Book Review: Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson is a fascinating look at the life of a genius. Much has been written in homage and tribute to a man who will be listed with Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison as a major contributor to life as we know it. Jobs died too young and yet his Apple legacy will live on and flourish.

Mr.Isaacson was given unprecedented access to interview Jobs himself, people who influenced Jobs and were influenced by him, review photos and data, and finally write a very unedited portrait of Steve Jobs. Isaacson, obviously admired the man, and yet he gives a very unvarnished picture of an egomaniac jerk, who could inspire many, and demand absolute perfection. There are a lot of unflattering scenes and incidents, and yet they add up to give a full image of Steve Jobs.

I was fascinated, repulsed, and in awe of Steve Jobs based on this book. I saw him speak once out in Silicon Valley. I don't remember the speech. I don't know that I fully comprehended what the heck he talked about. However, he was a commanding presence in his black shirt, his thin reedy voice speaking without notes, his enthusiasm for the subject, and his utter confidence, intellect, and magnetism. This was the Steve Jobs that took Apple to a high level, was basically fired from his own company, founded NeXt, gave a new lease on life to Pixar, re-took Apple, and zoomed it to dizzying heights with the iPod, iPhone, iTunes, iPad, and ultimately more iProduct that we didn't know we needed.

The book is well written, thoroughly researched, and compelling. Steve Jobs, the man, was totally nuts from a "normal" perspective. Steve Jobs, the genius, was awesomely amazingly on a whole other level from "normal", and we - the human race - have benefited.

RIP, Steve Jobs. You are probably driving God and Heaven crazy with a re-design.

E-Reader Epiphany

Price cuts for e-readers. It's war and I'm still in the paper world. However, I thought I'd comment on something I know nothing about.

I'm a late adopter on most technology. Gasp, I still don't own a cell phone and it's almost become a talking point of amusement to not have one. I will someday. I just don't choose to throw my money at some provider who's giving me the privilege of constantly saying, "Huh?", "What?", and "Call me back", or just hear a plain "click,silence". Did my friend fall off the cliff? Oh, it was just the black hole of Luna and I635.

Anyway, back to e-readers. As a writer, this is a huge, huge publishing conundrum. Should I write for the e-market? Or are the key dollars still in hardcore paper publishing? Tough to say and I've read a ton on the subject with no conclusions.

Amongst friends, some love, love, love their Kindle,et al and download everything. Others say, "It's great for a trip, but when home I stick with old fashioned sales from Half-Price Books or free material from the library." I personally do not like to download and read on the computer. I have not tried any of the e-readers, but the concept doesn't thrill me yet. I truly get tired of being on a computer all day at work. My desire to point and click is nil by 5 pm.

Other friends have e-readers and the novelty has worn off. They are back to tangible books. Another had a Nook, was excited to get her Nook, and after two weeks returned it - not so thrilled after the trial shot. And she's a super duper reader.

The jury is still out from what I understand. Pricing for actual e-books is still up in the air. Recording sales, piracy issues, and the whole cutting up the market segment pie is worrisome to publishers. Apple and the iPad lurk - appealing to younger market trendsetters, it can literally upset the cart.

I'm reading every article (on old fashioned news print) and seeing what shakes out. I just wish I'd bought Amazon stock and Apple stock a long, long, long, long time ago.