I was on a Walter Isaacson kick. I think it was Da Vinci, then Einstein and then Steve Jobs.
I’m a geek. I am, oftentimes, a computer science nerd. I love art, but I also love the history and engineering of technology, and the PC is certainly at the core of that history.
Steve Jobs is/was, to say the least, a complex human being. Ed Katmul, in his book Creativity, Inc thought that Isaacson painted Jobs too harshly. Consequently, I read that book as a counterpoint to this one.
Jobs began his life, cast off by his biological parents, and adopted by a couple who loved him. He rapidly outgrew the conventional and sought perfection in his vision of what the technological world could be. There are moments that come across as harsh, perhaps even cruel, but that doesn’t negate the passion, and I think, deep down, the love that this man held and channeled into his work.
I believe the best we can do for any human being is strive to understand them. Steve Jobs is a great book trying to unpack a man who continues to shape our world.