Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson: Response

Steve Jobs was not the  man that I thought he was.  Honestly, I didn't know about Steve Jobs before his passing.  I am not the owner of many Apple products.   I had heard of Bill Gates and his clear absence of people skills.  As I began reading, I understood that this man  was probably going to be the same as Gates.  In Jobs' high school he was the odd man out, and  but many famous people are bullied or picked on when they were younger.  However, by the end of the sixth chapter I understood that this man was no longer socially awkward.  He was a somebody.

The first thought of Jobs being a man was when he started using drugs.  As a motivational speaker or a role model many people do not choose to have that part of their life exposed.  Then if they do actually admit it then it is seen as a regret and shameful action they had partaken in. However, in the book, Jobs admitted to doing it, a lot.  Then in one paragraph they mentioned that LSD was the reason why there were so many new and great technologies that littered the market.  Those who took it thought and different way.  They thought of things that no one had though they needed.  The author, Isaacson, did a good job in not having an underlying message of advocacy towards taking LSD.

I found it interesting that many of the negative things were brought up, as they should be.  Jobs told Isaacson that nothing was off limits in his life.  That included his screaming therapy, drug usage, parental ties. Jobs had a rough childhood because of the adoption.  Even though his adoptive parents told him that he was adopted and gave him his confidence boosting, he grew unstable.  Sometimes I wonder if he felt the way towards his parents because of their education limitations.  Once you find a weakness to someone, then you lose respect for that person and authority.  It didn't help that his adoptive parents would give him his way most of he time.

Despite all of the negative things in his life Jobs' will grow up to have one of the best corporations in the world. I was shocked that early on there were skeletons the closet, but because of them, it makes the book all the more interesting and enticing.  Jobs is a borderline jerk.  I have mixed feelings about him.  There are times when I want to dislike him and then there are other times when I want to say he is a hero, yet there is no evidence of why I make him out to be a hero.  Its as though I cannot imagine the man who made created Mac and Apple ware was a jerk.