The holidays were really good -) I just finished the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. My neighbor went to Boston during the long weekend of June 24 and told me this book to thank me for having kept his dog him. This they have adopted the same with me when I was host family pet. She knew that I had my eye on this book since its publication. I did not intend to buy it when it came out, the death of Steve in 2011; I thought there were too many "hype" on the subject and that the book strangely out point. A big marketing move anything! So I resisted the impulse to buy it on the spot while telling me that this was going to be part of my purchases in 2012.
In short, it turns out that this is the only biography that has been approved by Steve Jobs when he confessed himself not having read it. He gave carte blanche to Walter Isaacson; his wife Laurene Powell Jobs too. I must say that I particularly liked the book. I read it in English so I do not know what the translation is, but it is really well built, complete and instead of just the facts relate that one enters into the character's skin and you find yourself wondering what that we would have done in his place. In so here's a summary, knowing that I have brought my own perception and that it is not objective. In fact I am not speaking of facts in their chronology but simply what attracted me or not. This is not a complete account but this article sums up the book and the conclusions I have drawn on Steve Jobs and his work.
For those who were hidden under a (very big) rock for the past 40 years, Steve Jobs is the founder of Apple Inc., the company pioneering and completely revolutionary who put in the hands of hundreds of millions of ordinary people like you and I very high quality products with a futuristic design; well maybe less now than we are used but I will never forget the awe in which I was diving when I found the range of Apple products. It really began with the Apple II and it tumbled down with the Mac and the iPod, the iPad and the iPhone, not to mention the marketing of key dates of iTunes, Apps and Apple Stores. He was also the founder of NeXT, which unfortunately came to a premature end, but that allowed him to return to Apple after being ousted, and he was at the head of Pixar, the animation company that has produces absolutely brilliant films such as "Toy Story," "A bug life", "Nemo"
and so on of the best.
This book summarizes the life of Steve Jobs early to an end without making any complacency. I was surprised to learn that Steve was an intolerant person as to him than to the other, cruel and insensitive appearance. He was known for his temper tantrums and particularly wild way to dismiss employees bluntly, with a strong use of vulgar words frankly. Employees who were particularly vulnerable psychologically started from themselves. Steve wanted to keep only the cream of the crop, there was no dead wood in its ranks. He undertook himself the task. On the other hand he had an unexpected sensitivity. He would sometimes cry in public, both in pain and rage by this at all ages of life. The desire for perfection and real love he brought to the products he conceived led him to work and to work hard and merciless his people and his own neurons.
He had a very complex and very strong personality. He always had, going back to his childhood, big problems with authority. He never got diplomas because it did not follow the curriculum as they were imposed. He followed the course he liked it and when it was trying, rare and even exceptional, the prestigious Reed College had agreed that he would attend the courses without charge after he dropped courses after less one year. It was declared a major consumer of LSD.
His parents adopted at birth and do not have hidden it. Therefore, even if it has been loved and supported throughout his life by his adoptive parents he has always considered its legal parents, he always kept his injury, that of having been abandoned. He later returned to his biological mother and her half-sister, but never wanted to see her father. The irony is that he even tried to deny the paternity of his first daughter, Lisa, before accepting. His relationship with Lisa's mother has always been high; even with his daughter, who nonetheless agreed to renew ties towards the end of his life. He was never a very present father with his three other children; one with whom he got along best was his son, Reed.
Very negotiator and great manipulator he could just as well that insulting cuddle. He had an innate need to control everything. When I say all, the word encompasses much reality. He was obsessive and as something was not as perfect as he heard it he pushed his team to the extreme. It has always jealously guarded and Apple refused we clone the operating system or product belonging to the company, pushing the concept to remove the possibility of opening the boxes containing circuits by hiding or creating that only Apple Authorised repairers are able to detect. By the way, have you ever tried to open an iPod or iPhone? For him the world, whether you are a developer, marketer, president or restaurateur, consisted of "bozos" or "As". It happened that one passes from "bozo" to "As" or "Have" to "bozo" in the same day. A priori all the ideas we could bring him were "zero" until long as there reflect. He was also known to grab the ideas of others. At the end of his life the people who remained with him still were those who really knew. Indeed, it seems that once they had put his ego aside and we were able to pass over the waves of insults and malice with which he could attack you when he was angry or frustrated, Steve became more approachable.
Most big decisions he ever made were made on long marches in which he involved the people he trusted, or he needed. So to deal with Steve Jobs had to prepare for long walks in the streets, parks and hills of San Francisco.
He was a genius, a true and had many demons. Read his biography made me think of Baudelaire's Albatros. It was a misfit, too ahead of its time, impatient and obsessive perfectionist. It is marrying, late in his life, he began to accept furnish his house. Until then he had only some furniture and people had to sit on the floor when they came to see. When its food problems, they were also legions. Steve was a vegetarian since adolescence but he also had phases where he became "vegan" is to say that it no longer consuming any product from animals such as eggs, the milk. He swung himself and became frutivore could spend several days in fasting altogether, or only eat the same food for weeks time. Apple or carrot returned regularly in his diet.
He must frankly be very difficult to live. An absolutely intractable dog character. His pancreatic cancer was diagnosed early, had he agreed to have surgery right away instead of ignoring the situation for 9 months and trying diets and other fairly controversial methods it might be even among today but of course we will never know.
This is the only president to have been stripped of his own company and then back up so that it becomes the icon of the early twenty-first century. It is also the only president to have been paid a symbolic sum of $ 1 per year for years. His only "indulgence" was to build and charter a plane he used for his personal needs. As for the rest, he insisted to build his plane according to his plans, and was interested to detail, to the door knobs.
Obviously this was one of the richest men in the world, or at least about to become one, but wealth does not really interested. The money was never his main motivator. What really interested, hard worker he was, was the quality and perfection of the finished product.
When you take an iPod in his hands understandably countless hours he and the people around him could go to think, rethink, refine, repeaufiner design, functionality ... We can understand that when we live currently. Seriously, an Apple product is one of the best finished product on the market right now. The materials are first quality, workmanship is exemplary ... usability is almost demonic. When buying an Apple product is a bit his legacy that we receive, his love of the product right the perfect design.
Apple products are intuitive and beautiful. I have more and more trouble to use a laptop for my personal needs. I lack patience when I use Windows, which in my eyes is only a pale reflection of what Apple designers created.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have always had a natural rivalry, the two are radically different. One sought profit while the other sought the perfection of the product. Steve had very little respect for Bill, who returned it well. But towards the end of his life they found themselves and have been able to discuss, even if they do agree on almost nothing. They admired each other for their respective talents. The business man vs cold impulsive artist.
Steve had an impressive ability to convince people to do things they did not intend to do, including some of the things they were never to be able to do. His team and the people who knew him well were suspicious of his persuasion techniques, they were calling his field of "distortion of reality." Around him everything was possible, even what was absolutely impossible, and even less in the required time. Yet they succeeded, against all odds. They were on the morning of launch, completely dazed and surprised by their own exploits.
Steve Jobs was a magician, an artist, a creator. He managed, which is a real tour de force to work artists / designers and engineers together. It was the bridge between the world of creation and art with the technology, that no company president has ever managed to do, or taken the time to do. This is someone I really admire; I am grateful for what he created but I never wanted to work with him or her, let alone live in his entourage.
Thank you Steve Jobs.
For those who were hidden under a (very big) rock for the past 40 years, Steve Jobs is the founder of Apple Inc., the company pioneering and completely revolutionary who put in the hands of hundreds of millions of ordinary people like you and I very high quality products with a futuristic design; well maybe less now than we are used but I will never forget the awe in which I was diving when I found the range of Apple products. It really began with the Apple II and it tumbled down with the Mac and the iPod, the iPad and the iPhone, not to mention the marketing of key dates of iTunes, Apps and Apple Stores. He was also the founder of NeXT, which unfortunately came to a premature end, but that allowed him to return to Apple after being ousted, and he was at the head of Pixar, the animation company that has produces absolutely brilliant films such as "Toy Story," "A bug life", "Nemo"
and so on of the best.
This book summarizes the life of Steve Jobs early to an end without making any complacency. I was surprised to learn that Steve was an intolerant person as to him than to the other, cruel and insensitive appearance. He was known for his temper tantrums and particularly wild way to dismiss employees bluntly, with a strong use of vulgar words frankly. Employees who were particularly vulnerable psychologically started from themselves. Steve wanted to keep only the cream of the crop, there was no dead wood in its ranks. He undertook himself the task. On the other hand he had an unexpected sensitivity. He would sometimes cry in public, both in pain and rage by this at all ages of life. The desire for perfection and real love he brought to the products he conceived led him to work and to work hard and merciless his people and his own neurons.
He had a very complex and very strong personality. He always had, going back to his childhood, big problems with authority. He never got diplomas because it did not follow the curriculum as they were imposed. He followed the course he liked it and when it was trying, rare and even exceptional, the prestigious Reed College had agreed that he would attend the courses without charge after he dropped courses after less one year. It was declared a major consumer of LSD.
His parents adopted at birth and do not have hidden it. Therefore, even if it has been loved and supported throughout his life by his adoptive parents he has always considered its legal parents, he always kept his injury, that of having been abandoned. He later returned to his biological mother and her half-sister, but never wanted to see her father. The irony is that he even tried to deny the paternity of his first daughter, Lisa, before accepting. His relationship with Lisa's mother has always been high; even with his daughter, who nonetheless agreed to renew ties towards the end of his life. He was never a very present father with his three other children; one with whom he got along best was his son, Reed.
Very negotiator and great manipulator he could just as well that insulting cuddle. He had an innate need to control everything. When I say all, the word encompasses much reality. He was obsessive and as something was not as perfect as he heard it he pushed his team to the extreme. It has always jealously guarded and Apple refused we clone the operating system or product belonging to the company, pushing the concept to remove the possibility of opening the boxes containing circuits by hiding or creating that only Apple Authorised repairers are able to detect. By the way, have you ever tried to open an iPod or iPhone? For him the world, whether you are a developer, marketer, president or restaurateur, consisted of "bozos" or "As". It happened that one passes from "bozo" to "As" or "Have" to "bozo" in the same day. A priori all the ideas we could bring him were "zero" until long as there reflect. He was also known to grab the ideas of others. At the end of his life the people who remained with him still were those who really knew. Indeed, it seems that once they had put his ego aside and we were able to pass over the waves of insults and malice with which he could attack you when he was angry or frustrated, Steve became more approachable.
Most big decisions he ever made were made on long marches in which he involved the people he trusted, or he needed. So to deal with Steve Jobs had to prepare for long walks in the streets, parks and hills of San Francisco.
He was a genius, a true and had many demons. Read his biography made me think of Baudelaire's Albatros. It was a misfit, too ahead of its time, impatient and obsessive perfectionist. It is marrying, late in his life, he began to accept furnish his house. Until then he had only some furniture and people had to sit on the floor when they came to see. When its food problems, they were also legions. Steve was a vegetarian since adolescence but he also had phases where he became "vegan" is to say that it no longer consuming any product from animals such as eggs, the milk. He swung himself and became frutivore could spend several days in fasting altogether, or only eat the same food for weeks time. Apple or carrot returned regularly in his diet.
He must frankly be very difficult to live. An absolutely intractable dog character. His pancreatic cancer was diagnosed early, had he agreed to have surgery right away instead of ignoring the situation for 9 months and trying diets and other fairly controversial methods it might be even among today but of course we will never know.
This is the only president to have been stripped of his own company and then back up so that it becomes the icon of the early twenty-first century. It is also the only president to have been paid a symbolic sum of $ 1 per year for years. His only "indulgence" was to build and charter a plane he used for his personal needs. As for the rest, he insisted to build his plane according to his plans, and was interested to detail, to the door knobs.
Obviously this was one of the richest men in the world, or at least about to become one, but wealth does not really interested. The money was never his main motivator. What really interested, hard worker he was, was the quality and perfection of the finished product.
When you take an iPod in his hands understandably countless hours he and the people around him could go to think, rethink, refine, repeaufiner design, functionality ... We can understand that when we live currently. Seriously, an Apple product is one of the best finished product on the market right now. The materials are first quality, workmanship is exemplary ... usability is almost demonic. When buying an Apple product is a bit his legacy that we receive, his love of the product right the perfect design.
Apple products are intuitive and beautiful. I have more and more trouble to use a laptop for my personal needs. I lack patience when I use Windows, which in my eyes is only a pale reflection of what Apple designers created.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have always had a natural rivalry, the two are radically different. One sought profit while the other sought the perfection of the product. Steve had very little respect for Bill, who returned it well. But towards the end of his life they found themselves and have been able to discuss, even if they do agree on almost nothing. They admired each other for their respective talents. The business man vs cold impulsive artist.
Steve had an impressive ability to convince people to do things they did not intend to do, including some of the things they were never to be able to do. His team and the people who knew him well were suspicious of his persuasion techniques, they were calling his field of "distortion of reality." Around him everything was possible, even what was absolutely impossible, and even less in the required time. Yet they succeeded, against all odds. They were on the morning of launch, completely dazed and surprised by their own exploits.
Steve Jobs was a magician, an artist, a creator. He managed, which is a real tour de force to work artists / designers and engineers together. It was the bridge between the world of creation and art with the technology, that no company president has ever managed to do, or taken the time to do. This is someone I really admire; I am grateful for what he created but I never wanted to work with him or her, let alone live in his entourage.
Thank you Steve Jobs.
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