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BOOK REVIEWS Though a virtual icon of the era and the ultimate impresario of product introductions, Jobs was an intensely private person. For his fans, many the intimate details can be as disconcerting as they are revealing. "Jobs found himself equally drawn to the humanities and to a spiritual quest that was the source his sense of the beauty, simplicity and elegance that can be imbued in one's experience of an object or environment." Jobs, the precocious child, would flourish thanks to the unconditional love of his adoptive parents and be grounded though the stable, middle-class environment of his upbringing. Isaacson uncovers telling anecdotes that will prove to have an impact Jobs later life and career. Whether working on old cars or cabinets, Job's father, Paul, was a consummate craftsman. He stressed to his son that even the parts that you can't see, the back of a fence or the inside of a cabinet, should be as polished and perfect as the rest. Along with his passion for electronics and engineering, Jobs found himself equally drawn to the humanities and to a spiritual quest that was the source his sense of the beauty, simplicity and elegance that can be imbued in one's experience of an object or environment. A calligraphy class he audited at Reed College in Portland, Ore., resulted in a love of typography that led Apple to the forefront of desktop publishing. His sense of space is at the root of Apple's retail success. Later on, he found many of these ideas reinforced though the advice of the brilliant advisors and investors that Apple attracted. Mike Markkula stressed that the cover can be as important as the book, and the customer's experience with a product begins the moment he or she starts opening the package. Jobs always had a tendency to think and feel in absolutes; something or somebody was either insanely great or it absolutely sucked. Things would sometimes transform from one to the other, but Jobs would allow no middle ground, no compromise. Jobs freely admits that some of his decisions about products and people turned out to be absolute failures, but takes pride in his ability to quickly affect a remedy. He acknowledged his lack of interpersonal skills, both in business dealings and in his home life. The latter became a source of profound regret. His attitudes towards health, hygiene and nutrition were, to say the least, unique. Isaacson did not sensationalize this very personal side of Jobs, nor did he shy away from it. One of the very few shortcomings in Isaacson's account is the impression that loud, in-your-face conflicts were something unique to Jobs and Apple. In the high-pressure environs of Silicon Valley where days were long and tempers ran short, emotional outbursts and long walks around the parking lot were not at all uncommon. Jobs, however, was a master of these tactics. As is befitting for a book destined for bestseller lists, Isaacson focuses mainly on the personal, social and business aspects of Jobs's life and contributions. The brutal politics and dealings of the tumultuous years of Jobs's ouster from Apple, the rise of NeXT and Pixar and his eventual return to the company he founded are covered in disconcerting detail. The well-told story of Pixar shows another side of Jobs: his ability to recognize, nurture and even protect extraordinary talent. The battle he fought to literally save Pixar from its failure as a computer company and falling victim to Disney's mediocrity was one of the grueling of his career. Pixar's ultimate success makes it one of his most significant victories. Throughout the book, it is obvious that Isaacson is not only an ambitions researcher and tenacious investigator, he is also a gifted storyteller. There are a number of dramatic arcs in Jobs's life (often climaxed by standing ovations at a product introduction) and the author does an extraordinary job of bringing the reader into the frantic excitement of those moments. His accounts of conflict and confrontation may sometimes make you want to shrink quietly out of the room. There are many of us who will be content in our limited understanding of Steve Jobs as an icon, mysterious and untouchable. Learning about Jobs, the person is, at times, extraordinarily uncomfortable. But as a balance, Isaacson has also collected and chronicled a vast number of little known and often under-appreciated achievements. In a sense, as the book topples Jobs from one pedestal, he finds his way onto several others. But more importantly, it will place him across a table in a café or beside you on a long walk down a shaded Los Altos street where you'll learn who he really was rather than simply what he achieved. is an appropriate and valuable coda to the era of "just one more thing…" In the high- pressure environs of Silicon Valley where days were long and tempers ran short, emotional outbursts and long walks around the parking lot were not at all uncommon. Jobs, however, was a master of these tactics. by Walter Isaacson; $35.00 (hardcover), Simon & Schuster (SimonandSchuster.com) 2011; 630 pages, ISBN: 978-1-4516-4853-9 38 MacDirectory S t e v e J o b s S t e v e J o b s