“de mortuis nil nisi bonum”
You can only speak well of the dead reads the Latin quote above, but in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, we learn that Jobs was influenced by his times, his circumstances and his vision.
The book is a good read and you discover that Jobs being given up for adoption had a profound effect on his relationships everywhere. We also make the case that it is the prime influence on our lives.
Steve felt abandoned and special and at the same time alone and isolated.
In the end he may have found that feeling in all of us. as we are now isolated with our ear buds on devices that appealed to him and the world.
In the book, Walter Isaacson does a great job of showing us the background of California after World War II. The fact that defense contracts built the Silicon Valley, I guess Government has a role.
The general sense of working together that made it so that garages in the Valley were islands of interests that helped shape HP, Atari, Apple and many other companies.
Walter Isaacson does an excellent job of connecting the dots between Jobs, his influencers and his decisions.
I have a particular view point, which makes some of my interests unasked and unexplored. For example, the discussion about the iPhone being built with Intel chips only deals with the surface discussions about enabling the competition.
The possibility that WiMAX could have become the default standard for the IPhone does not end up in the discussion. The free spirit communal nature around Jobs gets thwarted by his choices.
The biography paints a very human picture of an extraordinary man. You can worship the hero, but if you read the book you will respect the man all the more.
Carl Ford is a partner at Crossfire Media.Edited by
Stefanie Mosca 
QUICK LINKS 
