Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different: A Biography

by Karen Blumenthal

Overview

A riveting biography of the groundbreaking innovator who was a giant in the worlds of computing, music, filmmaking, design, smart phones, and more. A finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award!

"Your time is limited. . . . have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." —Steve Jobs

From the start, his path was never predictable. Steve Jobs was given up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college after one semester, and at the age of twenty, created Apple in his parents' garage with his friend Steve Wozniack.

Then came the core and hallmark of his genius—his exacting moderation for perfection, his counterculture life approach, and his level of taste and style that pushed all boundaries. A devoted husband, father, and Buddhist, he battled cancer for over a decade, became the ultimate CEO, and made the world want every product he touched, from the Macintosh to the iPhone, from iTunes and the iPod to the Macbook.

Critically acclaimed author Karen Blumenthal takes us to the core of this complicated and legendary man while simultaneously exploring the evolution of computers. Framed by Jobs' inspirational Stanford commencement speech and illustrated throughout with black and white photos, this is the story of the man who changed our world.

Read more thrilling nonfiction by Karen Blumenthal:

Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History (A YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist)

Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition

Tommy: The Gun That Changed America

Praise for Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different: A Biography:

“This is a smart book about a smart subject by a smart writer.” —Booklist, starred review

“Students who know Steve Jobs only through Apple's iTunes, iPhones, and iPads will have their eyes opened by this accessible and well-written biography.” —VOYA

“An engaging and intimate portrait. Few biographies for young readers feel as relevant and current as this one does.” —The Horn Book Magazine

“A perceptive, well-wrought picture of an iconic figure.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Blumenthal crafts an insightful, balanced portrait.” —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250014450
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	02/14/2012
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	140,313
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1110L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Karen Blumenthal (1959-2020) was a financial journalist and editor whose career included five years with The Dallas Morning News and twenty-five with The Wall Street Journal—where her work helped earn the paper a Pulitzer Prize for its breaking news coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks—before becoming an award-winning children’s non-fiction book writer.

Three of her books, Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History, Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different, and Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, were finalists for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award.

Karen was also the author of Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929 (named a Sibert Honor Book), Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX (winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award), Tommy: The Gun That Changed America, Bonnie and Clyde: The Making of a Legend, and Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights.

Editorial Reviews

Framing her work around the themes of a lauded commencement speech that “technology rock star” Jobs delivered to Stanford University’s class of 2005, Blumenthal crafts an insightful, balanced portrait of the enigmatic man whose life was cut short by illness in 2011. The book chronicles Jobs’s boyhood passions for technology, simplicity, and design that led to his rocky tenures with the technology company he helped create, was fired from, and returned to and led to the heights of its success. Readers receive a primer in technological advances, including the mathematics of animation, as well as Jobs’s vision for product design and marketing innovation. Blumenthal relates accounts of Jobs’s eccentric hygiene and eating habits, his infamous tantrums and tirades in the workplace, and his harsh treatment of colleagues, loved ones, and friends. However, his charisma often won the day, and commentary from Jobs and his wife, given near the end of his life, help soften the picture. Numerous b&w photographs and sidebars appear, and an author’s note, technology time line, glossary, index, and bibliography give this volume extra polish. Ages 12–up. Agent: Ken Wright, Writers House. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

An admiring though not entirely adulatory view of our era's greatest technology celebrity, rightly dubbed (by U2's Bono) "the hardware software Elvis." Blumenthal weaves her portrait on the thematic frame used by Jobs himself in his autobiographical 2005 Stanford commencement address. She "connects the dots" that led him from his adoption as an infant through his "phone phreaking" days to a spectacular rise and just as meteoric fall from corporate grace in the 1980s. Following a decade of diminished fortunes and largely self-inflicted complications in personal relationships, he returned to Apple for a spectacular second act that also turned out to be his final one. Despite getting bogged down occasionally in detail, the author tells a cohesive tale, infused with dry wit ("He also considered going into politics, but he had never actually voted, which would have been a drawback") The book is thoroughly researched and clear on the subject's foibles as well as his genius. A perceptive, well-wrought picture of an iconic figure well worth admiring--from a distance. (endnotes, photos, time line) (Biography. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews

This is a smart book about a smart subject by a smart writer.” —Booklist, starred review

“Students who know Steve Jobs only through Apple's iTunes, iPhones, and iPads will have their eyes opened by this accessible and well-written biography.” —VOYA

“An engaging and intimate portrait. Few biographies for young readers feel as relevant and current as this one does.” —The Horn Book Magazine

“A perceptive, well-wrought picture of an iconic figure.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Blumenthal crafts an insightful, balanced portrait.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Much like her subject, author Karen Blumenthal doesn't hold back. Her engaging biography for young listeners portrays Steve Jobs in all his brilliance and flaws. Narrator Sean Runnette's smooth, confident tone evokes images of the black-turtleneck and jeans-clad bespectacled genius himself. Runnette's authoritative voice works well with nonfiction, and his matter-of-fact delivery of the direct quotes sprinkled throughout suits Jobs. The combination of Blumenthal's words and Runnette's voice provides students with an honest look at a complicated man whose ideas changed the world. Young listeners may never look at their favorite Apple devices quite the same again. M.D. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2013 - AudioFile

Much like her subject, author Karen Blumenthal doesn't hold back. Her engaging biography for young listeners portrays Steve Jobs in all his brilliance and flaws. Narrator Sean Runnette's smooth, confident tone evokes images of the black-turtleneck and jeans-clad bespectacled genius himself. Runnette's authoritative voice works well with nonfiction, and his matter-of-fact delivery of the direct quotes sprinkled throughout suits Jobs. The combination of Blumenthal's words and Runnette's voice provides students with an honest look at a complicated man whose ideas changed the world. Young listeners may never look at their favorite Apple devices quite the same again. M.D. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2013 - AudioFile