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1-Page Summary of Steve Jobs

Overview

Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, a leading figure in the computer industry and one of the most influential business leaders in recent history, traces his life from childhood to death. In 1976, Jobs founded Apple with a friend in his parents’ garage. Thirty-five years later, after a series of hugely successful product releases that included the iPod and iTunes for digital music players and mobile phones respectively as well as the iPhone and iPad for smartphones and tablets respectively, Apple became the most highly valued company in the world. After leaving Apple, Jobs purchased Pixar Animation Studios where he led it through its most successful period ever until he returned to Apple in 1997 when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Though he continued working long into his illness (he died shortly thereafter), he was eventually forced to resign from his position at CEO by then COO Tim Cook who took over as interim CEO until Jobs’ successor could be found.

This book is a biography of Steve Jobs, who was born in 1955 and died shortly before his resignation as Apple’s CEO. It includes interviews with people close to him, including old friends from college.

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco to parents who were 23 at the time. They gave him up for adoption and he grew up with a middle-class family near Mountain View, California. He didn’t know anything about his biological parents until later in life when he met them by accident. Throughout his life, Jobs felt abandoned by his biological mother and father because they left him as an infant without any explanation. This feeling led to some of the cruel things that Jobs did towards others when he believed they had let him down or abandoned him like his biological parents did.

In the 1970s, Jobs attended high school in Cupertino. There he was exposed to famous poets and musicians, which had a major influence on him. He met Steve Wozniak, who shared his interests in computers and engineering. While in high school, Jobs took LSD for the first time. This experience influenced him greatly.

Steve Jobs was a man who straddled two worlds in high school. He identified with both the literary and music groups, as well as those involved with science and engineering. This theme continued throughout his life and career. After dropping out of Reed College in 1972, he traveled to India to learn more about Hindu spirituality. During this time, he learned that intuition is an important part of understanding people’s needs; it can be more important than logic or analysis. Jobs realized that although he wasn’t exceptionally intelligent, his intuition made him a genius business leader.

In 1975, Steve Wozniak created a computer with a screen and keyboard. That allowed the first time to type letters into a computer and see them appear on the screen. Steve Jobs was very impressed by this invention. Soon after that, he founded Apple Computer with Steve Wozniak as co-founder of Apple Computer Inc., combining his talent for building computers hardware with Jobs’ ability to sell ideas. At that time, Wozniak considered himself as an amateur hobbyist who believed information should be free while Jobs saw it as their creative endeavor which should seek profit if only to keep running their company.

Steve Jobs encouraged his friend Steve Wozniak to build a computer. With Jobs’s help and encouragement, Wozniak built the Apple I computer. The computer was an instant success because it combined monitors, keyboards, and microprocessors in wooden cases. It was sold to friends and local stores that were interested in buying computers.