Not sure how but I stumbled upon this recommendation by Brian Armstrong but instantly I added the book to my Audible library.
At the time I was listening to Stanley Kubrick and Me – a book written by Emilio D’Alessandro Stanley’s driver.
As soon as this was done, I immediately started Becoming Steve Jobs.
Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by journalists Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, is the “unauthorized biography” of Steve Jobs.
Before anything I have to clarify that Steve Jobs is one of my personal heroes[1]A personal hero is a person that if I listen to them speak 1 single sentence, I instantly remember why I am in love with what I’m doing. and I devour any kind of content that is available with or by him.
Trust me when I say I saw it all.
From obscure training videos to bad-quality audio interviews forgotten by everyone to the well-known MacWorld events.
It’s hard not to compare this book with Walter Isaacson’s “official” biography and I will admit, I like the latter one waaaaaay more.
1st of all I don’t like that in Becoming Steve Jobs, the author always provides a conclusion for the anecdote presented.
I mean what is the point of this?
This makes it feel to me more like an enumeration of conclusions, rather than an artistic experience.
Another thing I did not like is that there is no focus on the creative process of Steve Jobs, I personally I very interested in this, not to copy, but to see how other people create things.
Truth be told, this was covered in other places, so maybe if it was redundant it would not serve the book.
I really disliked that the author says at the beginning what he is trying to do.
I would have preferred to be surprised by this or figure it out myself.
That being said, I like that there was an emphasis on Steve’s journey, which is very much in tune with the title.
I did like the fact that the author/s a lot of times pointed out that no one is just good or just bad, and the complexity of Steve’s character is one of the most interesting things.
Also, there were quite a few stories that I was not familiar with, the one that stuck with me of course is the one where Steve cries in the parking lot.
To be clear my main critique of the book is that the storytelling sucked donkey balls.
All in all, I enjoyed the book, just that I was expecting to have my socks blown off[2]That’s the expectation i have when I consume art. Always., and my shoes did not even come off, but I would definitely recommend the book to any Steve Jobs fans and even casual enthusiasts.
In the end, I would like to leave you with this short video of Steve, which i think is the best answer to the question What is life about?