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Steve Jobs bio review

Cover from Whole Earth Catalog

This isn’t a book for fanboys who are looking for a insider’s view of Apple or the tech industry. The author, Walter Isaacson, is very much an outsider looking in. As such, he granted Steve Jobs a cool respect, but was never drawn in by Steve’s Reality Distortion Field.

As a result, this biography is extremely well researched. Isaacson gives us a measured, balanced narrative of Steve’s life. The writing is gushing when describing Steve’s many accomplishments, and rightly so. On the other hand, Steve’s dark side is portrayed with frankness, but at times tinged with a sense of self-righteousness that shows the reader Isaacson wasn’t able to truly understand his subject, even after two years of interviews. As open as Steve was to engaging with others, he was also intensely private, as befitting his dualistic, black-or-white nature.

Overall, I’d say this book is a compelling and fascinating read, not just for Apple acolytes, but for anybody interested in the man who created (and resurrected) the most valuable company in the world today.

Remembering the man who changed everything

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. What is there to say about a visionary who changed the way we interact with our computers, communicate, listen to music, or even appreciate the beauty of typeface. There is so much to say that has been said more eloquently by others. I am greatly saddened, as are so many others, by the loss of such a powerhouse in the tech world.

Yet, although he has left us with many cool toys like iMacs, iPhones, and iPads, it is his inspiration which is a far greater legacy. Steve was uncompromising, sometimes to a fault, in living each day to the fullest. He followed his heart, his passion, his gut. He was crazy enough to believe he could change the world, and so he did. The way he owned the public stage with such exuberance and enthusiasm for his creations was infectious. He was, unapologetically and wholeheartedly, doing what he loved to do.

Goodbye Steve, and thank you. Thanks for showing us that following your dreams is more important than all the money or fame or gadgets in the world.