I’m trying desperately to get back into blogging, it’s been quite some time since I released a constant stream of articles, but things have been so busy, I have about 12 unfinished articles that never quite made it to the light of day. I thought I should try the joggers approach to blogging, I will start doing small blogs and build up again to larger ones.
So what’s the easiest way to get back into blogging? Book review!
iCon has actually taken me about 4 months to read cover to cover, but finally I am at the finishing point.
It’s actually not a bad read, it starts off predictably covering the youth of Steve, which was interesting because I discovered he was very drug influenced in his youth and as an interview question used to ask, “When was the last time you took acid?” definitely one worth bearing in mind for my personal repository of interview questions. Also worth noting is that he had a successive number of “guru’s” in his youth and went to India for a few months and sold everything he had on immediate arrival. Not what I would have expected and actually a little endearing.
Then the book chronicles the business history of Apple, which to be honest is a bit dull. It seems that the young jobs was a bit of a tyrant and willing to double cross anyone he worked with. The Macintosh was in fact Jeff Raskin’s Brainchild and was essentially annexed by Jobs and passed off as his own creation. I think the reality is that Job’s is an awesome marketer with an eye for detail and a personality over reliant on narcissism.
The book continues to detail his business transactions, leaving Apple, buying Pixar and starting NeXt. WHat strikes you about this part of the book is how little information there is about jobs during this stage and how it just looks at what his companies were doing which were essentially failing. The turning point actually comes when he hits about 40 and seems to gain an amazing level of insight and personal control that allow him to take advantage of various different situations and get to the place he is now. You are left with it ending and realizing quite how powerful Jobs has now become, in the computing, entertainment and music industries.
So what did I learn from this book? That icon’s are rarely ever the creatures they are portrayed as.