Inside Steve's Brain

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 304 pages
• Published by: Portfolio Hardcover April 17, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1591841984
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1591841982
• Book Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Weighs: 11.4 ounces

Product Description
Steve Jobs has turned his personality traits into a business philosophy. Here’s how he does it.

It’s hard to believe that one man revolutionized computers in the 1970s and ’80s (with the Apple II and the Mac), animated movies in the 1990s (with Pixar), and digital music in the 2000s (with the iPod and iTunes). No wonder some people worship him like a god. On the other hand, stories of his epic tantrums and general terrible behavior are legendary.

Inside Steve’s Brain cuts through the cult of personality that surrounds Jobs to unearth the secrets to his unbelievable results. It reveals the real Steve Jobs—not his heart or his famous temper, but his mind. So what’s really inside Steve’s brain? According to Leander Kahney, who has covered Jobs since the early 1990s, it’s a fascinating bundle of contradictions.

Jobs is an elitist who thinks most people are bozos—but he makes gadgets so easy to use, a bozo can master them.

He’s a mercurial obsessive with a filthy temper—but he forges deep partnerships with creative geniuses like Steve Wozniak, Jonathan Ive, and John Lasseter.

He’s a Buddhist and anti-materialist—but he produces mass-market products in Asian factories, and he promotes them with absolute extreme proficiency of the crassest medium, advertising.

In short, Jobs has embraced the traits that some consider flaws—narcissism, perfectionism, the desire for total control—to lead Apple and Pixar to triumph against steep odds. And in the process, he has become a self-made billionaire.

In Inside Steve’s Brain, Kahney distills the principles that guide Jobs as he launches killer products, attracts fanatically loyal customers, and manages some of the world’s most powerful brands.

The result is this unique book about Steve Jobs that is part biography and part leadership guide, and impossible to put down. It gives you a peek inside Steve’s brain, and might even teach you something about how to build your own culture of innovation.

About The Author
Leander Kahney is news editor for Wired.com and primary author of its popular Cult of Mac blog. He is also the author of two acclaimed books, The Cult of Mac and The Cult of iPod. As a reporter and editor, Kahney has covered Apple for more than a dozen years.

Reader Reviews
Salam All, I just finished that book today, April 27, 2008 , 8:38pm (Pacific Time). Here is what I learn and planning to do: 1) It tells you how to be "Perfectionist", by keeping your "Bozoness" for Product Testing... as I read in this book... Steve Jobs read the product by himself, by playing with it and I am gonna quote him "If I can't use it, then user won't able to use it either" it is like ... Walking in Users' shoes and then seeing the Super-star stuff... iPod and iPhone. 2) Management, handling the people is the best way he is doing. But I will give him 4 stars, because .... What I learn is ... Steve disrespect the people in front of others, and I think it is harsh and not humane. 3) Oh ... One more thing ;) .. Innovation ... yup! thats teh superb thing Apple do, create the existing stuff in to a master-piece... and become a Trend-Setter! thats what the beauty of the Apple Inc. way to go Apple , without Steve Jobs, Apple is a piece of cool sketches without color and usefulness. Mudassir Azeeemi San Francisco, CA Comment | | (Report this)