Walter Isaacson, Aspen Institute president & CEO, provides insight on Apple, and shares his thought on the future of the tech giant after the death of founder Steve Jobs.
He has been the Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of Time. He has written biographies of Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein.
Isaacson is also the author of Steve Jobs, the authorized biography of the late Apple co-founder.
Direct link to video here.
Taffy Brodesser-Akner, will re-team with Susannah Grant and Sarah Timberman to develop “Long Island Compromise” for Apple TV+ with…
The NBA’s exclusive negotiating window with incumbent media partners Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery will likely pass without a deal…
As Apple and other global tech firms to look beyond China to secure their supply chains, cut costs, and open up new markets, Apple is…
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) scaled back its outlook for a chip market expansion, cautioning that the smartphone…
Apple this week announced new progress to expand clean energy around the world and advance momentum toward Apple 2030, the…
Nothing particularly insightful in this interview; most regular MDN readers could have given similar answers. The book was fine, but Isaacson is NOT an authority on Apple
The book was terrible and competely missed huge parts of the Jobs story and what made Apple tick. It was an enormous lost opportunity wasted on a hack. That he completely missed the story on Jobs and Apple with Jobs still alive means he has nothing to say now. Move along.
The book was about him, and his growing experiences throughout his life, not the company. In Steve’s case the company just happens to be engrained in almost everything he did.
I thought the book was sort of terrible (not completely). What drove me crazy was Isaacson’s frequent, glowing mentions of Bill Gates. After awhile it felt like Isaacson really would have preferred to be writing Gates’ bio instead of Jobs’.
You know what they say about opinions. I thought the book was spot on and very informative. And, I haven’t seen a better one with you credited as the author.
although I agree that the book does give many good insights and adds information on Jobs (Isaacson was the only dude with such access to Jobs) I have to agree with Twimoon that it leaves a lot out that many wished was covered. As Gruber argues too the book was a great missed opportunity in that it doesn’t go into depth how Jobs functioned as such a great entrepreneur and made Apple into the largest market cap company in a few years. many questions that Apple fans would have liked answered especially around how Apple technology was masterminded by Jobs simply isn’t covered.
It’s like as if Isaacson wasn’t really interested in that (the technology, the business of Apple. Critics have pointed out tech mistakes in the bio) It’s just like another CELEB Bio. Isaacson is not a tech expert or fan (and so can’t fully appreciate or expound that part of Jobs). Imagine a writer who is NOT a FAN of CARS writing a long bio on Ford, the bio would be insightful on Fords personal life etc but won’t have the spark of how he changed the auto industry. The Ford bio would be sadly lacking in something.
If I read a bio on Rommel , I would be happy to read about his personal relationship with his wife and his generals ,his dislike for Nazism etc BUT I would also like the author to be fully cognizant of armoured warfare (like the difference between a Panzer IV and a Panzer V, how tanks are used with a artillery shield etc) and expound how Rommel functioned as a general and how he changed panzer tactics etc .
Yes, his book was just OK, nothing great about it at all.
I thought Lashinky’s ‘Inside Apple’ was far more intriguing to read although it was more about Apple in general than just Steve’s life.
But I really hope Steve’s sister, Mona Simpson, writes her own book on Steve. Her eulogy to her bro was incredibly powerful and moving.
Caught snippets of Larry Ellison’s interview with Charlie Rose. He is not a fan of Isaacson’s book.
Steve would not have agreed to this at all. I don’t know what Carl has planned but as far his interests are concerned, they are almost guaranteed to be entirely self-centered.
How is he the perfect person to talk about this? He knows very little about technical subjects which were some very weak points of his book.
I’d sure like to see all the published work and credentials of all of Isaacson’s wannabe critics here. His book is the only authorized biography of Steve Jobs btw.
I couldn’t even finish the book, it was so bad. Isaacson was a poor choice as the author of SJ’s biography. It’s obvious that he didn’t like Jobs, doesn’t know anything about the tech industry, and didn’t care about the subject on which he was writing. And no, I don’t have to be a published author to have an opinion. Books are written for readers. I’m a reader. I consume several books per month. I know good, informed, involved writing when I read it. This ain’t that!
Isaacson is as much an authority on Apple and Jobs as the average cartoon draftsman is about the physics of an object falling off a cliff — but Isaacson is also far less entertaining.