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Looking at the title and cover of the book, I thought this would be a book written by Jobs' admirers in the Silicon Valley. As I started reading it, I felt that the book was perhaps being objective by writing the truth rather than shower praise on Jobs for everything under the sun. But gradually, I realized that the book pays basically only back-handed compliments to Steve Jobs and tries to say that practically all the achievements for which Jobs is credited, there is someone else whose vision is stolen and presented as his own by Steve Jobs. In the end, one is left with the feeling that one has wasted time in reading this 300-odd page book because it runs counter to whatever one has experienced living in the Silicon Valley between the years of 1990 to 2010.
The authors do write about Steve Jobs as a visionary, having transformed computers, music and movies in a revolutionary way. But the feeling that the reader is left with is that Steve Wozniak was the genius behind Apple and the pioneers of Napster are the visionaries in transforming the music scene and that John Lassetter, Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith were the visionaries behind Pixar. Steve Jobs was the marketing man behind Apple and that he simply used his millions in getting the right people for the success of Pixar and the iPod. In fact, John Lassetter is repeatedly hailed as the creative genius behind all the successes of Toy Story, A Bug's Life and so on. Essentially, the book does not leave the reader with the image that Jobs is a visionary. As the book's title probably implies, he is more a con man by claiming credit for other peoples' work.
It is hard to believe that the authors could be right in all their claims. Jobs' arrogance and rudeness and dismissive attitudes have been written about all over and there is enough evidence to back these claims. But all along, it has been also suggested that this is the licence that a genius deserves and that has been the general image of Jobs. However, this book seems to say that he has conned everyone around into believing that he is the genius behind bringing the revolution that he is credited with.
There is a lot of material devoted to Jobs' face-off with Disney and the politics inside Disney for ultimate control of the studio. The authors say that Jobs has mellowed with age and parenthood and has become more inclusive and somewhat humbler.
The book can be read critically as a counter-point to the adulatory ones on Jobs. It can also be read as a chronicle of the history of the personal computer and the revolutions in Music and animation that have taken place in the last fifteen years. However, there is little of insight considering that the book is about Steve Jobs.