Used Book Review: Inside Steve's Brain

Inside Steve's Brain. It is perhaps the best titled Apple-related book ever. Leander Kahney's 2007 book takes us on a trip that rather than painting Steve solely as a maniacal, fearsome leader as we've seen in other books, Kahney paints a picture of a more rational, driven genius.

However for me, the most interesting part of the book has little to do with Jobs. It's Kahney's insight into the design process of Jonathan Ive. In fact the book could've been subtitled inside Ive's Brain. Without living in the same enigmatic cloud as Jobs, Ive emerges as an approachable, but intense perfection. Yin to Jobs' yang. The book is our best look yet into the post-iPod, pre-iPhone period at Apple, with a great deal of time spent on the development and refinement of OS X, including Jobs' involvement literally at the pixel level when it came to icon design.

Kahney summarizes each chapter with a lessons learned style bulleted list. Unfortunately, as most have discovered in chronicling Apple, there are so many exceptions and asterisks, it's hard to find many business truths that hold true over the long term.

If you're looking for a calmer, insightful look into the way Steve Jobs operates, this is your book. Kahney never absolves Jobs of many of the legends, but rather paints a more measured, analytical picture of a complex man, and might give us some clues as to where the company is headed next.

(Amazon Link)