Job's bio, best seller of the year

jocampo · 12-12-2011, 07:05 PM

Jobs bio is Amazon's best seller of the year. More here ...

rdfry · 12-12-2011, 07:42 PM

I read the hardcover, it was good, Jobs was a number 1 ahole with little empathy for others.

tubemonkey · 12-12-2011, 10:39 PM

I'll never read it. Already know what a jerk he was. Don't need to waste time reading it for confirmation.

Prestidigitweeze · 12-12-2011, 11:39 PM

I'd read the book if I liked and respected the work of the biographer. Superior writing and research can sometimes make a biography more interesting than its subject. The fact that the subject is flawed or even unsympathetic can make the book more interesting as well.

Unfortunately, I glanced at this particular book and found admirable research without an evocative style or interesting point of view. The really gripping book about Jobs will be published when factions become irrelevant and Apple is neither the Kubrickian monolith of consumer gadgetry nor the horn-wearing impaler of all things fair, competitive and open.

Besides which, heroes sometimes make for less interesting reading. I've always preferred Richard III to Henry V. The next biographer's Jobs will likely be closer to Richard.

tubemonkey · 12-13-2011, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Unfortunately, I glanced at this particular book and found admirable research without an interesting point of view.

This I don't get. To me, biographies are history; and as such, I only need to be presented with facts. I don't read them for entertainment, so the author's style and presentation are irrelevant.

BWinmill · 12-13-2011, 01:39 AM

I've read the first half of the book. It's interesting because it discusses the early years of Apple, but it doesn't really reveal anything new about the man. As for Jobs being an jerk, well, it takes a certain type of character to become a leader in an industry.

Kumabjorn · 12-13-2011, 12:08 PM

I bought it as an e-book fairly soon after it was published. For me, it was something of a trip down nostalgia road. When I read about Homebrew Computer Club and Whole Earth Catalog that brought back a lot of memories from times gone by.

I am a tinkerer, so PC and DOS was always my preference. Hence, I've never owned anything but beige boxes. So for me it was interesting to see how Apple was driven by design not engineering. Considering the market capitalization for Microsoft it must have been a nice feeling for Jobs when he was able to pass them by.

Don't know what the clinical definition of a psychopath is, but I'm fairly sure that Steve Jobs is able to find himself within those parameters.

carpetmojo · 12-13-2011, 02:05 PM

Do they/can they, give a region by region breakdown on the "best seller" thing.
I mean is that in the States, or global or what ?
Be interested to know if the UK, or Oz, or Japan's, say, position is the same.

And presumably it's Amazon's marketing Dept that gives this out, or an independent group ?

HiroProtagonist · 12-13-2011, 02:35 PM

For me, it merely confirmed what I already knew about Jobs and the early days of Apple. People can say he was a - shall we say - not nice person, all they want, but it takes that kinda attitude to motivate people to produce what they produce. Microsoft / Facebook / Apple / Dell - they've all been run by people who likely won't have ever won any popularity contests.

anijh · 12-13-2011, 02:50 PM

I finished reading it last night. It was an enjoyable read despite the fact that Steve Jobs came across as a jerk for much of it. I didn't know he behaved that way.

Prestidigitweeze · 12-19-2011, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I don't read them for entertainment, so the author's style and presentation are irrelevant.

Good research and writing aren't entirely reducible to entertainment. Not to trivialize amusement, but there's more nourishment involved in a great biography than that.

Quote:

This I don't get. To me, biographies are history; and as such, I only need to be presented with facts.

Then I don't expect you to understand people's interest in Boswell's Life of Johnson, Ellman's books on Beckett and Joyce, Aldous Huxley's Grey Eminence and Devils of Loudin or Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians. The point isn't that such books are about famous people, but that the level of the research and writing makes the books worth reading.

Besides which, great history books can be read for style as well, e.g., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon, Cromwell by Carlyle and, for that matter, the Annals of Tacitus and The Souls of Black Folk by W.E. DuBois.

One of the high points for me in Ellman's biography of Oscar Wilde is in the appendix: A phonetic transcription of one of Wilde's speeches in which all of the pauses and dynamics are written out. Ellman meticulously captures Wilde's voice throughout the bio, and the transcription affords the opportunity to hear the entire performance in one's head. It's the equivalent of musical notation and the effect is aesthetic even as the information it conveys is historical.

RainingLemur · 12-19-2011, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiroProtagonist

For me, it merely confirmed what I already knew about Jobs and the early days of Apple. People can say he was a - shall we say - not nice person, all they want, but it takes that kinda attitude to motivate people to produce what they produce. Microsoft / Facebook / Apple / Dell - they've all been run by people who likely won't have ever won any popularity contests.

Yeah, you DO kinda have to be a bit of a jerk to produce results. So, I give him that.

Kumabjorn · 12-19-2011, 11:00 AM

You have to kill a cow if you want hamburger.
Or something like that...

Shack70 · 12-19-2011, 11:08 AM

I read it but I would not call it a great book. I found by 1/2 through I wanted it to be over. I admire what Jobs did for the industries he touched and I also greatly dislike him for the way he did those things. In short the guy was a complete asshole who needed someone to smack him around a bit and kick his ass.

Andrew H. · 12-20-2011, 08:23 PM

I found the book particularly interesting becaue of Jobs's difficult personality, narcissism, and perfectionism. It made him and what he did much more realistic than a more whitewashed approach would be.

Although I do find people's extremely negative reaction to Jobs as he's portrayed in the book to be overblown. I wouldn't describe him as nice, especially, and he can be kind of a jerk and somewhat narcissistic. But not more so than many other artists and business-owners.

I think it's relevant in this context that most of the people he's yelling at are senior people for whom he's made hundreds of millions of dollars, or suppliers from whom he's buying millions of dollars worth of supplies.

But my favorite parts in the book - and this does reflect well on Jobs - are those parts where someone calls him on something. I.e., when he's meeting with the CEO of Corning and starts ranting about something and the CEO says, "Shut up, Steve, and let me tell you about science." (And then goes on to explain that they've had this recipe for something called "Gorilla Glass" for 40 years and haven't been able to find a use for it...).

Or the bit where Jobs is focused on a particular floppy disk manufacturer for the already-late Mac, and his senior managers are skeptical that the manufacturer can deliver, so they secretly have another manufacturer work on the drive as well and are able to seamlessly switch to that supplier when the other one ends up failing to deliver.

(And who know that it took a year and a lot of consultations to design a 1.4 meg floppy drive in 1982?)

12-12-2011, 07:05 PM	#1
jocampo Layback feline Posts: 3,034 Karma: 6980745 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"	Job's bio, best seller of the year Jobs bio is Amazon's best seller of the year. More here ...

12-12-2011, 11:39 PM	#4
Prestidigitweeze Fledgling Demagogue Posts: 2,384 Karma: 31132263 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: White Plains Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.	I'd read the book if I liked and respected the work of the biographer. Superior writing and research can sometimes make a biography more interesting than its subject. The fact that the subject is flawed or even unsympathetic can make the book more interesting as well. Unfortunately, I glanced at this particular book and found admirable research without an evocative style or interesting point of view. The really gripping book about Jobs will be published when factions become irrelevant and Apple is neither the Kubrickian monolith of consumer gadgetry nor the horn-wearing impaler of all things fair, competitive and open. Besides which, heroes sometimes make for less interesting reading. I've always preferred Richard III to Henry V. The next biographer's Jobs will likely be closer to Richard. Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 12-22-2011 at 02:28 PM.

12-13-2011, 02:50 PM	#10
anijh Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 2126 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: South Florida Device: Nook 1e, Kindle Fire, and multiple iDevices	I finished reading it last night. It was an enjoyable read despite the fact that Steve Jobs came across as a jerk for much of it. I didn't know he behaved that way. Last edited by anijh; 12-13-2011 at 02:53 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Steve Jobs Bio	rdfry	Reading Recommendations	4	11-21-2011 01:48 PM
Content Update notification (Job's biography by Isacson)	Kumabjorn	Amazon Kindle	4	11-20-2011 11:42 AM
Just per order Steve Jobs Bio	jocampo	Reading Recommendations	4	10-14-2011 10:07 AM
Connect - Ewan McGregor bio page	anotherchance	Sony Reader	1	10-10-2007 12:14 PM

12-12-2011, 07:42 PM	#2
rdfry loving the books Posts: 374 Karma: 18825402 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: DFW Device: Rooted Nook, Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, Galaxy Note 5, 2 Fire 7s Note 8	I read the hardcover, it was good, Jobs was a number 1 ahole with little empathy for others.

12-12-2011, 10:39 PM	#3
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,762 Karma: 158733736 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	I'll never read it. Already know what a jerk he was. Don't need to waste time reading it for confirmation.

12-13-2011, 01:39 AM	#6
BWinmill Nameless Being	I've read the first half of the book. It's interesting because it discusses the early years of Apple, but it doesn't really reveal anything new about the man. As for Jobs being an jerk, well, it takes a certain type of character to become a leader in an industry.

12-13-2011, 12:08 PM	#7
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	I bought it as an e-book fairly soon after it was published. For me, it was something of a trip down nostalgia road. When I read about Homebrew Computer Club and Whole Earth Catalog that brought back a lot of memories from times gone by. I am a tinkerer, so PC and DOS was always my preference. Hence, I've never owned anything but beige boxes. So for me it was interesting to see how Apple was driven by design not engineering. Considering the market capitalization for Microsoft it must have been a nice feeling for Jobs when he was able to pass them by. Don't know what the clinical definition of a psychopath is, but I'm fairly sure that Steve Jobs is able to find himself within those parameters.

12-13-2011, 02:05 PM	#8
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Do they/can they, give a region by region breakdown on the "best seller" thing. I mean is that in the States, or global or what ? Be interested to know if the UK, or Oz, or Japan's, say, position is the same. And presumably it's Amazon's marketing Dept that gives this out, or an independent group ?

12-13-2011, 02:35 PM	#9
HiroProtagonist Writer of walls of waffle Posts: 11 Karma: 23192 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle Keyboard Wi-Fi	For me, it merely confirmed what I already knew about Jobs and the early days of Apple. People can say he was a - shall we say - not nice person, all they want, but it takes that kinda attitude to motivate people to produce what they produce. Microsoft / Facebook / Apple / Dell - they've all been run by people who likely won't have ever won any popularity contests.

12-19-2011, 11:00 AM	#13
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	You have to kill a cow if you want hamburger. Or something like that...

12-19-2011, 11:08 AM	#14
Shack70 Guru Posts: 777 Karma: 1043626 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: York, Pa Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11th Generation	I read it but I would not call it a great book. I found by 1/2 through I wanted it to be over. I admire what Jobs did for the industries he touched and I also greatly dislike him for the way he did those things. In short the guy was a complete asshole who needed someone to smack him around a bit and kick his ass.

12-20-2011, 08:23 PM	#15
Andrew H. Grand Master of Flowers Posts: 2,201 Karma: 8389072 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Naptown Device: Kindle PW, Kindle 3 (aka Keyboard), iPhone, iPad 3 (not for reading)	I found the book particularly interesting becaue of Jobs's difficult personality, narcissism, and perfectionism. It made him and what he did much more realistic than a more whitewashed approach would be. Although I do find people's extremely negative reaction to Jobs as he's portrayed in the book to be overblown. I wouldn't describe him as nice, especially, and he can be kind of a jerk and somewhat narcissistic. But not more so than many other artists and business-owners. I think it's relevant in this context that most of the people he's yelling at are senior people for whom he's made hundreds of millions of dollars, or suppliers from whom he's buying millions of dollars worth of supplies. But my favorite parts in the book - and this does reflect well on Jobs - are those parts where someone calls him on something. I.e., when he's meeting with the CEO of Corning and starts ranting about something and the CEO says, "Shut up, Steve, and let me tell you about science." (And then goes on to explain that they've had this recipe for something called "Gorilla Glass" for 40 years and haven't been able to find a use for it...). Or the bit where Jobs is focused on a particular floppy disk manufacturer for the already-late Mac, and his senior managers are skeptical that the manufacturer can deliver, so they secretly have another manufacturer work on the drive as well and are able to seamlessly switch to that supplier when the other one ends up failing to deliver. (And who know that it took a year and a lot of consultations to design a 1.4 meg floppy drive in 1982?)

Advert

Advert