As I mentioned previously I was sad to hear of Steve Jobs passing. I've read loads on him (1, 2, 3 and 4), so knew a fair deal about him. I had worked on a documentary and knew about some of the Apple stories especially Steve Jobs. Therefore, I was quite interested to read Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography.
In reading the story Isaacson gets to talk to Jobs at a pretty sad moment in his life. When he's coping with cancer.
The book does look at Jobs the man and his binary outlook (things are either great or crap). His reality distortion field stories are also covered extensively. One point of interest is the author feels Jobs could often fall pray to the reality distortion field in believing he did not have cancer as he willed it so.
For those who have read about Jobs previously, he really is not an endearing person. In fact he's pretty nasty. But, his ability to resurrect apple, his views on tablet computing and his success at Pixar making him interesting material to read about.
The main part I liked are near the end. When I went to the states I meet Jobs friend Dan Kottke, Apple employee number 12. Kottke had gone to India (one of Jobs biggest influence on him was his interest in Asian culture and religion) with jobs and worked with Jobs but when it came to giving shares to staff Kottke got none. Kottke wasn't bitter (totally), but he was disappointed in his friend not recognising he was there at the beginning of the company. When we meet him, him and Jobs hadn't spoke for years. In the book, when Jobs was dying (2009 or 2010) Kottke spoke to him when buying an Ipad. Jobs stopped and spoke to him. I've heard also Kottke did meet him on other occasions. That alone makes Jobs a more approachable character.
In conclusion. If your an Apple fan, design fan or IT fan get this book. Obviously, Jobs is slightly sugar-coated in the book, but not greatly. So, if you want an insanely great book, get this.
I am working in a university library. I therefore wanted to start this blog to talk about libraries and especially library 2.0. I also wanted to discuss web 2.0 with the blogosphere.
Showing posts with label steven levy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steven levy. Show all posts
Monday, November 07, 2011
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
What I read was great
I've just finished Steven Levy's book The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness. Levy provides a wonderful insight into the ipod and apple and its affect on society. Steven has previously written about apple and also touches on Jobs 'hacking' days in the 70's with Captain Crunch. He is able to ask Jobs anything. The book is well worth a look.
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