Finished "Steve Jobs", A few thoughts...

So I FINALLY finished Steve Jobs the biography written by Walter Isaacson. I say finally because it sprawled over almost 600 pages and when I read non-fiction, particularly the lengthy variety, I have a tendency to get bogged down and for it to start to feel like I'm slogging through to the finish line.  This is purely a indictment of the way I read and consume things than any statement about the prose or subject matter. In any case I'm done now and here's a few thoughts.

I read the vast majority of the book on my iPad and write this now on my MacBook Air. However, in an amusingly ironic turn of events I started reading in the dark by candlelight. It was the midst of the October storm here in New England and I had been without power for about 24 hours with no sign of it returning. Earlier in the day I had finished the Kindle book I'd been reading earlier in the day and wanted to start something new but without internet access couldn't download anything. I purchased the hardcover book as a memento and so I lit a candle and made it through about the first 60 pages that night. The irony could not be escaped, reading about one of the most prolific technology figures and stories in history...by literal candlelight!

Overall I found the read enjoyable particularly being a fan of the early personal computer era and the dynamic between Apple/Microsoft/IBM in those early days.  It's a fascinating time in technology and history and Isaacson does a good job and providing a summary for those readers who might not be as familiar with the time and events. I would have to say though that I agree with the criticism of others that the book doesn't tread a whole lot of new truly uncovered ground. I had already heard a lot of the stories and anecdotes either online, or other tributes, or history of Apple. Perhaps that is a consequence of the material being fresh and having lived through, while not all, much of it certainly the rebirth of Apple.

It also seems that some who've read it have come away feeling conflicted. There is a line that Jobs uses with a columnist about to publish what he perceives to be an unflattering expose on him he says something to the effect of "So you've discovered I'm an asshole, why is that news?"  I wonder if some of the problem people have with seeing how the sausage is made is that it is uncomfortable. Most Apple products are perceived as objects of beauty or joy. In truth though a lot of pain and torment was suffered by those who brought us these products. I have to wonder if part of the issue isn't that we no more want to look at an iPhone and think of the engineer who was made to cry, or fired, etc. than we want to look at our jeans and think of the child in a factory who might have made them.

I think we also know deep inside that while it offends societal norms such dazzling products and advancements could not have come without and equal level of both sacrifice but also dazzling levels of ruthlessness, control and arrogance.  Thinking about this made me remember and old episode of the original "Star Trek."  In the episode there is a transport accident (isn't there always? hehe) involving Captain Kirk. The accident results in two Kirks one the "evil/ruthless" side and the other the "good/compassionate." The "evil" side ends up being confined to the brig, I think, while the "good" side attempts to resume command of the Enterprise. Unfortunately the purely good side is paralyzed as a leader unable to make decisive decisions, etc.  It's an age old idea but we simple aren't ourselves without the flaws. For all the criticism I have to wonder if a similar situation had happened to Jobs what would Apple products look like? Could there ever have been an Apple at all? 

One thing that the story of Jobs has done is made me think a lot about my own life, place in the world, what I'm doing, etc.  Perhaps some of that is that I'm right now essentially the age Jobs was when he was ousted from Apple and decided to start NeXT.  After leaving Apple he talks about how he's 30 and needs to make sure he keeps making and impact on the world. I suspect most of us would be pretty content with having created and entire industry and a billion dollar company, but hey. Equally inspiring/thought provoking is of course the unequaled Stanford Commencement Address with lines like "don't settle" and don't live anyone else's dream, etc.  

It isn't long before you start asking questions like: "Have I settled?", "What is my dream?", "Who's dream am I living?" Perhaps that only serves to connect the story of Steve once again so directly with Apple, both have always challenged the status quo, traditional way of thinking, and made us question ourselves for the better. In other words of course to "think different." If the story, life and work of Steve Jobs inspires people to keep doing that I suspect future is bright both for Apple and in general. I hope that is a legacy which would have produced one of Jobs' perhaps rare but wry smiles.