Part I: Bibliographic information
Type: Nonfiction
Title: Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different: A Biography
Writer: Karen Blumenthal
Copyright Date: 2012
Publisher: New York: Feiwel and Friends.
ISBN: 9781250015570
Genre/Subgenre: YA Nonficiton/Biography
Interest Age: 13 - 19
Reading Level: Upper grades (9 - 12)
Pages: 310
Awards: TBD
Part I: Plot Summary, Critical Evaluation, Reader’s Annotation
Reader’s Annotation -- This abbreviated and unofficial biography of Steve Jobs, a man whose role in the computer age is hard to overestimate, reveals the inside story of one of America's best-known entrepreneurs. Beginning with his adoption and going through his life as a young person, rising star, success story and rebirthing at Apple, and, ultimately, his death, this book covers most of the bases of a fascinating life lived without regard much tradition.
Plot Summary -- Steve Jobs’ mother was a graduate student who became pregnant by a fellow graduate student from Syria. Her parents did not approve and she chose to head to San Francisco and give the youth man up for adoption. His adoptive parents were working class San Franciscan though his father had an ability to build things. Later they relocated to the San Jose area and young Jobs had mixed success in school. His behavior could be erratic and he was inclined to get involved in pranks. This would follow him to the days when he and Woz figured out how to build a black box that could get one around long-distance phone charges.
Jobs decided -- against his parent's wishes and over their financial limits -- to attend college in Oregon at Reed University but only lasted one semester. He spent most of the year exploring Eastern philosophy -- and practicing the lifestyle with meditation as well as use of mind altering drugs, including marijuana and LSD. He dropped out and traveled in India but landed back in what would become Silicon Valley with a vague vision for making a fortune in electronics. His connection with Woz, who was working at HP, lead to some early successes in creating a computer aimed at hacks. Job landed an order of 50 units for $500 each -- a $25,000 order that would be the start of Apple Computers.
The story continues to explore the complexities of life at Apple during the early corporate years. Jobs had a reputation for being difficult and unbathed. He was also obsessed with design issues. Yet he stuck with the company as its CEO during the critical years that lead up to the introduction of the MacIntosh. We get lots of interesting detail in this section about both the technical innovations involved and the personal dramas of family and relationship that complicate the company’s early days. By 1983, they have serious competition, too, -- from Bill Gates in Seattle mainly. This began a long-standing competition between the two companies that would lead the way for the PC revolution. In the meantime, Jobs had learned to wear shoes and shower more often.
The next phase of his life involves the period after he leave Apple at age 30. Apple later sues him and he heads off to try some other endeavors. He ends up buying Pixar, another big success ultimately; however, there were a lot of years of struggle. Animation became the last refuge. By 1991, he demanded the employees give up their stock in order to keep the company in business. Walt Disney decides to use Pixar to do a full-length feature, a project that would become Toy Story. Shortly thereafter the Internet comes of age and the entire industry is sent on its head -- and Job has another chance to make his mark in ‘interpersonal computing’.
Critical Evaluation -- This work is about a tenth of the amount of information as Walter Isaacson’s biography about Jobs. Yet it feels complete and covers his life from his birth in 1955 to his illness and death in 2011. It’s a remarkable feet, honestly. Additionally, Blumethal does not put back on the detail to the point that there is not story. She takes on the various periods of his life and people involved and weaves them carefully into a comprehensive yet relevant tale of a great man. She also does not hold back on exploring his caustic nature and oddness. We hear about his lack of cleanliness, odd eating habits, willingness to be loose with truth, hard nosed decisions that cut many out while his wealth escalated to enormous. While intended for a young adult market, this biography does not feel overly childish -- it’s quite the contrary, in fact. One wonders if younger teens would have adequate life experience to understand the more complex issues his life story raises. For the older teen, the story offers a real life superhero’s journey from rebellious, anti-establishment youth to the single most important person to contribute to the rise of the digital age.
Part III: Author Info
Karen Blumenthal is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and editor. She writes nonfiction for youth and young adults now. Her background in business and financial matters gave her the tools to analyze the Jobs story with a uniquely keen eye to the intricate dealings that make up his career. She has written a number of other successful nonfiction books for youth and is one of a handful of such writers who call this arena their niche as authors.
“In more than two decades with The Wall Street Journal, she covered retailing, oil and gas, housing, mergers, and bankruptcies, and was Dallas bureau chief for eight years, supervising a dozen reporters covering an eight-state territory. In that role, she coordinated and edited one of the Sept. 11, 2001, stories that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for spot-news reporting,” according to Blumenthal’s website (2013).
Part IV: Curriculum Ties, Diversity, Booktalk Ideas, Challenge Issues
Curriculum Ties, if any -- The best
Diversity of Cultures -- Jobs as an adopted child had been adopted and his birth father was a Syrian graduate student. Wozniak’s family is of Polish-German heritage. The story encapsulates the idea that anyone giving hard work has a shot at making it -- and making it big. While this does not address the issue of diversity head on, the Jobs life story is one of overcoming long odds through determination and hard work.
Booktalking Ideas -- Jobs had some huge hits and embarassing failures during his career. What does this tell us about the path to success? How do we overcome the failures?
Challenge Issues -- Jobs lived a very unconventional life, including smoking pot as a teen and using LSD in his twenties. He never expressed regrets about his lifestyle. He also had several children outside of marriage, and he didn’t take full responsibility. His business ethics include a propensity to take others ideas and make them his own. He was also a not very pleasant individual physically, he seldom bathed, and emotionally, his methods approached verbal abuse. Readers should be aware that this is not a feel good look at his life but a revealing look at a man who was certainly less than perfect.
Part V: Reasons chosen
I’ve read a lot of articles over the years about Wozniak and Jobs. It’s the history of my times and I find it fascinating. I’m not sure the next generation will care as much as I do. But it’s my sense that they should know the history not for its own sake but to realize that individuals -- and not corporations -- made the computer ages what it is. It’s an inspiring thing to know that a couple of guys with an hobby-level interest in electronics made something as all-pervasive as Apple Computers. I think that it’s also an interesting study in business matters ranging from how upstarts are funded, the struggles they face as they grow and the stagnation that can undo years of success. This book has all that and then some -- including some glimpses at Jobs personal and spiritual life that are truly fascinating.
Part VI: Citations
About the author. (2013). Karen Blumenthal’s website. Retrieved from http://www.karenblumenthal.com/about/about.html
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