SoHo Apple Store hosts 'Becoming Steve Jobs' book reading, Q&A session with authors
Authors Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli visited the Apple Store SoHo in New York on Thursday to read selections from their hotly anticipated biography "Becoming Steve Jobs" and field questions from what quickly became a packed house.
Schlender and Tetzeli were featured guests of the SoHo Apple Store's meet and greet series that brings in notable authors, filmmakers, musicians and more to talk about their latest projects. Events are free and open to the public, though some presentations with high profile participants require reservations.
Apple's venue completely filled up for today's discussion, which had the authors reading snippets from the book and answering questions from audience members. Some latecomers were left standing in the aisles, according to people who attended.
Released this week, "Becoming Steve Jobs" draws largely on Schlender's multiple meetings and interviews with Jobs during his time covering Silicon Valley for The Wall Street Journal and Fortune. Schlender first met Jobs during the early days of NeXT and was in contact with the tech guru up until his death in 2011.
Unlike previous books focusing on Jobs' life, including Walter Isaacson's official biography, "Becoming Steve Jobs" found an outpouring of support from Apple itself. Numerous executives, including CEO Tim Cook, design chief Jony Ive, among others, contributed interviews to offer a more complete portrait of Jobs, one that goes beyond his well-known public persona.
Along with behind-the-scenes cooperation, Apple prominently featured "Becoming Steve Jobs" on the iBookstore and even included an iTunes preview link on the SoHo Apple Store's retail webpage advertising today's talk.
"Becoming Steve Jobs" is available for $11.99 on Kindle or $19.83 on hardback through Amazon.com and $12.99 on the iBookstore.
Schlender and Tetzeli were featured guests of the SoHo Apple Store's meet and greet series that brings in notable authors, filmmakers, musicians and more to talk about their latest projects. Events are free and open to the public, though some presentations with high profile participants require reservations.
Apple's venue completely filled up for today's discussion, which had the authors reading snippets from the book and answering questions from audience members. Some latecomers were left standing in the aisles, according to people who attended.
Released this week, "Becoming Steve Jobs" draws largely on Schlender's multiple meetings and interviews with Jobs during his time covering Silicon Valley for The Wall Street Journal and Fortune. Schlender first met Jobs during the early days of NeXT and was in contact with the tech guru up until his death in 2011.
Unlike previous books focusing on Jobs' life, including Walter Isaacson's official biography, "Becoming Steve Jobs" found an outpouring of support from Apple itself. Numerous executives, including CEO Tim Cook, design chief Jony Ive, among others, contributed interviews to offer a more complete portrait of Jobs, one that goes beyond his well-known public persona.
Along with behind-the-scenes cooperation, Apple prominently featured "Becoming Steve Jobs" on the iBookstore and even included an iTunes preview link on the SoHo Apple Store's retail webpage advertising today's talk.
"Becoming Steve Jobs" is available for $11.99 on Kindle or $19.83 on hardback through Amazon.com and $12.99 on the iBookstore.
Comments
I'm just about done with it. Amazing book, and there's a ton of new info in here that I hadn't heard before (and I'm not new to Jobs).
Excellent.
I'm looking forward to reading it.
I'm having trouble getting engaged with the book. Thus far it feels so much like the authors' second hand generalizations and aggrandizements, without specific, important information to grab my attention. Other times the detail provided seems irrelevant. I grew up on the Bay Area in parallel with SJ, and the descriptions of the BA feel artificial/crafted, irrelevant/unnecessary. Too wordy is another attribute I would add. Will see how it goes, but so far not impressed.
Good to see conflicting reviews in this thread.
My intuition tells me that this book will be much more complimentary about Steve Jobs, which appeals to me, but will be worse written than Isaacson's, and therefore a duller read.
I did find it interesting that there were no comments from Tony Fadell or Scott Forstall (the latter was was only mentioned 4 times in the book). And the book gives the distinct impression that Tony Fadell didn't really get along with anyone and there's no love for him within the current executive team. I was surprised that once Avie Tevanian left the company Steve basically cut off all contact with him. Clearly Steve was closer to the current executive team than the one that came over after Apple purchased NeXT. And interesting that two of the executives Steve was closest to (Jony Ive and Eddy Cue) were veteran Apple employees not from NeXT and not hired by him.
And you'd be wrong. Schlender goes after him on the poaching agreements, the stock backdating, his abandonment of employees, the agency pricing model, etc.
No, Gruber's in Philadelphia wearing an eyepatch.
I've read so many Steve Job's biographies that I'm starting to think it all happened to me.
And I'll never forgive Sculley for throwing me out of my own company...
I've read so many Steve Job's biographies that I'm starting to think it all happened to me.
And I'll never forgive Sculley for throwing me out of my own company...
I think Sculley's lameness pales compared to Amelio's, who favored licensing Windows NT from Microsoft.
These clowns were your run of the mill, overpaid executives trying to shoehorn conventional business strategies into a struggling Apple, oblivious to everything that made Apple unique. Granted it's easy to make this observation today, with 20/20 hindsight, but to me this underscores just how special Apple is and why companies with loads of talent like Google and Microsoft still don't "get" what makes them successful.
Ah, but at least Gil got everybody on that boat with the hole in it rowing in the right direction...
????
I am generally an Apple "fan", but I am very suspicious of a book that Apple would host a book reading and Q&A for.
Tech writers are not historians or biographers. Something's not right.
Turns out it was Gruber indeed.
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/03/27/schlender-tetzeli-interview
Is that Gruber on stage on the left?
No, Gruber's in Philadelphia wearing an eyepatch.
Actually it is Gruber :
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/03/27/schlender-tetzeli-interview
NY is close enough for him to drive so he doesn't have to fly.
Why was he wearing an eyepatch?