Steve Jobs (Titans of Business)

By: Nick Hunter
Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree
Publication Date: March 2012
ISBN: 9781432964351
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: January 25, 2012

Steve Jobs – his name is synonymous with the birth of the personal computer and with everything “i” –iphone, ipod, ipad, etc. In this new biography, the reader will learn about the man and the amazing things he achieved in his short life.

Steve Jobs was born in 1955 and adopted as an infant by loving parents who had little money. His father liked to fix old cars but Steve didn’t enjoy getting his hands dirty. In elementary school, his teachers noted that he was bright but not motivated. His grades suffered and he even had one teacher who tried paying him to get him to finish his schoolwork. It wasn’t until a neighbor introduced the young man to electronics that he truly found something that interested him.

Steve met a fellow student who also loved electronics, Stephen Wozniak, and together with a few other friends, they built things and experimented with electronics in their parents’ garages. It was through this experimentation that Apple Computer was eventually born.

This new biography covers the early life of Jobs’ as well as his rise as a giant of the personal computer industry. The young reader will learn why Apple was so unique and why Jobs left the company he founded … and came back. It covers other achievements such as the founding and growth of Pixar Studios and the flop of NeXT. There is also a chapter on “How to be an Entrepreneur” for the young, fledgling entrepreneur, a glossary, index, and “find out more” section.

Steve Jobs is an interesting, easy-to-read biography that doesn’t get bogged down in minutia. It includes numerous quotes, from Jobs and from others. The computer whiz had a reputation for being difficult to work with and the author doesn’t sugar-coat this aspect (although he doesn’t dwell on it either). There are some great pictures to accompany the text, plenty include Jobs and some will bring back long-forgotten memories for those “who were there” (Pong anybody?). Along the way, there are snippets included on what it takes to be an entrepreneur – raising money, building a business, etc. The author is to be commended for pointing out that to be an entrepreneur and really make a difference, a person might fail from time to time. He points out some of Jobs’ flops and notes that he never gave up.

Quill says: An excellent biography of Steve Jobs for the young reader that gives a good overview of the man, the myth, and the history of the personal computer.