Steve Jobs Biography

I’ve been listening to the Steve Jobs biography and even though it’s the first book I’ve listened to without reading the book first, I have to say, I love it! Since I don’t have much to do during the day, sometimes I just browse the internet or just lay in bed and listen to the brains between Apple.

Everyone seems to know that Jobs was a college dropout and that he really hit it big with Apple but it’s interesting to hear how exactly he got there and whom he met along the way. To be honest, Jobs sounds a bit like an overgrown child at times: he was stubborn and temperamental and wasn’t afraid to call people’s work “sh*t” all the time. I was taken aback to hear how rude he was to people and how demanding he was to his employees. He did build a successful company but at what cost?

Walter Isaacson, the author, credits much of Jobs’ behavior to the fact that he always felt a sense of “abandonment” due to being adopted but I found this justification a bit lacking. He was adopted at birth and his parents were always honest with him about the adoption and I thought he overplayed that card a bit. Also, listening to the book really shows the very different culture that was happening in the 70s. Jobs often undertook severe dieting plans and rarely showered. Dropping LSD is common recurrence in the book and Jobs often had a room in his apartment or house dedicated to the drug.

This is the first biography I’ve read (er…well listened to) in a while. Usually I’m not too drawn to the subject although I enjoyed Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey’s autobiographies and when I was younger, “Chinese Cinderella” was one of my favorite books. I look forward to listening to more of Jobs’ life. After all, it’s a 26+ hour audiobook!

In the audiobook, there's a lot of description of Jobs being scruffy with long hair and unkempt beard but it's hard imagining him looking like that whenever I see this cover. I remember the Steve Jobs in his signature black turtleneck and jeans.