Synopsis
According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are no second acts in American life. Apparently he forgot to tell Steve Jobs.
Jobs rose from an outcast high school electronics nerd to become the driving force behind Apple and avatar of the computer revolution, only to be driven from the company in failure and disgrace. Then, having endured repeated personal and professional disasters, he went on to make an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, reclaim the throne at Apple, and, with the extraordinary success of the iPod, regain his reputation as arguably the greatest innovator of the digital age.
iCon takes a look at the most astounding figure in a business era noted for its mavericks, oddballs, and iconoclasts. Drawing on a wide range of sources in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, Jeffrey Young, author of the first-ever Jobs biography, and coauthor William Simon provide new perspectives on the legendary creation of Apple in a Silicon Valley garage and detail Jobs's meteoric rise as the prototypical digital wunderkind and the devastating plunge that left him not only out of Apple, but out of the computer-making business entirely.
Act two begins with Jobs displaying his talent for bedeviling business associates and making enemies along the way. Still stinging with embarrassment after his crash from the heights, he waged a tough negotiation with George Lucas for the purchase of the legendary filmmaker's computer animation business—at one-third of the asking price—and pressured his "partners" into settling for a modest percentage of what would become Pixar, keeping the remainder for himself.
This unflinching and completely unauthorized portrait revealsboth sides of Jobs's role in the remarkable rise of the Pixar animation studio, from Toy Story and the string of hit movies that delighted audiences around the world to his rocky alliance with Disney. It also re-creates the acrimony between Jobs and Disney's Michael Eisner, which ended the once-close relationship between the two companies.
The most dramatic, and, no doubt, most satisfying of Jobs's achievements during his rise from the ashes was his recapture of Apple, ten years after being booted out of the company, in a coup that only he could have orchestrated. The authors examine the takeover and Jobs's reinvention of the company with the very popular iMac and his transformation of the industry, and again the culture, with the revolutionary iPod.
Complete with a preview of Jobs's third act, iCon is must reading for anyone who wants to understand how the modern digital age has been formed, shaped, and refined by the most influential figure of the age—a master of three industries: movies, music, and computers. It is about understanding the future by understanding the past and present of the Digital King, Steve Jobs.
Library Journal
With Simon (coauthor, The Art of Intrusion), journalist Young here updates Steve Jobs: The Journey Is the Reward, his biography of the Apple Computer CEO. The authors, who call Jobs the "rock star of high tech," chronicle the remarkable comeback of the technology wunderkind who had been forced out of Apple in 1985. Jobs subsequently started Pixar, which compiled an impressive track record in developing animated films such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo. He eventually returned to Apple in 1997, where he was instrumental in developing the iMac and the iPod. Many biographies of Jobs suffer from his refusal to cooperate, and this one also betrays a hurried incompleteness, as if the authors were fearful that Jobs might achieve something new that they would be unable to include in time for publication. The book occasionally has a gossipy tone, especially in its overuse of unnamed sources, questionable when the reporting is not terribly flattering. In the final analysis, it's left to the reader to decide whether Jobs is a genius, a megalomaniac, or maybe both. Although the authors make a valiant effort to dissect Jobs's enigmatic life, without his cooperation this book is just another "unofficial" biography. It's uncertain whether we will ever get to know the real Steve Jobs any better. Suitable for public libraries.-Richard Drezen, Washington Post/NYC Bureau Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.