Bibliographic Information
Title: Steve Jobs
Author: Walter Isaacson
ISBN: 978-1451648539 (hardcover)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2011
Book Details
Jacket Design: Joy O’Meara
Formats: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle, Audiobook, Audible
Page Count: 656
Plot Summary
Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs covers his life from birth to death. The author was given extensive access to Mr. Jobs, family members, and archival material, and states that Jobs exercised no editorial veto over the content.
The book explores Jobs’ childhood and his life before Apple, and provides an in-depth look at his personal life, not all of which could be considered “good”. It also charts Jobs’ career at Apple, after Apple, and his triumphant return to Apple.
Critical Evaluation
Other biographies will no doubt be written, but it is difficult to image how they could be better. The author’s unfettered access to his subject while that subject was alive gives us answers to inner questions, to motivations, to reasons and rationales that are simply not observable externally.
This is not a “celebrity” bio, nor an “as-told-to” – Jobs willingly relinquished editorial control, theo he did read material. The author portrays Jobs’ failings; his abandonment of his first child, his mercurial temper, his casual cruelty to friends, and his often-deliberate cruelty to friends.
The book provides a balanced look at all aspects of Jobs’ life and career; not just Apple, but Pixar (a success) and Next (a failure). Thus, it is of interest to people outside of the tech sector as well as computer junkies.
Reader’s Annotation
Information about the Author
Walter Isaacson is an American writer and biographer. He has written biographies of Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Henry Kissinger. He is the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, and has been the Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of Time.
Genre
Biography
Curriculum Ties
Economics, Computer technology, history
Booktalking ideas
Overall, was Jobs “good” or “bad”?
How do you balance his vision and impact on modern American life with his personal life?
Reading Level/Interest Age
Interest Level: High
Reading Level: Adult
Challenge Issues
Drugs, casual sex, refusal to acknowledge paternity
YA Books 