This biography, based on more than 40 interviews with Steve Jobs and over 100 interviews with family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues, provides a riveting story of Jobs' roller-coaster life and intense personality. It highlights his passion for perfection, his ferocious drive, and how he revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. The book explores Jobs' contradictions, his 'reality distortion field,' and the lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values that can be drawn from his life and career.
Inside Steve's Brain delves into the intellectual processes and leadership strategies of Steve Jobs, highlighting his focus on innovation, perfectionism, and control. The book provides insights into Apple's product development and Jobs' approach to business, including his emphasis on hiring top talent and creating seamless user experiences. It also explores Jobs' personal struggles and the impact on Apple's future.
This book provides a rich and revealing account of Steve Jobs' life, drawing on exclusive access to his family, former inner circle executives, and top people at Apple, Pixar, and Disney. It humanizes Jobs by explaining his behavior and highlighting his growth from a brash founder to a mature and effective leader. The narrative includes stories never told before and offers a fresh perspective on Jobs' career, particularly his time at NeXT and Pixar, and his return to Apple. The authors, who had close relationships with Jobs, detail how he learned to trust his inner circle, became more patient, and developed a more mature management style, ultimately transforming the daily life of billions of people.
This book is an updated version of Michael Moritz's 1984 classic, 'The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer.' It tells the story of Apple's first decade alongside the histories of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The book brings readers inside the childhood homes of Jobs and Wozniak, records how they dropped out of college and founded Apple in 1976, and follows the fortunes of the company through the mid-1980s. The new material tracks the development of Apple to the present and offers an insider’s profile of Jobs, whose genius made Apple the powerhouse it is today. The book provides detailed insights into the early days of Apple, including the personal histories of its founders and key players like Mike Scott, Mike Markkula, and Rod Holt[2][4][5].
This book provides a deeply reported and vividly drawn portrait of how Amazon expanded exponentially since the publication of Stone's previous book, 'The Everything Store'. It covers the invention of novel products like Alexa, the disruption of countless industries, and the significant growth of Amazon's workforce and valuation. The book also delves into the evolution of Jeff Bezos, from a geeky technologist to a disciplined billionaire with global ambitions, and explores the trade-offs between efficiency and market dominance.
This book provides a sweeping narrative of the inventors, engineers, and entrepreneurs who have given the world computers and the Internet. It begins with Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer, and continues through the contributions of Alan Turing, Vannevar Bush, John von Neumann, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Tim Berners-Lee, and Larry Page, among others. Isaacson emphasizes the importance of collaboration and teamwork in driving innovation, showing how these visionaries built upon and improved the accomplishments of previous generations.
In 'Insanely Simple,' Ken Segall delves into the culture and strategies that made Apple a leader in innovation. The book highlights Steve Jobs' relentless pursuit of simplicity, which was a key factor in Apple's success. Segall shares personal anecdotes and stories from his time working with Jobs, contrasting Apple's approach with that of other companies like Dell and Intel. He emphasizes the importance of small groups of smart people, minimal bureaucracy, and the power of simplicity in achieving clarity and efficiency. The book provides valuable insights into how simplicity can be a driving force for success in any organization.
Swimming Across is a poignant memoir by Andrew S. Grove, detailing his childhood in Budapest, Hungary, amidst the Nazi occupation and subsequent Communist regime. The book recounts his experiences growing up in a secular Jewish family, facing anti-Semitism, and eventually escaping to the West during the Hungarian uprising of 1956. Grove's story is a testament to resilience and courage, offering a vivid portrait of a tumultuous period in history.
In 'Creative Selection,' Ken Kocienda offers a detailed look at Apple's software development process during his 15-year tenure at the company. The book focuses on the 'creative selection' process, a method of iterative development through continuous demos and feedback. Kocienda shares stories of his work on key products like the iPhone, iPad, and Safari web browser, and discusses the essential elements of innovation at Apple, including inspiration, collaboration, craft, diligence, decisiveness, taste, and empathy. The book provides insights into the working culture and decision-making processes under Steve Jobs' leadership.
In 'Total Recall,' Arnold Schwarzenegger shares his life story in his signature larger-than-life style. The book chronicles his early life in Austria, his rise to fame as a bodybuilding champion, his successful career in Hollywood, and his tenure as the Governor of California. It highlights his immense ambition, tenacity, and business acumen, making him one of the greatest immigrant success stories of our time.
This biography provides a fresh perspective on Lucille Ball's life, from her early struggles to her success as a television pioneer. It explores themes such as her childhood, marriage to Desi Arnaz, and her groundbreaking career in comedy. The book is filled with photos and illustrations, making it a visually engaging read.
What I learned from reading Inside Steve's Brian by Leander Kahney.
----
Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here.
----
1. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don't take the time to do that.
2. He remade Apple in his own image. Apple is Steve Jobs with ten thousand lives.
3. I'm looking for a fixer-upper with a solid foundation. Am willing to tear down walls, build bridges, and light fires. I have great experience, lots of energy, a bit of that 'vision thing' and I'm not afraid to start from the beginning.
4. Good storytelling lasts for decades. I don't think you'll be able to boot up any computer today in 20 years. But Snow White has sold 28 million copies, and it's a 60-year-old production.
5. Jobs has said the starting point is the user experience.
6. In everything I've done it really pays to go after the best people in the world.
7. My dream is that every person in the world will have their own Apple computer. To do that, we've got to be a great marketing company.
8. Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.
9. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're not going to survive. You're going to give it up. So you've got to have an idea or a problem you're passionate about; otherwise you're not going to have the perseverance to stick it through. I think that's half the battle right there.
10. The older I get, the more I'm convinced that motives make so much difference. Our primary goal here is to make the world's best PCs—not to be the biggest or the richest.
----
Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here.
----
“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
Founders 
