Books
The second coming of Steve Jobs
Mon, 05/22/2006 - 11:47pm — binford2kFrom the emergence of Apple Computer in the late 1970s and early 1980s to its current resurgence, charismatic leader Steve Jobs has captivated the public. Both revered and reviled for his dictatorial manner and stunning successes, Jobs has transcended his legend in Silicon Valley to take on some of the heaviest hitters in Hollywood.
From the emergence of Apple Computer in the late 1970s and early 1980s to its current resurgence, charismatic leader Steve Jobs has captivated the public. Both revered and reviled for his dictatorial manner and stunning successes, Jobs has transcended his legend in Silicon Valley to take on some of the heaviest hitters in Hollywood. Now, in The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Alan Deutschman presents the most revealing portrait yet of this fascinating, complex character--an in-depth look at the many layers of Steve Jobs, a man who is at turns a brilliant cult figure and an abusive, egomaniacal kid.
This story begins back in 1985 when Jobs was exiled from Apple, and then it goes on to chronicle the rise and fall of his own company, NeXT; the enormous success of Jobs's film animation studio, Pixar; and finally his triumphant return to Apple in the late 1990s, with Jobs taking the title of CEO in January 2000. Displaying an uncanny skill at the negotiation table and an intuitive sense of brilliant design that could capture the public's fascination with products like the iMac, along with a celebrity's ability to command the spotlight, Jobs has been able to catapult himself to the top of the Silicon Valley and Hollywood establishments.
Based on interviews with scores of people--rivals, colleagues, friends--who have worked with Jobs over the years, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs gets under the hood of this extraordinarily complex man: how and why he almost gave up on his career; the details of his negotiations with Disney's Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner, and of the culture clash between Silicon Valley and Hollywood; his methods of leadership, management, creativity, and innovation; his friendship and rivalry with Bill Gates--and much more. In an unsentimental and powerful voice, Deutschman reveals a man who suffered his midlife crisis at thirty, compressing it into just three months; struggled between self-imposed exile and the allure of public life; and became the baby boomer icon who was constantly blurring the lines between businessman, rock star, and beatnik.
The Second Coming of Steve Jobs is a compelling look at an individual who has changed the face of technology and entertainment for the twenty-first century. This candid account of Steve Jobs's tumultuous and provocative career will answer the many questions left unanswered by this incredibly private character who has come to represent the Silicon Valley American dream.
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- pixar
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- apple
- being steve
First off, the writing is terrible. It obviously came from a journalist rather than somebody practiced at making a longer narrative flow well.
That small negativity aside, I loved the book. It picks up just about where the movie Pirates of the Silicon Valley left off, with Steve Jobs being evicted from Apple. It then goes in to fascinating detail about NeXT, a visionary computer who's operating system (NEXTstep) has served as inspiration for many things today, such as WindowMaker and MacOSX. According to the book, Jobs had an opportunity to license NEXTstep to IBM, Dell and others. If he'd done so, the book claims, we'd all be running NEXTstep today and Microsoft would never have hit it big. (Damn you, Steve!)
The next chapter in the book is about Pixar. It describes how Pixar came into being and how Jobs ended up owning it. Jobs was the money behind the operation and people like Ed Catmul were the genius. Eric Sandall and I had opportunity to meet Ed a few weeks ago (thanks, Haven) and he's every bit as nice as described in the book. Jobs, however, was incredibly brutal in the way he milked Pixar for all it was worth when it IPO'd, leaving only a small amount for John Lasseter, the creative genius behind Toy Story, and hardly any for the rest of the employees.
What really made the book were the scores of personal anecdotes about Jobs and others in the industry. There's a great story about Bill Gates getting drunk and prank calling Jobs. There's another story about Jobs and Larry Ellison (CEO of Oracle) tormenting a poor guy named Michael Murdock by tricking him into believing that he had been hired as Apple CEO. (If you follow the Barnes and Noble link below, you'll see that Murdock posted a comment on the book.) One anecdote that I have a hard time believing is the story of Jobs conducting an employment interview with a young woman. He wore loose shorts with no underwear with the obvious results. Just imagine that. You're a young woman going for maybe your first real job, interviewing with Steve Jobs, maybe the most intimidating person in the field, and he's hanging his balls out at you. What exactly do you do?
After reading the book, I'm left with the impression that Steve Jobs is an incredible genius, but is as much of an asshole as is possible for a human being.
I highly recommend this book. I'd be happy to loan it to anyone who wants it. If you'd rather own it yourself, here's a tip. My wife picked it up for a buck at the new dollar store in Moscow.
