Walter Isaacson's book was the official Steve Jobs biography. That counts for something. Photo: Simon & Schuster
Blogger Jason Kottke has noticed an interesting pattern: Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who take Steve Jobs’s biography not as a guide to success, but as a warning.
Kottke points to four entrepreneurs who are scaling back on work to focus on their families, lest they turn out like Steve Jobs.
Did you miss out on seeing PBS’s fantastic documentary on the life of Steve Jobs when it aired in early November? Well, you’re in lucky: Steve Jobs – One Last Thing is now available on DVD. It’s also free to stream for Amazon Prime members.
Walter Isaacson’s biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is catnip for Mac lovers, selling 379,000 copies during its first week. Although it doesn’t compare to the 4 million iPhone 4S handsets sold during its first weekend, the book’s sales were enough to leave best-selling fiction author John Grisham in the literary dust.
We thought we’d put this Apple television business to rest as a pipe-dream, but then Steve Jobs’s biography came out, where he claimed he had finally “cracked” the TV problem. Now the rumor mill has started itself up again with renewed vigor, and the latest report from Nick Bilton over at The New York Times: his sources tell him that Jobs thought that the “industry was totally broken” a real Apple-branded television set “isn’t a matter of if, but when,” a “guaranteed product.”
Ever since Steve Jobs’s untimely death and the release of Walter Isaacson’s biography, America’s been going Steve crazy… but you know where Jobsmania is even worse? China. In fact, from the launch lines, you’d think it was the iPad 3 that was coming out, not a book.
Walter Isaacson's book was the official Steve Jobs biography. That counts for something. Photo: Simon & Schuster
There have been a lot of complaints on Twitter that most of the best bits of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs have already leaked. After reading sundry blog posts, news stories and tweets about Jobs’s life, is there anything left to read in the actual book?
Yes, there is. There’s plenty. Although the arc of Steve’s story is generally well known, Isaacson has added a ton of new detail to even the most well-trodden stories from Jobs’s life. Trouble is, a lot of it is about Jobs mistreating people.
Walter Isaacson’s book is an unflinching biography of a manifestly great man. But it’s not a fun read. In fact, sometimes it’s a lot like being locked in a room with a borderline sociopath. Powering through Isaacson’s bio will give you unique insight into how Steve Jobs changed the world, but it’s not necessarily a comforting one.
Steve Jobs once famously said that people don’t read anymore, but he did, and amongst the revelations of Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography of Apple’s co-founder are his favorite books and bands.
You probably won’t be surprised by the bands — hey, Steve loved the Beatles, go figure! — but would you ever have guessed that his favorite books include both Moby Dick *and* Mucusless Diet Healing Systems?
Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of Steve Jobs is due out on Monday, but already a sad revelation from the book has come to light: Steve Jobs delayed the first operation on his pancreatic cancer back in 2004, ignoring the urgent pleas of his wife, friends and colleagues.
Can’t wait to get your hands on Steve Jobs official biography later this year? How about biding your time with a tome of wisdom handed down from The Man himself? Then Steve Jobs Gives 11 Advices To Teenager! by Steve Jobs might be just the book for you!