1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Some Style and No Substance, Nov 9 2001
This review is from: The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (Paperback)
Alan Deutschman writes in quintessential GQ style...Apple, Pixar, Next and Jobs are given the cinematic attention - Brioni suits and designer clothing take precedence to the story telling theme! That's precisely where the story ends - Neither Apple's business environment nor the facts behind Jobs renaissance garner attention! Steve's vendetta against the Apple board that sacked him, his bitterness about moving away from the company he helped create and his pre-occupation with Odwalla fruit juices/Black polo shirt & blue jeans are the only facets of Steve's character that Deutschman manages to grasp. (...) Steve's obsession with German design aesthetics, his "tomfoolery" with his corporate hobbies- Next, Pixar and Apple are all touted by Deuschman as tenets of a precipitous corporate personality! Jobs is portayed as a whip slashing mogul who just rides his "ill-deserved" luck to the top- He is credited with ZERO intelligence and a disgusting atttitude! Apparently, Next and Pixar had no strategies and were "bleeding,hemorrhaging corporations"- a phrase Deutschman uses with irritating regularity! Job's groundbreaking strategies to rev up the motorcade of new products at Apple and Next are promptly thrown out of the window! His ability to turn small-door companies like Pixar into money making machines is rudely ignored. (...)This man hardly knows what he is talking about!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than I ever expected!, Feb 24 2002
I am unabashedly one of the (until recently) Macintosh Faithful, having at one time printed my own business cards with "Mac Evangilist" as my title. I would approach customers in the Macitosh section of CompUSA or Computer City and see if they had questions (only while i was there already, mind you!). I have waxed lovingly on the virtues of Macintosh to all my friends and family, and longed for a NextStation, if only as a hobby machine.
Needless to say, I am a died-in-the-wool Steve Jobs fan. In all fairness, the amount of information out there about the MAN is thin and disreputiable. His charm, 'reality distortion field' and his public dressing-down of employees are the stuff of legend, but little concrete has been found about the MAN.
A few years ago I read another biography, called (i think) "Steve Jobs and the NeXT Best Thing". It was a one-sided, blistering account of every failure Jobs made with his founding of Next, and seemingly NO good choices were made.
Picking up this book, The Second Coming, I was expecting more of the same. What I found was a fair, inciteful, and only slightly more vague than it could have been. The writer does seem to set the reader up as to many of Steve's strong points, and then makes a point to tear down Steve and portray him as almost an unfeeling monster. The narrative is a gentle roller-coaster ride between these two extremes, giving the impression that Steve is either a child, or possibly suffering from multiple personality disorder.
One thing to note is that Steve Jobs does not approve of this book, and as I understand sued to stop publication. Needless to say, HIS point of view and interviews with him are not part of the makeup of the book.
Overall, I find this to be an excellent, information packed book on one of the FEW businessmen I would consider a 'hero' to me. However, without Steve's direct input, this book comes across VERY strongly as a coloring-book picture colored from the OUTSIDE up to the outline of the man, not filling in the man himself.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Some Style and No Substance, Nov 9 2001
This review is from: The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (Paperback)
Alan Deutschman writes in quintessential GQ style...Apple, Pixar, Next and Jobs are given the cinematic attention - Brioni suits and designer clothing take precedence to the story telling theme! That's precisely where the story ends - Neither Apple's business environment nor the facts behind Jobs renaissance garner attention! Steve's vendetta against the Apple board that sacked him, his bitterness about moving away from the company he helped create and his pre-occupation with Odwalla fruit juices/Black polo shirt & blue jeans are the only facets of Steve's character that Deutschman manages to grasp. Talk is cheap - Deutschman manages to splice up this pathetic offering with additives! Steve's obsession with German design aesthetics, his "tomfoolery" with his corporate hobbies- Next, Pixar and Apple are all touted by Deuschman as tenets of a precipitous corporate personality! Jobs is portayed as a whip slashing mogul who just rides his "ill-deserved" luck to the top- He is credited with ZERO intelligence and a disgusting atttitude! Apparently, Next and Pixar had no strategies and were "bleeding,hemorrhaging corporations"- a phrase Deutschman uses with irritating regularity! Job's groundbreaking strategies to rev up the motorcade of new products at Apple and Next are promptly thrown out of the window! His ability to turn small-door companies like Pixar into money making machines is rudely ignored. The book is definitely based on hearsay and might as well be treated as a rag....This man hardly knows what he is talking about!
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