Steve Jobs (Latest Revised Edition)
Steve Jobs
Author: Walter Isaacson
Original Author: Walter Isaacson
Published Date: 2013/09/11
Book Recommendation URL: http://moo.im/a/ehEGJY
Preface:
This is the fifteenth book I've finished reading this year. Actually, I was reluctant to finish this book because I was used to watching movies while reading it. Or, I would watch Apple's product launch events to understand some of the details. In fact, my understanding of Steve Jobs back then came from the early Silicon Valley-related movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley". Although this movie is quite old, many of the descriptions are quite in-depth and have a significant impact on other related books and movies.
Later, "Jobs" filmed by Ashton Kutcher further explored Steve Jobs' inner turmoil. I highly recommend everyone to watch it.
Finally, let's talk about this book. It's a book of six or seven hundred pages. The content includes Steve Jobs' time as a student, all the way to his passing due to cancer. It's highly recommended.
Content Summary and Thoughts:
Everyone knows that Steve Jobs spared no effort in protecting his privacy. This legendary entrepreneur never wrote a memoir, but he accepted more than forty in-depth interviews from the author of this book, Isaacson, over two years, and allowed him to visit his friends, relatives, competitors, enemies, and colleagues, totaling more than a hundred people.
Isaacson wrote "the most authentic Steve Jobs," describing the roller-coaster life of this creative entrepreneur. Jobs' persistent personality, his passion for perfection, and his fierce drive propelled revolutions in six major industries, including personal computers, animation, music, phones, tablets, and digital publishing.
This is not just the story of Steve Jobs, but also a book about innovation. In this digital age, many companies are striving to be at the forefront of innovation, and many countries are eager to build innovative economies. But in terms of originality, imagination, and innovation, Steve Jobs is undoubtedly a benchmark figure. He knows that to create something valuable in the 21st century, creativity and technology must be combined. Therefore, the company he built not only needs to have a leap of imagination but also to present exquisite technological craftsmanship.
Chapter Outline
1955-1980. Born Rebellious
This chapter mainly talks about his childhood, his schooling, and the founding of his Apple Computer company, and it details his eccentricities while working at Atari during his student days. He didn't like to shower at the time, so he only worked at night. But because his programming skills were excellent, he could often solve very difficult problems. So his supervisor let him work at night, which also avoided his interaction with others.
The big sales of Apple II also made Apple Computer a public company. It also instantly made Steve Jobs have to lead a bunch of experts who were much more senior than him to run the company at a very young age.
1980-1991. Ups and Downs
After going public, the creation of Macintosh even made Apple Computer appear in the 1984 Super Bowl commercial.
However, with the launch of Macintosh, hidden worries also began. Apple Computer internally gradually split and fought. Steve Jobs was therefore ousted.
But leaving Apple, although disappointed, gave Steve Jobs the opportunity to become a shareholder of Pixar. Here's the most famous Pixar logo.
1991-2004. Think Different
Through the acquisition of NexT, Apple Computer invited Steve Jobs back to be the iCEO (interm-CEO) through the acquisition of NexT, which Steve Jobs later founded. After that, there were iMacs and other amazing new products. It was also at this time that Pixar achieved its greatest success (the release of Toy Story), and Pixar later accepted Disney's acquisition and took over the development of the animation department.
In this stage, Steve Jobs, after the ten years of settling down, completely insisted on the development of more perfect products.
2004-2011. Beyond Death
In the final stage, although Apple also developed the epoch-making product iPhone. It completely changed the era of application from desktop to mobile devices, but Steve Jobs' body also protested against him. The onset of cancer and the delay in treatment prevented the condition from being immediately controlled. Even after using many related therapies, the condition still could not be alleviated and relapsed.
Next, as everyone knows, Steve Jobs only stepped down as Apple CEO a few days before his death. He passed away with the company of his family.
Thoughts:
I remember when Steve Jobs passed away, many people were very sad. I think, in addition to commemorating a great entrepreneur and product manager, it's also commemorating a product enthusiast who insisted on his own ideas. Often, there will be the feeling of wanting to be lazy and get by. But influenced by Steve Jobs' insistence on products and the pursuit of perfection, he would start working hard again.
Many people say that Steve Jobs was also human, and he also had many failures. This book also has his human side, whether it's not wanting to face his own children when he was young, or later regretting it. Whether it's more failed products, or the process of being forced to step down, it's described in more detail. The reason why Apple became a great company is precisely due to Steve Jobs' centralized power.
Whether you like Steve Jobs or not, we have to admit that the term "Steve Jobs" should become a symbol in our hearts for the continuous pursuit of products.
Finally, this sentence from Think Different, I share with everyone.
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
──Apple's "Think Different" commercial， 1997
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