Steve Jobs

March 5, 2012
Framing her work around the themes of a lauded commencement speech that “technology rock star” Jobs delivered to Stanford University’s class of 2005, Blumenthal crafts an insightful, balanced portrait of the enigmatic man whose life was cut short by illness in 2011. The book chronicles Jobs’s boyhood passions for technology, simplicity, and design that led to his rocky tenures with the technology company he helped create, was fired from, and returned to and led to the heights of its success. Readers receive a primer in technological advances, including the mathematics of animation, as well as Jobs’s vision for product design and marketing innovation. Blumenthal relates accounts of Jobs’s eccentric hygiene and eating habits, his infamous tantrums and tirades in the workplace, and his harsh treatment of colleagues, loved ones, and friends. However, his charisma often won the day, and commentary from Jobs and his wife, given near the end of his life, help soften the picture. Numerous b&w photographs and sidebars appear, and an author’s note, technology time line, glossary, index, and bibliography give this volume extra polish. Ages 12–up. Agent: Ken Wright, Writers House.

xebubyzejoraha - The name of my biography is called Steve Jobs The Man Who Thought Different. The author of this book is Karen Blumenthal, Who is also the illustrator. It is about Steve Jobs' life and how he made modern technology. As a child, he had many challenges, but when he grew older, he had even more.Steve Jobs was the man who thought different, he saw the world differently, and he made the world different. The main lesson Steve Jobs learned is that you should never give up. Steve Jobs faced many hardships. For example, he was adopted and was fired from Apple. Later on, he overcame these challenges by finding a new family and making two new companies after he was fired. Even though he had a rough childhood, he became the tech celebrity that we know today. Steve Jobs , at a point, was a selfish man and sometimes put work before family. But gradually, he started spending more time with his family members that he never talked to. In conclusion, I chose this book because I wanted to do Steve Jobs for my project. If you're doing a biography project like me, I would recommend it because it had a lot of information on Steve Jobs. It also is a good book to read for fun since it is very detailed, clear, and the story is very interesting. My answered question to Steve Jobs is that why did you have really high expectations for your co-workers?

Starred review from February 15, 2012
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography, bolstered by 40 interviews with its subject, is the current gold standard for books about Steve Jobs, but Blumenthal's in-depth look at the innovator's life makes a close runner-up and a winner for younger audiences. Blumenthal, a former business reporter, uses a speech Jobs made to a graduating class at Stanford as an inviting hook to draw readers in. He told his audience stories about the most important incidents in his life, beginning with his adoption, and how the dots of his life connected in mysterious ways. His adoptive father was skilled with his hands and a perfectionist, a trait Jobs carried on, sometimes to extremes. The worst moments in Jobs' life, like being fired from Apple, the company he built, led him to bigger and better moments, and an eventual return to Apple, where he would give the world iPods, iPhones, and iPads. His final story was about his cancer, and his message was to follow your heart and intuition. Through original interviews, a smart use of source material, and a wonderfully easy-going style, Blumenthal gives a full portrait of Jobs, with his many well-documented flaws (which here might be a tad underplayed), his original and far-sighted aesthetic, and his willingness to push himself and others to achieve the bestas he perceived it. One advantage this has over Isaacson's book is the well-placed sidebars that explain everything from how computer memory works to Jobs' distinctive wardrobe. This is a smart book about a smart subject by a smart writer. To be illustrated with photographs. Glossaries and sources are appended.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)