A beautiful mind

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

There  are enough interesting trivia in Steve Jobs, the authorized biography of the more famous Apple founder by Walter Isaacson to make it highly entertaining, and ensure its place in the best-sellers list.

Almost 600 pages in all, including the author’s notes but not counting the folio of photos done by Diana Walker, the book opens to us the story of one of the most fascinating human beings ever to walk the earth, whose short stint, the book notes several times, “revolutionized six industries – personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing.”

From page one down, one laughs, shakes one’s head in awe, cries, and then shake one’s head in awe again, as the Jobs story unfolds, from the time his biological mother gives him up for adoption, to his very colorful school years, his journey to enlightenment, and then how he founded Apple.

It is a story that almost every one of us has affinity with. And if you are listening to an Ipod, or using Ipad, or a Mac, and even just play Atari games, this is a story you can relate to.

Here, for example, is detailed how  packaging  for Apple products was developed, and why, so you’ll feel the way you felt  when you first unwrapped that Ipod or Mac from its box.

Here, too, is the story of how the name of the company evolved and why  the term Apple perfectly suits its positioning,

And for the gossip inclined, the real story of how  Stephen Wozniak,, the other Apple founder, who is supposed to be more knowledgeable in computers than Jobs, truly feels about the partnership, whether or not he thinks he has been shortchanged considering much of what Apple is now came from his mind.

More juicy tidbits: There was a third partner when Apple was first established, but he chickened out  8 days after signing, and got back his $1,000+ investment and divested from the partnership.  In 2009 terms, that $1,000+ investment, was now worth $2.6billion, the book noted. This partner is now somewhere in Vegas, living on his social security check.

When orders for Apple II came, and they needed $200,000 to produce it, they went to a financier who said, “Of course I said No, I was smart…” That would have made him owner of a third of the company.

As with some of the greatest personalities in the world, it was a teacher, back in grade school, that had initially excited Jobs’ genius. This was the mathematics teacher who had to solve what she was going to do with such an exuberant pupil. She gave Jobs a work book, and bribed him with $5  and  candies if he finished solving the problems there. Jobs did, was rewarded, and kept coming back for more workbooks to solve, until he was doing it on a regular basis, he forgot all about the reward.

Jobs left it to Isaacson to open up his life to the world, telling him to spare nothing. Isaacson says Jobs did not even asked to read it before publication, declaring he had “no skeletons” to hide.

The result is a lush portrait of one outstanding man whose genius was balanced by his quirkiness, even madness, his abrasive character – and at one point, his smell – that had some people vowing not to meet him again.

But this was one beautiful mind, whose imagination created everyday things and in the process, changed the world.*

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