Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs paints perhaps the most accurate and revealing picture of his life. As the book covers essentially his whole life in considerable detail, it is not light reading. The 656 pages cover everything from his abandonment as a child, subsequent adoption, work at Apple, Pixar, and NeXT, family life, to his death. Steve Jobs is well known for twisting reality to fit his purposes, making him a tough subject to accurately represent. Isaacson skillfully sifts through Job’s account of events and confirms them against interviews from friends, family, and previous coworkers to find the truth. Isaacson found that “It was in Jobs’s nature to mislead or be secretive when he felt it was warranted… [He had a] Nietzschean attitude that ordinary rules didn’t apply to him.” Among Job’s qualities that are revealed through Isaacson’s expert retelling of his life are his ability to distort reality (termed the Reality Distortion Field by his coworkers), his binary view of things, and his attention to detail and simplicity. On these qualities, it is noted that ”The finish on a piece of metal, the curve of the head of a screw, the shade of blue on a box, the intuitiveness of a navigation screen - [Jobs] would declare them to ‘completely suck’ until the moment when he suddenly pronounced them ‘absolutely perfect’.” Also, it is revealed that these qualities are perhaps what made Jobs most successful. In managing the building of computers at Apple he insisted that the circuit boards inside their computers be as beautiful as the case. He said that “real artists ship,” and would demand that work be done by a certain time even if it seemed impossible to his employees. Many times, they would achieve the goal, affirming that Steve could essentially will things to happen and they would. He demanded perfection from those working for him or with him, insisting on building a company of only “A players”, but also people who he could successfully bend to his will. Walter Isaacson successfully captures not only the beneficial effects of Steve Job’s intense personality, but also the detrimental effects, including the abandonment of his own daughter and his rough treatment of employees. Job’s undeniably massive effect on the development of the personal computer, computer animation, digital publishing, and distribution of music makes Isaacson’s biography a must read for everyone who desires a better picture of Job’s life.