Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The biography of Steve Jobs is a study in how a complete asshole can nevertheless be a powerful force for good in the world. It is also a study in successful executive management and business leadership. Jobs was not an engineer; he did not personally design or build any of the hardware or software at Apple…yet the amazing products that Apple developed were indisputably his creations and never would have happened without him. Steve Wozniak created the first Apple computer, yet as he himself admitted, it was Steve Jobs who created Apple and made it the wonder that it was. This book amply illustrates what I call the House Paradox (after the television show “House” about the brilliant doctor): that it is possible to be a force for good by being good at what you do even if you are a horrible human being. Isaacson argues that Jobs as a visionary entrepreneur belongs in the company of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, and this thesis is hard to contest. Not a nice guy…but a great man.