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Steve Jobs
by Walter Isaacson
by Walter Isaacson
I don’t read a lot of biographies but felt that the authorized biography of one of the most influential people in Silicon Valley would make an interesting jaunt down computer histories memory lane. I was not disappointed. Appropriately, I downloaded it to my iPod touch and listened to it on the beach in Italy.
If you ever wondered if Steve Jobs was a jerk, this book will confirm it. But he was also an artist, drug user, yoga practitioner, vegetarian, anorexic, manipulator, Dylan fan, perfectionist, thief, student of Dale Carnegie. He even dated Jennifer Egan – I thought I recognized the description of him in A Visit From the Goon Squad.
I don’t know if I believe that Steve Jobs was a genius, because I think a genius could have created some of these products on his own. I think Steve Jobs was a crazy dictator, in the same class as Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler; he also left a deep mark on the people and the world around him.
You say you want a revolution? Thank goodness Jobs was just interested in the home entertainment market. Jobs aside Isaacson did a wonderful job sketching out this difficult person and drew me deeply into the story.
If you ever wondered if Steve Jobs was a jerk, this book will confirm it. But he was also an artist, drug user, yoga practitioner, vegetarian, anorexic, manipulator, Dylan fan, perfectionist, thief, student of Dale Carnegie. He even dated Jennifer Egan – I thought I recognized the description of him in A Visit From the Goon Squad.
I don’t know if I believe that Steve Jobs was a genius, because I think a genius could have created some of these products on his own. I think Steve Jobs was a crazy dictator, in the same class as Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler; he also left a deep mark on the people and the world around him.
You say you want a revolution? Thank goodness Jobs was just interested in the home entertainment market. Jobs aside Isaacson did a wonderful job sketching out this difficult person and drew me deeply into the story.
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Quotes Kimberly Liked
“If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away. The more the outside world tries to reinforce an image of you, the harder it is to continue to be an artist, which is why a lot of times, artists have to say, “Bye. I have to go. I’m going crazy and I’m getting out of here.” And they go and hibernate somewhere. Maybe later they re-emerge a little differently. (Steve Jobs)”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
“What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they’re dragging you down. They’re turning you into Microsoft. They’re causing you to turn out products that are adequate but not great.”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
“Picasso had a saying - 'good artists copy, great artists steal' - and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
“So that’s our approach. Very simple, and we’re really shooting for Museum of Modern Art quality. The way we’re running the company, the product design, the advertising, it all comes down to this: Let’s make it simple. Really simple.” Apple’s design mantra would remain the one featured on its first brochure: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
“I have my own theory about why decline happens at companies like IBM or Microsoft. The company does a great job, innovates and becomes a monopoly or close to it in some field, and then the quality of the product becomes less important. The company starts valuing the great salesmen, because they’re the ones who can move the needle on revenues, not the product engineers and designers. So the salespeople end up running the company.”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
“On the day he unveiled the Macintosh, a reporter from Popular Science asked Jobs what type of market research he had done. Jobs responded by scoffing, "Did Alexander Graham Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
“He had the uncanny capacity to know exactly what your weak point is, know what will make you feel small, to make you cringe," Joanna Hoffman said. "It's a common trait in people who are charismatic and know how to manipulate people. Knowing that he can crush you makes you feel weakened and eager for his approval, so then he can elevate you and put you on a pedestal and own you.”
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
― Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
