Steve Jobs

By: Walter Isaacson

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Length: 25 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Featuring a new epilogue read by the author.

From the author of the best-selling biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, this is the exclusive biography of Steve Jobs.

Based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs conducted over two years - as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues - Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the 21st century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple's hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.

©2011 Walter Isaacson (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Awesome Narration by Dylan Baker!

What made the experience of listening to Steve Jobs the most enjoyable?

Listening to the story during my commute to work was the most enjoyable part of my ride. For once I didn't mind being in traffic.

Fantastic a true dive into the mind of a Genius!!

What did you love best about Steve Jobs?

The book fully explains his reasoning behind how he designed electronics, how he knew everything that consumers wanted and fought tooth and nail to get everything perfect.

What did you like best about this story?

When he was CEO of both Pixar and Apple juggling the two jobs was huge, he had a long days work.

Have you listened to any of Dylan Baker’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

N/A

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When he fought for Pixar and kept them a float until Disney approached to make a film. Pixar makes the best animated films of all time. Nothing compares to the amazing films that Pixar releases.

Any additional comments?

This book is long, but very interesting and really a story that will make you think differently about Apple products and where Apple came from.

Great insight into the man

What did you love best about Steve Jobs?

As a business owner, I've always been fascinated about Steve Jobs and the giant company he created but I never had any real insight into his actual personality other than the things that the media has mentioned about him.

Listening to his biography gave me a much grater insight into his life, how and why he made certain decisions and why his company grew to the juggernaut that it is today.

The book is well written and narrated. The Narrator is easy to listen to and the story flows quite nicely from beginning to end.

if you're an apple fan, a business owner or lead a group of people in any way shape or form, this book will certainly give you some perspective.

Excellent book.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

the story is very well written, Provides good insight into Steve Jobs, Apple, and the type of tyrannical visionary that he was. definitely worth listening to.

Isaacson's Masterful Biopic on Jobs

Walter Isaacson masterfully recounts the troubled soul and genus of Steve Jobs. Like all of us, Jobs was both a sinner and a saint; and there were those who loved him and those who hated him. After performing a post-modem psychoanalysis of Jobs, many experts believe Jobs suffered from a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and this book supports that conclusion. To put it in laymen's terms, Jobs was a control freak, saw the world in black and white, and was the living antitheist of the Golden Rule. I think Jobs himself put it well when he said, "I'm an a** hole!" Does his genus justify his bad behavior? I'll leave it up to the reader to decide for themselves. As for me I'll quote Jesus, "What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lost his own soul?"

Fantastic Book

Well narrated!! Fantastic book about an amazing innovative man's struggles and triumphs. An incredible leader!

Great story

What did you love best about Steve Jobs?

Very easy listen. Interesting story. Well rounded description of Jobs.

What did you like best about this story?

His relationship with his kids towards the end of his life.

Amazing story ... mediocre reader

I won't go into detail about the content of the book itself -- other reviewers have covered that adequately -- but I'll address the reader.

I generally stick to non-fiction audiobooks because I almost always dislike the way a single reader will deliver a work of fiction. Most non-fiction audiobooks I find enjoyable, or at least listenable. This one is only mediocre; my least favorite of the thirty or so non-fiction books I have heard.

Dylan Baker reads in a sing-song voice that makes the conversations and commentary of those interviewed sound like a kids' book. Everything sounds a little silly. Harsh critiques are inappropriately softened, and painful memories are presented matter-of-factly. The value a human reader can bring to any printed book seems to be lost here, particularly when Baker is reading direct quotes.

Other reviewers noted that Baker's reading was sub-par. I listened to the sample offered by Audible, so I could decide for myself. What I didn't realize is that the sample is from the introduction -- by the author, not the reader. Really, Audible? No one noticed that the sample captured the less than one percent of the book not read by Dylan Baker?

Don't be fooled by the sample. Isaacson does a decent job. He would have been a better choice to read the audiobook.

The come back

The book was excellent and i think its a unique bio. But my opinion is that from part were jobs return to apple onward it was focused on apple products were i wish the author shed more light on jobs relationship with his family.

Great Bio, Better Than Expected

I knew a bit about Jobs and Apple from being a fan of the products and all the news around the time of his death. The book is a really great read. Jobs has a really fascinating life story. From adoption to a legacy that will live for decades and beyond. Hats off to Isaacson, I'll be sure to check out more of his books.