It may be sensationalism, but it's necessary in the furthering process of deifying Steve Jobs. Your grandchildren will come and ask you what it was like to live in the time when Steve Jobs walked the Earth slaying sweaty Blue Meanies who lumbered too and fro in the Land of Redmond... "What was it like in the Past before iDevices," your grandchildren will ask? And they will sit patiently as you tell them of a time before Beige Boxes when the Sugar Water Man drove Steve Jobs out of the temple and into the California desert to wander while looking for the NeXT Black Monolith thing... which Steve rode on back into the Temple at One Infinity Way as all the people declared, "Hosanna! Steve hath returned and Nature is set right and Prosperity and Happiness will reign over the Faithful once again." Steve the Grey who was driven out in thunder and lightning is now Steve the White, a much more Focused and Gentle Man, fit to ascend and sit upon a pile of Long Green, the likes of which has not been seen on this Orb since the times of Tea Barons and their Ilk.
To say we missed SJ's on stage charisma and energy would be a huge understatement. he was a genius only came by once across many generations.
Daring Fireball's John Gruber, who was privy to an advance copy of the "Becoming Steve Jobs," said on Monday that it's "the book Steve Jobs that the world deserves," revealing that some of the stories "are going to be sensational."
Oh, this sounds so great. I was taken to task over at TMO for daring to say that Walter Isaacson biography was lacking in depth—and I am sure I read a number of reviews when it came out that suggested the same.
I shall certainly be head of line the day this biography comes out.
Pre-Ordered. A stamp of approval from John Gruber is going to drive sales into the trillions. Well, at least those who are in this arena will read this book. I'm looking forward to additional insights and new stories.
In my little collection, I have The Little Kingdom and The Journey is the Reward, the latter being my favorite book about the young SJ. I read it many years ago and it really changed the way I viewed the world. I admired Jobs' passion for perfectionism and aesthetics.
From the promotional materials, it sounds like all the people who were closest to Jobs in his later years were interviewed at length. Since he didn't write his own autobiography, this is going to be the next best thing.
Isaacson squandered the opportunity of a lifetime with his biography on Jobs.
I'd say he cashed in at the right time and the only compromise was showing himself up as a dishonest hack, which was obviously an acceptable compromise for him. His book sold over 1.5 million copies. If that was ~$10 per copy, that's $15m just from rehashing a lot of old stories and taking petty jabs at Steve and Apple and by latching onto Apple, he's now a go-to guy for the press, which allows him to peddle more of his books:
For an official biography, there should have been more control placed on it because it was wide open for abuse and for someone to do that and profit so much from it by it simply being an official biography and launching just over 2 weeks after Steve died was disgusting. People were still mourning his loss and Isaacson comes out with that book full of anecdotes undermining him.
^ wasn't that partly at Steve's behest though, he wanted a true "warts and all" biography?
The truth of specific anecdotes can obv be disputed, but the fact that negative anecdotes were included doesn't seem like cashing in if it was at the subject's instruction.
In my little collection, I have The Little Kingdom and The Journey is the Reward, the latter being my favorite book about the young SJ. I read it many years ago and it really changed the way I viewed the world. I admired Jobs' passion for perfectionism and aesthetics
The Journey is the Reward is an EXCELLENT book. So many interesting details!
I'd say he cashed in at the right time and the only compromise was showing himself up as a dishonest hack, which was obviously an acceptable compromise for him. His book sold over 1.5 million copies. If that was ~$10 per copy, that's $15m just from rehashing a lot of old stories and taking petty jabs at Steve and Apple and by latching onto Apple, he's now a go-to guy for the press, which allows him to peddle more of his books:
For an official biography, there should have been more control placed on it because it was wide open for abuse and for someone to do that and profit so much from it by it simply being an official biography and launching just over 2 weeks after Steve died was disgusting. People were still mourning his loss and Isaacson comes out with that book full of anecdotes undermining him.
^ wasn't that partly at Steve's behest though, he wanted a true "warts and all" biography?
The truth of specific anecdotes can obv be disputed, but the fact that negative anecdotes were included doesn't seem like cashing in if it was at the subject's instruction.
If you asked someone to write a biography about you, asking for an honest portrayal is fine. Things like abandoning a daughter is an ugly part to the story. You wouldn't expect them to take cheap shots at you. Isaacson recounted some stories with his own interaction with Steve and in the book puts his own point of view forward as the truth. That's hardly impartial. A biographer isn't supposed to write a story like 'here's what I think of Steve'. It's obvious the guy didn't have a clue about Apple and it sounded like he had a personal issue with Steve repeatedly alluding to him crying and his ego. During a talk he said that he had finished his book on Benjamin Franklin, was partly through his Einstein one and Steve had asked him to do his biography next and Isaacson said "my first reaction was 'yeah, you arrogant little... uh... y'know your humility hasn't deepened since our first meeting'".
The book was very poorly written and edited - it reads like a gossip column and rehashed so much material that not only existed elsewhere but was conveyed much better, the author came across like he had an agenda to take Steve down a peg and follow-up interviews reflected this with comments about Apple being out-innovated by their competition. At the times he complimented Steve, it just came across as disingenuous like he reluctantly acknowledged Apple's success came from this guy who he wanted to tarnish. To publish such a poorly edited amateur work little more than 2 weeks after he died to hit the market just as the media spotlight was on Steve demonstrated how little integrity this guy had. Steve respected his work enough to actually pursue him to be the author and he turns round and behaves like that.
Comments
How would he do that?
Time Machine.
Please tell me you regularly backup your Apple CEO's on a regular basis!?!
Haha, didn't get your own joke. That's funny!
Silly question. The copy of him made by Samsung would write it, of course.
Is the book title on the cover in Apple Garamond?
The cover looks pretty good. I'll hold off till I read the reviews first. I don't want to bother if this is another 'Haunted Empire'.
Quote:
Daring Fireball's John Gruber, who was privy to an advance copy of the "Becoming Steve Jobs," said on Monday that it's "the book Steve Jobs that the world deserves," revealing that some of the stories "are going to be sensational."
Oh, this sounds so great. I was taken to task over at TMO for daring to say that Walter Isaacson biography was lacking in depth—and I am sure I read a number of reviews when it came out that suggested the same.
I shall certainly be head of line the day this biography comes out.
Namaste and care,
mhikl
Pre-Ordered. A stamp of approval from John Gruber is going to drive sales into the trillions. Well, at least those who are in this arena will read this book. I'm looking forward to additional insights and new stories.
In my little collection, I have The Little Kingdom and The Journey is the Reward, the latter being my favorite book about the young SJ. I read it many years ago and it really changed the way I viewed the world. I admired Jobs' passion for perfectionism and aesthetics.
From the promotional materials, it sounds like all the people who were closest to Jobs in his later years were interviewed at length. Since he didn't write his own autobiography, this is going to be the next best thing.
I can't wait to read it.
I'd say he cashed in at the right time and the only compromise was showing himself up as a dishonest hack, which was obviously an acceptable compromise for him. His book sold over 1.5 million copies. If that was ~$10 per copy, that's $15m just from rehashing a lot of old stories and taking petty jabs at Steve and Apple and by latching onto Apple, he's now a go-to guy for the press, which allows him to peddle more of his books:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102295918
For an official biography, there should have been more control placed on it because it was wide open for abuse and for someone to do that and profit so much from it by it simply being an official biography and launching just over 2 weeks after Steve died was disgusting. People were still mourning his loss and Isaacson comes out with that book full of anecdotes undermining him.
The truth of specific anecdotes can obv be disputed, but the fact that negative anecdotes were included doesn't seem like cashing in if it was at the subject's instruction.
Probably better than Isaacson's crap - but it does have a "let's milk this a little more" feeling to it, I must say.
The Journey is the Reward is an EXCELLENT book. So many interesting details!
Agreed.
If you asked someone to write a biography about you, asking for an honest portrayal is fine. Things like abandoning a daughter is an ugly part to the story. You wouldn't expect them to take cheap shots at you. Isaacson recounted some stories with his own interaction with Steve and in the book puts his own point of view forward as the truth. That's hardly impartial. A biographer isn't supposed to write a story like 'here's what I think of Steve'. It's obvious the guy didn't have a clue about Apple and it sounded like he had a personal issue with Steve repeatedly alluding to him crying and his ego. During a talk he said that he had finished his book on Benjamin Franklin, was partly through his Einstein one and Steve had asked him to do his biography next and Isaacson said "my first reaction was 'yeah, you arrogant little... uh... y'know your humility hasn't deepened since our first meeting'".
The book was very poorly written and edited - it reads like a gossip column and rehashed so much material that not only existed elsewhere but was conveyed much better, the author came across like he had an agenda to take Steve down a peg and follow-up interviews reflected this with comments about Apple being out-innovated by their competition. At the times he complimented Steve, it just came across as disingenuous like he reluctantly acknowledged Apple's success came from this guy who he wanted to tarnish. To publish such a poorly edited amateur work little more than 2 weeks after he died to hit the market just as the media spotlight was on Steve demonstrated how little integrity this guy had. Steve respected his work enough to actually pursue him to be the author and he turns round and behaves like that.
Hopefully this is actually a good book. Isaacson's book was quite disappointing. No wonder Jony Ive said of it: "my regard couldn't be any lower".
Agreed! I felt Isaacson's was not very well done. I look fwd to reading this biography.