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The Second Coming of Steve Jobs [Hardcover]

Alan Deutschman
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)


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Book Description

October 10, 2000
From the acclaimed Vanity Fair and GQ journalist--an unprecedented, in-depth portrait of the man whose return to Apple precipitated one of the biggest turnarounds in business history.

From the emergence of Apple Computer in the late 1970s and early 1980s to its current resurgence, charismatic leader Steve Jobs has captivated the public. Both revered and reviled for his dictatorial manner and stunning successes, Jobs has transcended his legend in Silicon Valley to take on some of the heaviest hitters in Hollywood. Now, in The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Alan Deutschman presents the most revealing portrait yet of this fascinating, complex character--an in-depth look at the many layers of Steve Jobs, a man who is at turns a brilliant cult figure and an abusive, egomaniacal kid.

This story begins back in 1985 when Jobs was exiled from Apple, and then it goes on to chronicle the rise and fall of his own company, NeXT; the enormous success of Jobs's film animation studio, Pixar; and finally his triumphant return to Apple in the late 1990s, with Jobs taking the title of CEO in January 2000. Displaying an uncanny skill at the negotiation table and an intuitive sense of brilliant design that could capture the public's fascination with products like the iMac, along with a celebrity's ability to command the spotlight, Jobs has been able to catapult himself to the top of the Silicon Valley and Hollywood establishments.

Based on interviews with scores of people--rivals, colleagues, friends--who have worked with Jobs over the years, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs gets under the hood of this extraordinarily complex man: how and why he almost gave up on his career; the details of his negotiations with Disney's Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner, and of the culture clash between Silicon Valley and Hollywood; his methods of leadership, management, creativity, and innovation; his friendship and rivalry with Bill Gates--and much more. In an unsentimental and powerful voice, Deutschman reveals a man who suffered his midlife crisis at thirty, compressing it into just three months; struggled between self-imposed exile and the allure of public life; and became the baby boomer icon who was constantly blurring the lines between businessman, rock star, and beatnik.

The Second Coming of Steve Jobs is a compelling look at an individual who has changed the face of technology and entertainment for the twenty-first century. This candid account of Steve Jobs's tumultuous and provocative career will answer the many questions left unanswered by this incredibly private character who has come to represent the Silicon Valley American dream.


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For the legions who revere Apple Computer's high-profile cofounder as a godlike figure, the aptly titled Second Coming of Steve Jobs will prove an intriguing picture of a seminal time in their deity's roller-coaster life. It should emphatically vindicate their deeply held faith in the man and his ideas. But even for those with a lesser opinion, Alan Deutschman offers an interesting and enlightening look at the crucial period from Jobs's unceremonious Apple exit through his triumphant return. Deutschman, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine and longtime Silicon Valley correspondent, interviewed nearly 100 colleagues and friends to draw this portrait of a bewilderingly complex and notoriously private man--albeit one whose talents, personality traits, and idiosyncrasies have long been on public display. "He succeeded in becoming the Jackie Kennedy Onassis of business and technology," Deutschman writes, "a figure who was ubiquitous as a symbol of his times but little known as a human being." To change that, he looks into Jobs's ill-fated first post-Apple endeavor at the Next computer company, his return to undeniable respectability with Pixar and the two Toy Story movies, and finally, his ultimate absolution with a very successful reclamation of the Apple crown. It's a revealing account of a singular individual during a remarkable time. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

A revealing, balanced portrait of Apple Computers CEO and founder Steven Jobs, this fast-paced business biography is based on interviews with nearly 100 of his associates and friends. One glaring absence, however, is Jobs himself, who apparently declined to be interviewed by Deutschman, a Vanity Fair contributing editor and staff writer at GQ. Still, Deutschman provides a juicy, privileged look inside the Apple core. He reports that Jobs's recent resuscitation of Apple, to which the visionary entrepreneur returned in 1996 after being ousted by John Sculley a decade earlier, was accomplished through a "reign of terror" that shook up thousands of complacent employees. Like other commentators, Deutschman portrays Jobs as both engaging and troubling, a natural charmer who is also an abusive, egomaniacal boss fond of meting out public humiliations. But Deutschman goes further, replacing the image of the pop-culture icon with a complex, contradictory figureAan insecure elitist who yearns for the patronage of the masses, a narcissistic vegetarian billionaire who thrives on scarcity and adversity. Among the book's revelations are details of Jobs's bulimia-like eating disorders in the 1970s; his reconnection in the '80s with his long-lost biological sister, novelist Mona Simpson (Jobs was given up for adoption at birth); and his explosive negotiations with Disney honchos Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who produced the hits A Bug's Life and Toy Story with Pixar, Jobs's animation film studio. Though this gossipy bio has a slick magazine feel, Deutschman gets closer to Jobs's inner self than any previous attempt. Agent, Suzanne Gluck, ICM. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (October 10, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 076790432X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0767904322
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

This is the life of Steve Jobs and this book does a wonderful job of chronicling it. "kingsransom"  |  14 reviewers made a similar statement
The book is a very interesting read written extremely well. Manoj  |  7 reviewers made a similar statement
In fact, much of the book is poorly developed, there is very little flow. D. TerMeer  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
43 of 44 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Mother, this is Steve Jobs! October 10, 2000
Format:Hardcover
My 86-year-old mother doesn't have an ATM card but she can use her VCR. She follows the stock market and asks me about Netscape and Yahoo, Intel and 3Com. The family agrees she's sharper than all of us together. So I'm sending her The Second Coming of Steve Jobs for two reasons. One it's the best read I've had in a while. Secondly it's a biography of an interesting man.

Deutschman is a terrific writer who zooms through a lot of esoteric Silicon Valley information in plain English. If you like to read biographies of Marie of Roumania, Edward Prince of Wales, Graham Greene, Madonna or any other public figure, you're going to like this book. It's a great story full of drama. Sure it tells some new anecdotes for computer devotees, professionals and groupies. Sure Jobs is the rock star of technology. But above all he seems to be a formidable charasmatic personality who contributed substantially to shaping our behavior at the end of the twentieth century. Time will tell if that's just a beginning, or if he's reached his peak.

Meanwhile his life is over-endowed with great stories and this book spins the tale. The man goes from working class to millionaire in three or four years; he goes from hippie zen boy to romantic dashing lover to family man in fifteen years (how many other forty-five year old men have reached that point?); he has already managed the invention of major hardware, software and manufacturing businesses; and he's developed an entire culture and way of life.

For me, three quarters through the book in one read on a rainy Monday, Deutschman offered two memorable observations. One refers to the fact that if Jobs had done a deal with IBM for the Next OS, we'd all be in a different place today. The other is that Jobs' personality is closest to a televangelist. I didn't know that piece about Next and IBM and it struck me as one of the weird turning points in computer history and made me sad for the clunkyness we struggle with on PCs today. Deutschman portrays Jobs' intensity as a personality; his changeability; his growth and maturing; and his inevitable conflicts.

I heard Deutschman speak about his book a few weeks ago and was expecting it to really trash Jobs. But it doesn't. It's a wonderful piece of a man's life. Perhaps we should compare it to The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy's great story of a rise and fall of a single human being.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Man and His Story October 11, 2000
Format:Hardcover
Steve Jobs co-founded one of the largest computer companies in the world and has survived verbal attacks, hero worship, skepticism, triumph, failure, a less than pleasant parting from his company and a courageous return to it. This is the life of Steve Jobs and this book does a wonderful job of chronicling it. Love him, hate him or be somewhere in between, Jobs is a fascinating man who has led, and continues to lead a turbulent and spectacular life. Through the numerous interviews the author has presented to us how Jobs' peers view him. This is a rare glimpse into the private life of one of America's best known executives, a man who, some say, began a technology revolution.

This book might increase or decrease your respect for Steve Jobs, but no matter what, it is sure to entertain.

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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Better than I ever expected! February 24, 2002
Format:Hardcover
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars The best one
I have read different Jobs biographies. I admire him and wanted to know more about the person. This biography was not liked by Jobs, as it did go into fields or opinion he did not... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Miguel DURA
1.0 out of 5 stars Do not waste your money!
This book is very poorly written and an outdated mess that should not even be called a book. I was looking to learn some useful insights into the vision of Steve Jobs that... Read more
Published 16 months ago by User from Maryland
3.0 out of 5 stars Material is Good, but Now DATED!
The book only covers the years between Jobs being forced out of Apple and 2000, with none of the more interesting years afterwards. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Loyd E. Eskildson
3.0 out of 5 stars Ugh, reads like a 700-page newspaper article
This reads like a newspaper or like a Star Magazine article. But, it's a very very long Star Magazine article. Read more
Published on December 13, 2010 by Joseph Dewey
2.0 out of 5 stars Gossip, gossip, gossip!
I bought this book because it focused on the fascinating "lost weekend" of Steve Jobs, starting from his ejection from Apple in 1985 to his return 11 years later. Read more
Published on May 15, 2010 by Chris Peters
5.0 out of 5 stars Steve Jobs' Redemption
This November, Steve Jobs was named CEO of the decade by Fortune Magazine. What many people do not know about Steve Jobs is the obstacles he faced, including being ousted from... Read more
Published on December 28, 2009 by Apellicon
5.0 out of 5 stars Best executive biography that I read so far
I found this book both fascinating and inspiring. I could not stop reading it - it is difficult not to get involved with the challenges Steve faces through his "second coming". Read more
Published on December 30, 2008 by Alejandro Picos
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book
I loved the book. Even though I have reservations about the realism of the plot, the book is captivating and the analysis very insightful !
Published on October 23, 2008 by Nikolai Slavov
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, dirty, and mostly obsolete
As the book mostly tells the story of Jobs before his second coming, detailing his "in between" years that he spent outside Apple, the title is quite misleading. Read more
Published on November 21, 2007 by András Puiz
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative
This is a great book about steve jobs, It tells a lot about the secret man, through many Interviews of people who deal with him. It paints a good picture of him after apple!
Published on May 20, 2007 by K. Gallardo-Blaksley
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