Steve Jobs: The Journey is the Reward

I read this work in the late 1980s, and am still impressed with it to this day. It is one of the few completely fair and complete business biographies ever written.Young does a landmark job digging into Jobs' formative years growing up as an adopted son of a machinist in pre-Silicon Valley, describes his years at Reed and India in more depth than any other author, perfectly covers his mercurial personality in both personal and professional relationships, and accurately chronicles his rise and fall in the labyrinth of corporate America.This is the best of the Jobs and Apple books, and is far superior to The Return of Steve Jobs. Highly recommended to those interested in both the personal and professional life of one of America's great risk takers.

this is an absorbing, riveting true account of how an incredible visionary inspired and cajoled both talented and ordinary people to achieve things they could never dream of. I read this shortly after Jobs was ousted from Apple in the 80s and to witness how he came back to save Apple from oblivion a decade later is one of the great comeback stories of our time. the title the journey is the reward is very zen and very much Steve Jobs in his early days ... the acid-dropping, bare-footed vegetarian who was at once arrogant and selfish yet brilliantly daring and inventive. another interesting read is John Sculley's book Odyssey. Sculley, of course was Jobs' hand-picked CEO for Apple and the man who later ousted Jobs from Apple ... you'll see that inspite of Sculley's betrayal, he maintains in his writing a sense of awe ... that he was a convert in the Jobs' mystique ... he never was the same after Jobs' challenge "do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? or do you want a chance to change the world?" - darren tan

It really did. The book tells both the story of Apple and Steve and though it portrayed Steve as a rather unkind person, I was almost immediately fascinated by his vision. I.m.h.o., Apple stood - and begins to stand again - for innovation and elegance in computer business. This book presents the true story about a great man, with all his flaws. Additionaly, it gives a fascinating summary of the evolution of the computer business throughout the 70s and 80s. It honors Steve Wozniak, the real genius behind the scenes. And it contains plenty of technical information without using some sort of techno-babble. I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in Apple, the spirit of the early computer days, or the - perhaps controversial - person of Steven Paul Jobs, a true visioneer. I wish there was a sequel, since so many things have changed.

I've read this book a few times over the years and love it. Since my first Apple IIe computer in 1984 I've been fascinated with the tale (fable, really) of Apple Computer, a company that was just unlike any other. This book, along with Rose's "West of Eden" and Levy's "Hackers" are among my favorite chronicles of the Apple lore. (Gen-Xers think that "two guys in a garage" is just a cute metaphor; they should be forced to read these books.) Young's depiction of Jobs as an acid-dropping, un-deoderized, mantra-mumbling crybaby may or may not be completely accurate... but it would explain a lot, wouldn't it