, with treatment, is 10 percent. So this risk-averse, slow-to-act, quiet man buys a used motorcycle, says goodbye to Samantha, his baffled fiancée, and heads west from Toronto. He imagines it's a quest for Grumps, a mythical figure from his childhood; he takes digital photos of various "world's largest" roadside attractions; he chats with strangers, including two women; his bike slips on a dead skunk on the highway. Calls to Samantha meet with pleading that he return for treatment and anger that he won't. He doesn't want to be a patient yet. But, will he make discoveries, and what about Grumps? What's important?_


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## Niteshooter (Aug 8, 2008)

We have a preview copy at work. It's interesting a lot less dry than iWoz was.

I dunno, in terms of pancreatic cancer your survival rate is pretty low. My dad died from that, it's brutal. Just after Christmas he started to look jaundiced so he went to the doctor who sent him immediately to the hospital. They opened him up and discovered it could not be operated on, while on the table he had a stoke. He wound up on life support. A few days later we had to decide what to do. Worse decision I ever had to make because my mom was not up to it and deferred to me. Whole thing took under 2 months so I can kind of see Jobs looking at all the odds and saying no thanks.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

I'm keen to read it, but I have a queue of other books I need to get through first! It's in the pile though!


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

With the number of quotes from the book that the press is reporting, I think I'll have the entire book if I just save them all!


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

hayesk said:


> With the number of quotes from the book that the press is reporting, I think I'll have the entire book if I just save them all!


Tell me about it! It's getting really annoying. I actually can't believe how much of the book has been reprinted online.


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## 5andman (Oct 15, 2006)

*Planning to pick it up at an independent bookstore or small chain like Book City.*
(Just trying to do my part for small business)


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## [email protected] (Dec 26, 2010)

The digital pricing for this book is a complete rip off.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

ehMax said:


> The new authorized book on Steve Jobs is coming out Monday, October 24th!
> ...
> *AppleInsider* has a story with some information about about the power that chief hardware designer Jonathan Ive had at Apple and continues to have a Apple even with Steve gone.
> 
> Really interesting stuff! I don't think I've ever look forward to a book more.





I was surprised by the lack of comments about Jonathan Ive and his power and influence at Apple when I posted a reply to another post.
http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/97460-next-steve-jobs-2.html

And Gheese, I'm just trying to get started on my personalized copy from the Woz that my son picked up for me a few months ago at a San Francisco conference and actually had a fantastic dinner and conversation with the Woz at their/his table.

I wonder how their conversation topics might have changed a bit if their dinner table meeting had been within the two weeks or so. And I'd guess that any Steve type topic would have taken precedence.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

As far as the cancer treatments go, I can only tell you that I've met a lot of people with cancer ... and a LOT of them put off treatment, usually due to denial. Steve was a super-smart guy, but he could make bad decisions too (he certainly made some bad ones across the course of his life).

Would things have turned out much differently if he had gotten the surgery earlier? Maybe, but it might have made less of a difference than you might think. The survival rate on his cancer is low even for those who catch it early -- Steve actually lived LONGER than the average. It's entirely possible that the alternatives he engaged in slowed the progression down a bit. Or perhaps they didn't, but it's not and was never going to be the case of "if he'd had the surgery nine months later he'd be fine today and live into his 80s." That was NEVER going to happen. At best, we might have gotten a couple more years, and I think Steve knew that.

The after-effects of pancreatic cancer surgery are pretty awful and almost as bad as the condition itself. Steve would have done a LOT of research on this as was his wont -- and that ALONE may have had him scrambling for options.

I've done so much writing about Steve over the course of the last two weeks or so that I think my word count is actually a bit higher than his biographers -- but the bottom line is that he would have left us prematurely either way.

As for the digital pricing: it appears to me to be the cheapest way to get the book, so I'm not sure what you mean there. I plan on buying it through iBooks -- I can't really see the point of buying a paper book about Steve Jobs.


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## Paddy (Jul 13, 2004)

chas_m said:


> As far as the cancer treatments go, I can only tell you that I've met a lot of people with cancer ... and a LOT of them put off treatment, usually due to denial. Steve was a super-smart guy, but he could make bad decisions too (he certainly made some bad ones across the course of his life).
> 
> Would things have turned out much differently if he had gotten the surgery earlier? Maybe, but it might have made less of a difference than you might think. The survival rate on his cancer is low even for those who catch it early -- Steve actually lived LONGER than the average. It's entirely possible that the alternatives he engaged in slowed the progression down a bit. Or perhaps they didn't, but it's not and was never going to be the case of "if he'd had the surgery nine months later he'd be fine today and live into his 80s." That was NEVER going to happen. At best, we might have gotten a couple more years, and I think Steve knew that.
> 
> ...


Just to clarify, since some seem to have forgotten yet again, Steve didn't have the nasty sort of pancreatic cancer that often kills its victims within months and for which there is rarely a cure. 95% of the people with pancreatic cancer have adenocarcinoma - it's got a very, very poor prognosis because it's rarely diagnosed early before it's spread. Several years ago, my cousin's husband was diagnosed and despite aggressive treatment died less than 9 months later. His was a very typical disease course, unfortunately.

Steve had the much rarer variety of pancreatic cancer - a neuroendocrine tumor, also referred to as an islet cell tumor. Only 5% of pancreatic cancer patients have this sort of cancer and it has a much better prognosis - it IS possible to have a complete and lasting recovery. Of course, not everyone does.

Probably the best article I've read about Steve's situation is this one:

Science-Based Medicine » Steve Jobs’ cancer and pushing the limits of science-based medicine

The author is a surgical oncologist - and he is very clear that he has no first hand knowledge of the specifics of Steve's case. However, he certainly DOES know and understand the disease and the various issues it presents.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Steve Jobs / Isaacson feature story on 60 Minutes right now.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

HowEver said:


> Steve Jobs / Isaacson feature story on 60 Minutes right now.


The segments are available here, too:
The Full Walter Isaacson/Steve Jobs Interview From 60 Minutes - Mac Rumors


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## Izzy (Apr 14, 2008)

The book is out. My Kindle just downloaded my preorder.


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## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

Still showing as preorder in iBooks...


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## Oakbridge (Mar 8, 2005)

US iBooks store just let me download it (11:10 pm EDT).


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## DDKD726 (Feb 21, 2005)

Just got my notification!


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## motoyen (Aug 15, 2001)

I got my book here in Japan. Some really great photos at the end of the book. Twitter


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

You can pick it up in store for a hard copy for $25 right now at Chapters.


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## SilverMaple (Apr 22, 2006)

My copy was delivered to my home this morning. 
I look forward to reading about Steve's life.


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## HenriHelvetica (Oct 4, 2011)

Just scooped a phygital copy: (1 physical + digital) Hard cover was a gift

This was in fact my 1st eBook. Thought about the physical one for myself as well, but after reading a few tweets like this one, i had to agree.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

It seems we have multiple threads going on in this forum.

As I just posted to http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/97713-jobs-biography-out-today-whos-getting-one-2.html

My wife just got home and presented me with a copy as an early Christmas present that she picked up at our local Costco store. $21.79.

Unfortunately it's not personally signed as is my iWoz book.


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## MattOnDemand (Nov 5, 2008)

I got my hard cover version from Chapters today $25. My friend sent me the iBook version.


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## jeepguy (Apr 4, 2008)

Just picked mine up at Costco.


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

I'm debating whether I go iBooks or Hardcover. I read parts of 1984 on my iPhone and liked it; I had a paperback but it wasn't always convenient to carry a book around. Maybe I just answered my own question.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

Picked my copy up from Chapters yesterday. (Tried to buy from local, independent book store, but none of them had stock) 

Gee... I wonder why they had no stock?










Holy crap did Chapters ever have a lot of the books. There was displays of the book EVERYWHERE. There was the one above, but there was another large display up front, beside every cash till there was a stack, behind the counter there was another huge stack. Incredible!

Only thing annoying was tons of the books has a stupid gold sticker on them that said "Approved by ___________ " Can't remember the name. Really had to look around to find one without the sticker. 

Read the first chapter last night. Really, really enjoying this book and getting a candid look at Steve Jobs, something I didn't think I'd ever have the opportunity to find out about.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

RunTheWorldOnMac said:


> I'm debating whether I go iBooks or Hardcover. I read parts of 1984 on my iPhone and liked it; I had a paperback but it wasn't always convenient to carry a book around. Maybe I just answered my own question.


I have both.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Allegedly, the books are shaped like...


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

Apple shaped books is very cool. I decided to stop in at Coles (Indigo) to see if by chance it would be on sale and as everyone here has pointed out...it was! Got the hard cover.


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## ged (Jul 30, 2008)

Picked a copy up at Chapters about an hour ago. By the way, that gold seal peels off easily with no damage to the dust jacket.


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

I bought the iBooks USA version last night and started reading it at bedtime.


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## Guest (Oct 25, 2011)

ehMax said:


> Picked my copy up from Chapters yesterday. (Tried to buy from local, independent book store, but none of them had stock)
> 
> Gee... I wonder why they had no stock?
> 
> ...


It was "Heather's Pick" (I think she is the CEO of Chapters). I grabbed one without the sticker and made a comment about it to the store manager as well -- wondering why they were sticking stickers to the actual book cover. He agreed that it was kind of lame but said that they do as they are told to do in that regard.

My local Chapters was pretty much the same, displays everywhere. It was also being advertised as "THE book of the season" or something similar. I picked up a copy yesterday and got a good bit into it, so far so good. The author is not a great writer, but good enough to get the point across and I agree that I didn't think it would be something that we would be reading since SJ was so intensely private, but after reading all the bits so far I can see that both him and his wife wanted the real story out there, the good with the bad and that SJ actually even encouraged the author to talk to everyone, friend and foe. Now that he's no longer with us I guess it's not as big of a concern that it would affect Apple or stock prices, etc, if people found out that his life wasn't all golden and that he had some issues.


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## Guest (Oct 29, 2011)

I finally finished today. It was a great story. Not a huge fan of the style of writing that kept jumping timelines and from first person to third person, but it's challenging to write in this manner without doing so. Also in some places it felt like a Fox documentary in that the author kept repeating some things over and over again (like is typically done from one volume of a story to the next, but they are chapters, not new books).

All-in-all a good read but the writing style made it a bit stiff ... luckily Steve's story was captivating enough to be able to put aside the foibles in writing style and enjoy the book.


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## Dennis Nedry (Sep 20, 2007)

[deleted]


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## G-Mo (Sep 26, 2007)

mguertin said:


> I finally finished today. It was a great story. Not a huge fan of the style of writing that kept jumping timelines and from first person to third person, but it's challenging to write in this manner without doing so. Also in some places it felt like a Fox documentary in that the author kept repeating some things over and over again (like is typically done from one volume of a story to the next, but they are chapters, not new books).
> 
> All-in-all a good read but the writing style made it a bit stiff ... luckily Steve's story was captivating enough to be able to put aside the foibles in writing style and enjoy the book.


Downloaded and read today. Was going to write a review, but, the above says everything I wanted to say, and maybe says it a bit better.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

gmark2000 said:


> I bought the iBooks USA version last night and started reading it at bedtime.


I understand it's the same as the Canadian version, except all measurements are expressed in imperial (miles, inches) instead of metric.


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## squidjiggin (Aug 24, 2011)

So the consensus is "it's worth the read" ? I would imagine I'll be purchasing it after the next round of exams but I've biographies before and horribly written ones (of even the most interesting people) will make me put the book down.


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

It's definitely worth the read, though I do find the writing leaves a lot to be desired.

If I never have to read the word "cherubic" again, I'd be happy.


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## squidjiggin (Aug 24, 2011)

^ lol

Ok, guess I'll have to Kindle it when I get a spare afternoon


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2011)

okcomputer said:


> If I never have to read the word "cherubic" again, I'd be happy.


:clap:

He really did overuse that one.


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## HenriHelvetica (Oct 4, 2011)

I think it's more than a worth whilst read. For the most part, i think we're all here out of common interest which as been the Mac platform, long before it was in vogue for most of us as we agreed with Steve's vision, and the deets of that vision is what I'm most curious about: the decision making, the ppl along the way, the market defiance etc... 
+, having gone to MWSF, attended keynotes, visited as many Stores as possible, + attended the infamous Yorkdale opening (what a lead up! still recall the thread - and the bose earphones I bought that day just crapped out this yr), I felt a quasi duty to scoop it up. 
In any case, I've been reading it at my own pace. 
I'm not looking for a loquacious literary masterpiece, but something that will make me smile and possibly take me back to moments in time - like when the iPhone was introduced (one of the MWSF I attended), when the 1st iMac as baffling the world w/ strong sales, the idea of no floppy or 1 button mouse, all these decisions whether or not are covered in this book, are ones I recall debating vehemently w/ friends back then.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

I finished Wednesday and then I dwelled on it for a few days. Overall I like it.

I found the beginning a bit drab but that's because I knew most of the narrative covered about Apple's early years. I think it picks up after Job's invites Scully into the company. Surprisingly I found the end to be a little too glossed over. I think his personal life comes out in the end as a guy running out of time and trying to make amends but the author glossed over the business side of things. Maybe Jobs didn't want to disclose too much because a lot of Apple's strategy post iPhone is still very much in play and therefore taboo to discuss. I have a strong bias/interest in the telecom industry and I was disappointed that more detail wasn't provided in Jobs's dealings with the telecom companies in particular.

Still it was a good read and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Apple and the IT industry.

I'm happy to say that I read it on my iPad and iPhone, which thanks to iCloud kept my bookmarks in sync.

It will be interesting to see how Apple evolves in the next 5 years. The guy I'm watching is Forstall who received little mention in the book. I'd prefer Ives guiding the company but I don't think he has the stomach for playing CEO. Time will tell.


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2011)

I think a lot of the Apple related stuff tapered off towards the end not only because of the upcoming apple products that weren't to be mentioned, but I think at some point Jobs had a lot less to do with a lot of those types of things, especially after he started having to take medical leaves ... I think he was primarily the "heavy hitter" for the last couple of years and he only kept on top of the things closest to him (like the ongoing product design stuff) and left a lot of the other details to his minions so he didn't have a lot of say about those types of things. His whole attitude of it's great or it sucked kinda shines through there, if it didn't suck then he had nothing to complain about and just happily did the things he wanted to or had to do to make things not suck


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## macintosh doctor (Mar 23, 2009)

just purchased it at Walmart.. 30% ( already ?!?)
thought it was a deal..


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## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

I am a third into it on iPad and iPhone. Like others I find the writing style a bit unpolished, but because I resisted going Apple all those decades, unlike some friends who did start and stay Apple, I was not as aware of the real details behind those early years. I'm fascinated with learning how personality, culture and philosophy wove together to produce Apple. Its like the book is filling in missing detail on my own early life too. Steve was so fully immersed in the culture of the time, and Apple's development reflects those forces.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

*Malcolm Gladwell calls Jobs "a tweaker"*

Steve Jobs’s Real Genius : The New Yorker


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

jimbotelecom said:


> ...I'd prefer Ives guiding the company but I *don't think he has the stomach for playing CEO*. Time will tell.


Or the skill set. He is very passionate about what he does but he is essentially an industrial designer, I doubt he has the breadth of experience or knowledge to be the CEO for Apple.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

*This is a brutal critique*

Brutal critique, long and they ran out of time.

5by5 | Hypercritical #42: The Wrong Guy


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

jimbotelecom said:


> Brutal critique, long and they ran out of time.
> 
> 5by5 | Hypercritical #42: The Wrong Guy


Brutal, as in brutal to be forced to listen to. I grabbed a few minutes in the middle to get a sample, and all I heard was two guys rather full of themselves talking about screen resolution and how they prefer books on various devices. Boring. Not one word about the actual book they're supposed to be reviewing in the few minutes I subjected myself to. I guess that's why Isaacson will make a bundle forom writing Steve Jobs' biography and these guys…won't.


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## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

I regret my first impression about "unpolished" writing style when I was starting into the book. I couldn't put it down once I got further in. Finished it last week. Powerful story, well told. Historians will of course come out with different spins in time, but this author lived some of the story and got it first hand. I think it's a masterpiece. I'm still feeling the effects, even as I type this on the Mac I've come to appreciate even more. A life taken too soon.


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