Many MacDailyNews readers have been emailing us with their reactions and mini-reviews of “Steve Jobs,” Walter Isaacson’s biography of the late Apple co-founder.
The comments we’ve received so far range from “loved every page of it” and “couldn’t put it down” to “impersonal and detached” and “missed the full gist of the man.”
If you’ve read the book, what did you think of it?
“Steve Jobs” is available via Apple’s iBookstore for US$14.99 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch here.
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I thoroughly enjoyed it. (Not much of a review, eh?)
Enjoying the hard cover at home, iBook on the road..
For an interesting conversation about the book, check 5by5.tv for The Talk Show with John Gruber and Dan Benjamin, episode #66.
I couldn’t put it down, even though every blog posted all the best parts ahead of time. Insanely great!!
I haven’t had time to read it yet. Saving it for either Thanksgiving or Christmas vacation when I have some down time.
You mean, when the stores are too crowded, when all the TV-shows happen to be re-runs, in short, when you have nothing else to do…
Same here. Read bits and pieces so far.
@vanfruniken
calm down, some people have to work. and WAY too much recently i might add…
I’m on vacation the week of Thanksgiving. it will be the first time i’ll have “free” time in months..
I went fishing a few weeks back with my Dad on his birthday, beyond that.. stuck at work. no time to read.
The average US citizen who buys a book never gets past page 17. If you search for the statistics on reading books, you find that over 80% of high school graduates never read another book in their life time. When you consider college graduates, the number drops to 50%. I wonder who is actually reading books on the Kindle?
The other 50%
I read it the day it came from Amazon. Easy read. Good biography not great. Tells it like it is. Jobs was not a nice guy. That is so related. Jobs was a driven man. So related. If you want to read a book about Apple and feel good read Woz. It tells it as it is. But Woz is a wonderful human being. After reading both books I know who I would love to sit down and have a meal with and talk about everything he had accomplished in life. And it would be at Bob’s Big Boy because he does love him some burger. mmmmmmmm
Most important book of the year.
I know there weren’t enough pages, but I wanted more on his early life. I guess the most fascinating part for me was the transition from “wandering kid” to millionaire business man. It’s good to see how human and even unexpected it all was. That, for me, was the most incredible part of the story.
Although I haven’t finished it yet, I find it a very enjoyable read. Even though some of the stuff we knew, it’s nice to get a behind the scenes view of Steve and Apple and fill in some of those gaps that we were not privy to before, i.e. Antenna-gate. I liked his frankness and his desire to put the truth out there, at least as he saw it, regardless whether it painted him in a positive or negative light. The inclusion of other unfiltered viewpoints added an extra dimension to the book and enabled us to see how Steve was viewed by others, good or bad. I highly recommend this book and wish Steve well as he endeavors to reengineer Heaven.
Haven’t read it yet.
Looking forward to it early next year.
Just finished reading it on my iPad2. The book was fabulous and Walter captured the essence of Steve. I never realized that Steve was such a complicated person and admire his passion for perfection even more. The legend lives on!
I thought it was a good read, but not a particularly pleasant experience. The author seemed to go out of his way to make this a non-flattering “warts and all” biography and I knew before reading the book that SJ had a reputation for being confrontational and often rude to the people around him.
However, I think Isaacson went to far in that direction and the result is that the first half of the book is filled with arguments, tears and angst. This may reflect reality but for the geeks among us (or at least for me) there wasn’t enough detail on the technology and the way that the products were developed.
For example, not much was explained about OSX and it’s contribution to Apple’s success, OSX is in some ways the most important and impressive achievement and the basis of Apple’s current success, but the author seemed more interested in moving along quickly to the next emotional outburst.
Anyway, a well written book, but IMHO not the definitive biography, at least I hope not.
Nice, Foundation!
I had similar feelings, and in some ways the book diminshed Jobs in my eyes. I’m only half way through it, savoring it, so my impressions are incomplete. It’s a page turner for sure. Loved the part on “Think Different.” Chaffed a bit when he said the “aluminum” antennae the Jobs and Ives thought of backfired as a design flaw. Pretty much thought that myth was dispelled….especially since the band around iphone 4 is stainless steel, and works wonderfully. The book confirmed what I have thought for years. That Apple products through their software, simplicity, and design are superior to all else.
All in all, I look forward to each evening when I can curl up with the book. I highly recommend!
I haven’t got to that part yet, but you have to remember the book is about Steve Jobs… not a technical or business impact analysis of OSX, or of Apple. Both (and many other things) formed a big part of Jobs’ life, of course, but a biography is not the place to cover them in detail.
I haven’t got to that part, either, but I would hope that we get at least as much detail about SJ’s technical achievements as we do about, say, his dad’s love of cars. “Steve Jobs the man” is reflected in his products and designed decisions to a much greater extent then any other aspect of his life.
Sure, he should have used rose color glasses so that you would have a pleasant read. Whatever. The book is about Steve Jobs the man, not about trumpeting OSX or Apple tech in general.
Yeah, but “Steve Jobs the man”, is someone who lived his whole life with a passion and workaholic attitude for technology and devices. We wouldn’t know about him otherwise. If the book doesn’t deal with this aspect of the man, adequately, then he’s just another asshole who got rich, not very interesting.
…but would you say it succeeded within a larger psychohistorical context?
: )
Yes, that’s my thinking exactly on the “warts and all” approach, that he was so intent to cover the warts that he slightly ignored the inspirational side. It’s not a damning criticism at all – the book is a great achievement – but Mona Simpson’s wonderful eulogy showed another side of the man that was really only indirectly revealed in the book.
Yes of course a eulogy is one-sided, but the Jobs that people would walk barefoot over broken glass for was kind of hidden in the book – I think Isaacson was at great pains to be seen as someone who wasn’t affected by the Reality Distortion Field.
Had Jobs lived another year, would have been riveting to get his reaction.
No other author will of course ever have the advantage of Isaacson’s 40 interviews with Jobs, so I think this is about as definitive as we will ever get, and that’s OK.
I’m sure this was the book that Jobs wanted, but from a purely selfish point of view, I would have liked to have had the book focus much more on the intricacies of his past – and future – creations. It’s not that I don’t recognized that the man had a dark side. I do. But it is his creativity and his genius that most fascinates me and most interests me.
It was pretty interesting, but I had to “auto-magically” fill in quite a bit of info gleaned from other sources when he seemed to go out of his way to write nicely-spun things about those who got in Jobs’ way. Like Microsoft.
Steve Jobs was very interesting, and this book somehow portrays this, but it is just so poorly written you feel like a first grader reading it. It keeps reminding you of what you read a page ago and so it gets very annoying.
I listened to the audiobook from Audible and finished in 4 days. So I guess you could say that I couldn’t put it down. I liked that Steve gave Walter the freedom to write it as he felt fit and didn’t demand to review it and try to censor or “paint a better picture.” Through leaks and other stories throughout the years, I felt like I already knew most of what was contained in the book but it really gave more insight and Steve’s perspective rather than things collected or reported by media – particularly his cancer.
I really enjoyed the parts about his time while starting Next and his time with Pixar. These were times I didn’t know much about Steve and it gave more insight to his character.
My absolute favorite was when Bill Gates was shown the iPod before it was released and he said something along the lines of “That’s pretty good.” I imagine he took in as much info as he could, sat on the toilet that night, and the brown Zune was born.
ROTFALMAO!!! That was funny!!
I second that! And I happened to be sitting on the toilet reading this from my iPad, so the imagery was that much more poignant.
I thought that it struck the right balance and was neither sycophantic or malicious. It was interesting to know what what was going on behind the scenes of all these important products and decisions.
In terms of information about him as a man and his personal life, I felt that the second half seemed to just be reiterating that he was an incredibly charming and talented person who could also be an arsehole. That’s a generalisation, and true or not I felt that it became a bit repetitive after a while.
The rest was brief history of his companies, and obviously the book was about him and not those companies, but for someone like him the lines blur so much that they almost become the same thing. As such I was a bit disappointed because I would have wanted more detail.
I enjoyed the book, and there was a lot of interesting material, I think ultimately he was such a fascinating individual that you’re always going to be left wanting more.
I wanted much more insight into Steve’s psychology. It’s a thorough record, yes, of all of the content of his life, but very little insight into what was going on inside. Even everyday stuff would have been interesting to probe – why’d you go for long periods eating only carrots, why were you never much into athletics, what were your favorite movies, why was LSD such an important experience – what did you see, how did it affect you, what was your relationship with your mother like, were you a mediator, why zen, what did you get out of it, what do you love most about your kids – none of that, I mean none of it, got covered. That would have been really interesting. Instead, we got a better history of his business life than any written before, with a few deeper insights into his business relationships than we had before. But the deepest we got into his psyche was that he wondered whether life is just like an on/off switch. Bummer.
Great review. I would love to know those things too
The “on/off switch” curiousity about life and death was first mentioned by Steve in an interview that he did with Fortune back in February of 1998, called The Three Faces of Steve (Google it. It’s a great interview). Here’s his quote:
“I’ll give you a perfect example. On vacation recently I was reading this book by [physicist and Nobel laureate] Richard Feynmann. He had cancer, you know. In this book he was describing one of his last operations before he died. The doctor said to him, “Look, Richard, I’m not sure you’re going to make it.” And Feynmann made the doctor promise that if it became clear he wasn’t going to survive, to take away the anesthetic. Do you know why? Feynmann said, “I want to feel what it’s like to turn off.” That’s a good way to put yourself in the present–to look at what’s affecting you right now and be curious about it even if it’s bad.”
I forgot to include the very last line from the interview:
“Life is short, and we’re all going to die really soon. It’s true, you know.”
Seems that he was chasing life while running from death, daily.
What a loss
I enjoyed reading Steve’s life story.
I did write an extensive review on 21tiger (non fiction blog), but I’ll sum it up with this: Asshole. Impresario. Artist.
We need to accept that for Apple’s products to reach the level of near-perfection in design, elegance, and simplicity, there needed to be a man with a vision, and a man who would say ‘no’ to bad ideas. The fascination with Steve Jobs is that he carried his Father’s love of craft throughout his life, and treated Apple products like the Children he never had. This man was a true artist, and a true SOB to almost everyone he knew, but he got away with it because his goals and intentions were noble. Perhaps thats why we all wept a little when he finally passed on, we’d lost a champion for artistry and purity in design. Thankfully, Jobs prepared Apple for that day: Exit Steve, Enter Jony.
RIP.
I feel like I know Jobs more than before, so in that sense it succeeded. But it felt rushed. it didn’t really ever slow down and dig deep into any one thing.
Perhaps that was in an attempt to not give away the keys to the factory, but I would have loved more depth about the idea process between Jobs and others. It felt shallow in this regard.
Rushed s a good description.
I thought it was great and I enjoyed every page of it.
I felt it was pretty balanced and I don’t think more or less of Jobs as a result of reading it… I just think different about him now.
So far I like it. It not only gives you isight to Steve Jobs, but to other people that made things happen. We all influence each other, and it’s fascinating how things happened. The Lisa project getting Steve kicked out, how the Woz simply kind of faded by not having more ambitious vision, and relegating him self as a simple engineer. It’s just amazing how Silicon Vally started and how the entire area and era gave place to this computer revolution. This book is beyond Steve Jobs, which puts in context the man him self.
A very interesting book about one of the true geniuses of our age.
If you own a business it provides valuable insight on what drive and determination can do.
We all know the items he left us with so no need to recount them but I found the business insight to be valuable.
I was left in a depressed mood upon finishing the book. Mainly for the family side of his life and how he failed to have the type of relationship with most of his children as he did with Reed or Apple.
It’s hard to digest how much passion he had for EVERYTHING he did in his business ventures.
Have read many Apple and Steve books; this one is very catching, intimate almost and one of the best biographies I have ever read. Love this book.
Having followed all things Apple since 1988, I loved all the behind the scenes and closed door, phone calls, emails that Steve made. The man had no fear of anything. That’s what I got out if it.
He had plenty of quirks, so does everyone posting.
I loved how I felt like I almost knew steve by the end of the book. It made the loss even weightier.
Listening to the Audible reading by Dylan Baker. Was enjoying until Dylan pronounces OS X “Oh Es Ex” instead of “Oh Es Ten” when describing the hiring of a programmer who showed Jobs his dock app icon magnification idea. I am livid about this pronunciation error and how it was allowed to get through the completed Audible recording process. Am now going to document how many more times Dylan was allowed to say OS X this way in the remainder of the reading.
I read it and had a hard time putting it down. It is very well written and gives a very good idea of what Jobs was like, pro and con. He was a complex person, certainly with demons, and his foibles are on display here as well as his artistry and genius. RIP, Steve.
Didn’t really change my opinion of Steve, I knew the extreme and sometimes bizarre sides of his personality were necessary for him to achieve what he did. Reading about his cancer and the effect it had on his family was upsetting.
I think it will be regarded as a valuable historical document in years to come, as it tells the story of Silicon Valley pretty well, with a lot of insights that haven’t appeared elsewhere.
However, I felt ripped off because most of it had been leaked to the public before I read it. The publishers don’t deserve my money if they’re going to indulge in that kind of cynical marketing hype. The book would have sold well enough anyway, there was no need to spoil it for people..
THe book is basically empty. It says very little that was not already written elsewhere. Steve picked Walter because he could draw out people well in interviews – well he drew out almost nothing. Very few insights – very few behind the scenes stories of the actual person.
I enjoyed reading it – but it was filled with a lot of nothing if you follow the blogs regularly.
You must be joking. What book were YOU reading?
I thought it was a very very interesting read, but was looking for much much more.
For example, even though the book described how poorly Jobs treated some of the original Macintosh team, these people remained life long friends of Steve, he brought some back for future product unveilings, and yet the book didn’t explore at all the reason these people remained good and close friends of Jobs.
Other examples, completely silent on Papermaster role in Antenna-gate, more insight on why the board / compensation committee didn’t make sure that the options re-pricing was done legally. They could have accommodated Job’s request to re-price the options, only done it legally, or treated it properly from an accounting and compensation perspective. Would have loved to better understand the Ellison / Job’s relationship. Boy they really seem like they are at opposite ends of the universe. Can’t even imagine a jointly owned Apple between Jobs and Ellison!!!
Overall, a good read. Was surprised at how often Steve cried over things … There seams to have been a very deep need in him to do the most incredible things ever as if his self worth depended so much on it. Wonder how much being left for adoption had to do with it. Wanted to know more about what Steve struggled with …
I believe I will be getting the book for Christmas, so I’ll have to wait – like many others I guess.
I was disappointed with the book.
I felt the author had a lot of material (Jobs had not only gave him hours of access/interview even gave a personal tour of his boyhood home; the man was practically begging to be heard and understood/appreciated), had the best front seat of his subject and blew it.
If this was written by someone else (not having official and personal access) then it would have been a decent book. A little more than what’s on Wikipedia.
This, instead, was just skin on skeleton. It reads like a bullet points expanded to meet a deadline and page numbers. Worst part of it, the author seemed suffering from preconceived notions, full of opinions (he even try to discern brilliance from genius, Jobs being the former in his view, because Lord knows he groks Einstein etc.), yet his opinions seems uninformed to those who were there with Jobs over the decades.
I’d give this book 1/5 for being the official bio effort that was found wanting.
I share your thoughts on the book
Read it. My 11-year-old son is reading it. Lots of stuff I knew, lots of new material. Gruber’s comment that it’s out of touch on the tech side is valid — he misreads the importance of many tech details. One example — he doesn’t correctly address the ‘tempest in a teapot” nature of Antennagate, instead holding it up as an example of design over engineering.
He dives beautifully (and I think, correctly) into Jobs’ motivations and desires, and pulls no punches. He does far better with the man than with the tech he created, and I think that was the point of the biography, after all.
The literary references in the chapter headings were VERY clever. A real treat.
Fantastic book. Weird that he has not been able to read it himself. Joni Yve was one of his greatest gift in getting what he wanted to achieve. That’s where I am in the book. Can’ wait to continue reading
It’s big. I’ve only read the first chapter but so far so good.
Loved the book. Thought the author did a great job. The way he organized the chapters was great. Steve always picked the best person for the job. Mr Isaacson is definitely an “A” person.
I was surprised how much I had heard but loved the new details about Steve.
SJ seemed to have a vision of having computer match human capabilities as the computers grew in power. I saw this in the first Macintosh whose graphic allowed for beleiveable graphics. The next two and a half decades played this out. I am surprised the biographer was not able to get a better vision of where Steve was going beyond his personal history.
It together with sister Mona Simpson’s eulogy gives us a start in learning about Steve Jobs. Just a start. I think Steve suffered far more than the book describes, and by now has learned major life lessons. Taken far too young.
I’ve known ppl who did the whole euphoria fruitarian fasting regime, did it myself; it makes one ultra sensitive and ironically can lead to serious digestive problems. Live and learn. Steve was extraordinarily good at being alert and learning so will not make the same mistakes next time around, or ever.
Isaacson seems to lack empathy for jobs, maybe that’s how biographies go, I don’t tend to read often, so I don’t know. Otherwise, I like it, especially, when it gets into Apple’s inner circle. Sometimes, however, it reads like company book, but how could it not.
I’m enjoying the hard cover edition of the book at home, the ebook on the road.. Very interesting read!
If you want more in depth conversation on the topic, check out 5by5.tv, The Talk Show with John Gruber and Dan Benjamin. (Talk Show #66 ‘Stuck Watching the Seahawks’)
These two guys are always fun to listen to..
Walter Isaacson jobbed Jobs.
I’m half way through the book and l am loving it. I grew up in Los Altos and my dad, who worked as a machinist with Steve’s dad at Spectra Physics, loves to tell me how Paul Jobs complained about his “hippie son” who had the whole house strewn with electronics parts.
The book brings back vivid memories for me and my dad (I sent him a copy) about Silicon Valley in the ’60’s and ’70’s. The book tells reveals details about the rise, fall and rise of Apple that I never knew before.
Best book since Malcolm Gladwell’s books!!
Haven’t read it yet, but based on some of the negative press it had received, it seems what we really want is Steve’s memoirs. That would, as one blogger put it, explain what made Steve tick.
I finished the book thinking just one thing: Isaacson simply did not “get” Steve Jobs. He explains everything by going back to this idea that Steve Jobs’s actions were guided by his magical thinking. Isaacson repeats that word 1000x instead of trying to get into Steve Jobs’ head, and understanding his motives, etc.
I’ve learned more about Jobs reading quotes of his and watching videos that are readily available. I also intend to read one of his sister’s books which is supposedly a very accurate portrayal of his whole personality.
Having never read his other biographies, I wonder whether Jobs knew that Isaacson wouldn’t be able to get into his head, so to speak, and reveal to the world all the things he worked to keep private while he was alive. If that’s the case, he would be satisfied with the book. Otherwise, I think he’d be disappointed the the definitive, authorized biography of his life is so boring and unremarkable.
The cover may be the best thing about the book…
Just finished it this morning. It was an emotional roller coaster ride. Felt love then anger and ended with respect. It has been said great men often have great flaws. This certainly true. I think the book captures both the good and the bad of SJ.
I love Jobs and Apple. Reading about some the the particulars of his dark side I found myself feeling anger. Howeve, by the end of the book I found respect. Not excusing his dark side, it he book demonstrate how it was both the strengths and weaknesses of SJ that made Apple the great company and it’s great products. Apple, it’s products and it’s employees would never have been what they are without both side of SJ. I think the author did a great job of showing both sides, why they both were indispensable to Apple without excusing the bad but helping the read respect the good.
In the end, the book gave me an even great fondness for SJ and Apple. Well written. Kept me turning pages. Learned a lot about an era and many behind the scenes issues and personalities.
Highly recommend book but you must finish it. There is a very long quotation of SJ at the end of the book thar made it all worth while. But don’t read it first! Read it in context. It was this quote the brought a wonderful closure to the highes and lows of SJ’s life and my emotion roller coaster ride
Well done book.
I found the book to be delicious!
– Nom nom
Not the best Biography have read, but it was about the most interesting person i think of so it kind of balances its self out. for the people out there who have never heard of Steve Jobs (i know there are a few) i couldn’t recommend it but for anyone else it’s a must read purely because of the subject matter.
I’ve got it sitting on my desk but am still to sad to crack it open. Am I the only one???
My previous post poofed.
I have the book on my desk but am still too sad to open it. Am I the only one?
He doesn’t get Steve at all. The book is all about some beast on the outside. It does not tell of the seeker of God striving to change the world who lived on the inside.
It was inaccurate and some were complete lies.
Walter did not do his complete homework and improvised on many personal issues of Steve and the family and many sides of him were missing.
Great book — loved it. Very inpspiring…I enjoyed Mr Isaacson’s writing enough to seek out some of his other biographies…
I was surprised that there was never any mention of the fact that some of the characters in Monsters Inc were named after some of the people in the early Apple days ie John Scully…after the bitter breakup was Steve trying to mend fences or take shots?