Steve Jobs biography: the full review

Some two weeks after downloading a copy of the highly anticipated Steve Jobs biography, V3 finally finished the 600-page epic.

Our initial thoughts on the opening pages were positive. They detail Jobs' upbringing and friendship with Steve Wozniak, and the rest of the book didn't disappoint, offering a wealth of anecdotes and insight into Jobs and his tumultuous life.

Jobs was, it's well known, something of a perfectionist. The book reveals time and again just how manic this perfectionism could be, with Jobs tearing people apart for the slightest design fault and insisting on absolute control on all aspects of production.

Many former colleagues interviewed by author Walter Isaacson recounted this criticism with a sense of injustice that Jobs had to be so ruthless, yet they all admit that his leadership helped them produce some of their best work.

It's a testament to Jobs that, despite his fiercely outspoken personality, he was able to build loyal, dedicated teams that developed some of the most compelling and unique technology products ever produced.

For many, the most interesting chapters will be those that discuss these products, as Jobs and his team, notably Jony Ive who Jobs describes as his "spiritual partner", developed the products that made Apple the most valuable company in the world: the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Jobs is often derided as a trumped up marketing guru, yet the book dispels that myth, explaining, for example, that it was Jobs who hit on the idea of producing an iPod with no screen, which subsequently became the hugely popular iPod Shuffle.

Thankfully, Jobs also saw that the iPod scroll wheel was not a viable system for operating a phone and that a touch-screen device - without a stylus ("God gave us 10 styluses") - was the way to go.

Product genius or not, Jobs was certainly not your everyday chief executive, regularly bursting into tears at the end of fights over product or design issues, insisting on a series of bizarre dietary habits, and with terrible personal hygiene in his early years.

But the book really shines when Jobs' unfiltered voice comes through, offering telling insights on Apple, business negotiations, rivals, friends and family. Isaacson has done a great job of balancing these moments without letting Jobs' voice become too dominant.

Ultimately, the book offers a fascinating insight into Jobs and his role in turning Apple into the world leading firm it is today, and will be of great interest to anyone with more than a passing interest in Apple and its 'God-like' leader.

The Steve Jobs biography is published by Little Brown and is available now.

07 Nov 2011