On The Steve Jobs Biography
Some thoughts on the biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson:
Provides a solid overall, consistent picture of Jobs’ personality: his focus on product, love of simple “Zen-like” design, and the marriage of technology and the arts. In order to achieve these, he sought out “A players” and had a low tolerance for B or C players. Therefore, everyone who crossed his path was judged (Gil Amelio is scathingly portrayed as a “bozo” while Ive, Cook, and Wozniak are praised), or pushed by Jobs’ blunt motivational techniques to up their game. His intense focus on product reduces profit to an unintended consequence; he decides to not let wealth change him, observing that sudden riches leads people to lead a “nutso” life (including ostentatious friend Larry Ellison), or companies losing their way (Microsoft, HP, Adobe, Google) as sales guys take over and start churning out crap.
Outside the business successes, there are humbler, intimate moments, mostly regarding his children, adoptive parents, and estranged sister. Jobs’ later cancer struggles unfortunately seem tainted by a rebellious world view — he attempted to will away the initial diagnosis with the infamous “reality distortion field,” and adhered to a vegan diet and high food standards while his body atrophied. It seems cancer would eventually prove Jobs wrong — it refused to yield to his forceful personality.
But there is a flip side — imminent death gave him further purpose at Apple, and inspired some touching humility. Jobs is portrayed as genuinely regretful regarding the neglect of his eldest daughter Lisa, and compliments old partner Woz as many times smarter than the average engineer. There’s an interesting response to the Atari bonus situation. Throughout the book, an artful sensitivity is on full display; Jobs cries numerous times regarding those who have a “purity” — be they family members, past loves, or exceptional artists like Yo Yo Ma.
Amusing anecdotes abound, my personal favorites are his love for Kyoto’s gardens, and comparing the Beatles’ (his favorite band) gradual refinement of Strawberry Fields Forever to product development (constantly improve in secret until you achieve perfection). The myriad themes in Jobs’ life come together in one anecdote regarding the loss of John Rubenstein to Palm. Jobs complains to Bono (yes, that one), who says to not worry; it’s like Herman’s Hermits poaching one of the Beatles’ road crew. And Jobs is ultimately proven right with the eventual failure of WebOS (Rubenstein must have ended up with a bunch of B or C team “bozos” there).
In conclusion, Issacson provides a comprehensive overview of Jobs’ incredible life that doesn’t avoid the uncomfortable subjects a Steve-penned autobiography would have eschewed. It seems his drive grew from some uncomfortable places, but that’s okay — he wasn’t a saint, he was human — and I prefer to admire the latter.
Note: I purchased the Kindle edition and read the whole thing on the iPad.