Compared to Isaacson's biog? Maybe not. Read on...

Any additional comments?

Having read Isaacson's book, I wasn't going to read this one, but I did so based on the news from Apple that it was a more accurate representation of Jobs - so lets deal with that bit first.

From Isaacson's book, I gathered that Jobs attention (and hence love and kindness) were only really ever focussed on what met his priorities - and everything else was callously cast aside. If what you did or were, were aligned with his priorities, then he would move heaven and earth to help or defend you - but you would also have to put up with blunt, harsh and often unkind words, if what you did was not up to Jobs version of excellence. This is how Jobs achieved what he achieved - and many, including family, were hurt along the way.

This book didn't really add a whole lot to that in spite of what those at Apple said. Maybe there were subtleties that only people who really knew him wold pick up on - or maybe they just wanted to kick Isaacson's "official" biog - or maybe its all marketing - who knows. Fact is, Steve chose Isaacson - and was rebuffing this guys bio material during the years leading up to his death.

This book did however reveal a little more about some of the personal relationships between Jobs and some of the Apple and Disney execs.

The contradiction about Apple releasing a TV is interesting - Isaacson says jobs was quite clear that he had figured it out while this book claims Jobs didn't like TV so would never do it. Again, who knows.

I found the style of writing here to be a bit rambling. It was broadly chronological, but nowhere near the history of the IT industry that you get from Isaacson. It didn't seem to me to tell the story quite so well, jumping around quite a bit. For example, see references to Web Objects - the middle of the book almost seems to be a history of Apple and Jobs from the perspective of Web Objects...

It tries to show how Jobs "grew" in maturity and as a leader/CEO and not just a visionary. However, I don't think it did this very convincingly as many of the examples of changes in behaviour were actually the same behaviour - but with better outcomes. So, for example, Jobs single minded focus and logic, ignoring everybody else, led to the failure of the Apple 3 and the NeXT workstation, but worked for iPod and iPhone. And all that business with former colleagues and the SEC show no real change in my view. Yes, he became more adept at manipulating people more effectively to get what he wanted - but the basic premise of only caring about people and things that mattered to the items on his radar - was still there.

Its impossible to say - maybe I'd have liked this book a whole lot more than Isaacson's book if I'd read it before that one. But hey, just like that one, I couldn't put it down and I read it in two sittings - and have the bags under my eyes to prove it!

I love Steve's aesthetic and it just boggles the mind that nobody else in the whole IT industry can come up with a desktop pc as pretty as the iMac. But if he was that much of a visionary, he should have seen what Bill Gates saw long before him - i.e. the power of software not hardware to be the human contact point. Just as well Bill and Microsoft had and still have no clue about the human side of things - as this is why Apple may still have a bright future - at least for a little while.

However, Steve would NEVER have allowed the iPhone 6 power button to be exactly opposite to the volume rockers - so that when you hold the phone to activate one, you continually activate the other!

This and the occasional withdraw of the priority of the home button from the processor's attention in recent versions of IOS, this all tells me that a real user / engineer is no longer controlling things. Again, Steve would never have allowed that - its starting to feel like an Android device already - driven by the market and economic, instead of by perfection.

It is interesting how Isaacson talks a lot about Steve setting Sir Jony Ive up to remain very powerful in the future of Apple - but this guy focuses more on Cook at the helm. Basically, Cook (not Jobs) comes across a lot better in this book then in the other one. Personally, I think that gives the game away just a little for this book - and it if represents reality, it may give the game away for Apple too.

12 people found this helpful

Steve Jobs: The Man

This biography focuses more on the person Steve Jobs and portrays him as a more sympathetic human being than Walter Isaacson's biography does. The story of Apple, Pixar and Steve's personal life is less prominent in this biography.

This feels like a more human, realistic portrayal of Steve, but I think that Isaacson's bio is a more complete story.

4 people found this helpful

The business

The book is much more about how Jobs the business person than the Walter Isaacson biography which concentrates on the life story. The final chapters are especially interesting.
The performance/reading was lacking in emotional pacing. It was almost robotic.

2 people found this helpful

Fantastic insight into the man

Brilliant. Forget the others. This is the definitive works on Steve and how he inspires others.

1 person found this helpful

This is the Steve Job book to read

Having read first Walter Isaacson’s ‘Steve Jobs’ I then read this as someone I follow on social media had said this was better

They were right.

The account of Steve Jobs life is told better in this book; his successes and failures, his growth through his life from his early start in Apple up to his death.

I believe this account of Steve is less critical of his failures read in Walters book, and instead has a greater focus on the man who learnt, changed, adapted and morphed into a really inspirational guy

There are moments in Steve’s life that we’re included in this book that I feel are crucial to understanding Steve as a leader and innovator and without them, you could misunderstand the genius part of Steve Jobs.

Being an A hole is easy, but it’s the other side to Steve that is really given the stage, and it was great to hear

1 person found this helpful

iUltimate

This is the book you should pick up if you're given the wicked choice of reading just one book on Jobs, ever, i.e.. Take my word, this book gives the real insights into Steve, the human being, flawed character at times, the professional, ever so learning, committing mistakes and caring primarily for a cause, a mission... the driven entrepreneur that he was, this work has been able to do the justice to the greatest degree yet, and I've read quite a bit on this guy. I'm smitten, and I'm enriched after reading (err, listening) to this book. Good job!

1 person found this helpful

A window into a very driven man's world

Excellent book, well pieced together and offers a truly different perspective on how Steve Jobs went about his work. Offering a neglected viewpoint on his "human" side.

Well worth getting for anyone from Apple fan boys to Microsoft super freaks!

1 person found this helpful

X: Ex or Ten

The narrator pronounces OS X as "OS ex" instead of "OS ten" as Steve Jobs says it in his many Apple stage appearances! Not sure why they went with the "ex" pronunciation.

1 person found this helpful

More about Jobs than other biographies tell

Although there is a great deal about Apple here, Schlender never forgets this is about what made Jobs tick. Isaacson’s may have been the authorised biography but no one gets inside Jobs ‘s head better than someone who knew him well over many years. I learned a lot from this “warts and all “ honest but affectionate appraisal.

great life remarkable man

great story well read enjoyed immensely . opens your eyes to the who was Steve jobss