Description

Steve Jobs is often remembered through the objects that carried his name: the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. Yet the story of his life cannot be reduced to a row of celebrated products. It is the story of an adopted child in California, a restless student who left college, an entrepreneur who was expelled from his own company, and a man who repeatedly returned to the difficult work of beginning again.

This biography follows Jobs from the family that raised him to the friendships and environments that gave shape to his imagination. It considers the ambition behind Apple, the failures that forced him into exile, and the second act through which he changed not only computing but music, film, communication, and the expectations people brought to the objects in their hands.

Jobs was neither a simple hero nor a simple villain. He could be magnetic, impatient, generous in his attention and severe in his judgment. The same refusal to accept mediocre work that inspired colleagues could also hurt the people nearest to him. A truthful account must make room for both sides. His achievements matter, but so do the costs of his methods.

The chapters that follow are written as a narrative biography. They seek to place familiar moments in their human setting: a garage in Los Altos, a college campus in Oregon, a small electronics club, a young industry still unsure of what a computer could become. Before there was an Apple empire, there was a boy learning that machines could be understood, taken apart, and made better.