Steve Jobs

First a little note, i've the review of two books coming in about three weeks or so, i've a class on them so i'm holding off my initial thoughts until in all honesty I understand what they're about a bit better. Enough about that though we have more important matters at hand namely Steve Jobs biography by Walter Issacson. Steve Jobs, as the majority of people know was the founder of Apple and died of cancer in 2011. I bought this book for my brother a couple of christmases ago and I borrowed it off him last week as i'm considering getting a Mac and I was a bit curious about the man who started the company. Biographies aren't my usual reading fodder so i'm not too sure how to go about rating it but i'll have a crack at it anyway. First off Steve Jobs really is terribly interesting if not altogether likeable. The book takes us from his childhood right through to his death. It's an easy book to read and covers everything that happened in Jobs life fluently although there is a bit of repetition here and there. It also seems pretty honest, not overtly biased towards Jobs although I did get a creeping feeling that the author was in the Steve Jobs camp unless microsoft is actually evil. We learn (or perhaps this was already known, I only had rudimentary knowledge of Jobs prior to reading this) that Jobs was kind of a hippie. He was also a genius. He was also temperamental, moody and also nearly always got his way. He'd steal employees ideas proclaiming them as shit and then a week later passing them off as his own. He was manipulative and mean and I got the impression he never really grew up. But he was charismatic and he stuck by his convictions (which worked well as he was rarely wrong) and without him I doubt the world would be as it is today. He also was the CEO of pixar, and my love for pixar films will forever forgive any wrongs. Basically although a flawed man he had one trump card and that was that he'd stand behind what he believed in, he wouldn't be bullied or compromise and if he said something seemingly impossible could be done people would get it done. The book is full of interesting little facts, he and his buddy steve wozniak (who is some kind of computer genius) started Apple pretty much in his Dads garage. And it's named Apple because at the time Jobs was eating only Apples (he was for periods of time a fruitarian, or would eat only one food for weeks at a time). The slate in Apple stores is all from Italy. The staircases in them was his idea too. Rounded corner rectangles are his favourite shape (look at your iphone). He was kicked out of Apple in the late 90s. When he returned to the helm it's was in a lot of trouble and he pretty much resurrected it, turning it into the most successful company in the world. Macs are named after macintosh reds (the greatest apple known to man). The i in iphone etc stands for internet. And if you want anymore facts you should read this biography. A quick search on the internet would probably give you all the information you could need on the man though. It's not a necessary, essential must read but its inspiring and interesting all the same. 3 stars.