When the Steve Jobs biography was released a few weeks ago I must admit that I did not have any pressing need to wait in line at the Barnes and Noble for one of the first copies. In fact, that statement is rather moot because when I did purchase the book I did so through audible.com. So any anticipated or avoided line waiting was truly a fantasy. All of this aside, once I began reading I found myself enthralled by the story of an individual who not only revolutionized five industries but also reshaped the way that the world thinks about technology and their own personas.
Isaacson constructs an authentic narrative depicting both what it was like to be Steve Jobs and to work with him. The book is filled with little anecdotes, such as a young Steve, falsely promoting a “take your pet to school day” at his elementary school, or indicating an added benefit of choosing the name “Apple” for his fledgling computer company was so that it would reside ahead of his then current employer Atari’s name in the phone book. These anecdotes lay the groundwork for understanding the stubborn yet jocular character he paints in Jobs. Stories that are bred into the rebellious DNA of Apple and its many iterations. The back stories on the evolution of the Apple (and Pixar) products bring the reader back throughout. Early in the story, we see Jobs obsessing about the power supply of the Apple II and insisting that the computer not have a cooling fan. Later we learn
of his utter contempt for the stylus. You might also be interested to hear about how the character of Woody in “Toy Story” started out as quite mean.
While largely debatable when viewed in the context of the whole story, Jobs seems at many points throughout the story to be uninterested with financial compensation. In fact he is quoted as saying after his return to Apple, during which he was only paid a salary of one dollar a year for the first couple of years, “I get paid fifty cents for showing up, the other fifty is based on performance.” Cleverness aside, Jobs is rewarded handsomely for his triumphant resuscitation of Apple. Despite the massive wealth he accrues his true obsession seems not to be financial. Had it been so I feel as though the sustainability of his creativity would have been compromised. His true obsession and what he used to motivate his people was building incredibly high quality products that pushed the limits of both technology and design.
Steve’s revolutions, like so many others, came at a price. And that is quite evident in the story. Jobs polarized people around him utilizing what Isaacson repeatedly refers to as his “reality distortion field” to shape and bend situations to his will. He created dozens of really awesome products but he also hurt people in the process both in his business and personal lives. A tragic hero of sorts. Despite his misgivings and quirkiness the reader stills finds in Jobs a hero worth rooting for. Whether or not you you agree with his methods or find him a like-able protagonist I think we can all agree though that the world would not be the world as we know it right now had Steve Jobs not been in it. His story is one worth telling and Isaacson does a thorough and entertaining job crafting his tale.
