🎧
Memoir
Born a Crime
0 reviewsView →
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Twenty-five hours with one of the most brilliant, abrasive, and contradictory figures in business history — based on forty interviews Jobs gave Isaacson knowing he was dying, with no control over the result. The audiobook is a serious commitment, so this review focuses on whether the format serves a biography this long and this unflinching.
Jobs asked Isaacson to write it, then refused to interfere — and it shows. The book documents the genius (the Mac, Pixar, the iPhone, the resurrection of Apple) alongside the cruelty: the abandoned daughter, the parking in handicapped spots, the "reality distortion field" that inspired and burned the people closest to him. Isaacson refuses to sand the edges, and the result is that rare business biography where the flaws are load-bearing rather than decorative. You finish understanding both why people followed Jobs anywhere and why many never forgave him.
Baker, a veteran character actor, brings exactly the right instrument: a clear, intelligent, unshowy voice that can carry twenty-five hours without fatigue. He resists the temptation to impersonate Jobs — a wise choice, since a Jobs impression would wear thin within an hour — and instead differentiates the book's enormous cast through subtle pacing and emphasis. His energy in the final chapters, covering the illness Jobs fought while building his greatest products, is quietly devastating.
The book's chronological structure makes it friendly to episodic listening — each era (Atari, the Mac, NeXT, Pixar, the return) is nearly self-contained, so treating it as a series rather than one long film works well. The middle NeXT years sag slightly, as they did in Jobs's life; push through, because the second Apple act repays the patience. At 1.25x the runtime drops under twenty-one hours without harming Baker's delivery.
Founders and product people, obviously — but equally anyone interested in the price of genius and whether it must be paid by others. Listeners wanting a hagiography should look elsewhere; this book loves its subject too honestly for that.
Jobs built products on an obsessive belief in focus; Deep Work is effectively the operating manual for that same conviction, written for people who will never run Apple but face the same war for attention. Isaacson shows you the results of focus at civilisational scale; Newport shows you the practice at personal scale.
Well narrated? Yes — Baker's marathon consistency is the unsung achievement here. The definitive Jobs account, and the audio edition is a legitimate first way through it. Budget a month of commutes; it earns them.
Dozens of Jobs books exist; this one remains definitive because of its access and its refusal to resolve its subject into a lesson. Isaacson interviewed Jobs more than forty times, plus over a hundred colleagues, rivals, and family members — and crucially, Jobs waived approval over the result while knowing he was dying. The book therefore captures something later, tidier accounts sand away: the same man was petty and visionary, cruel and inspiring, wrong loudly and right historically, sometimes in the same meeting. For listeners in product, design, or any creative field, the enduring takeaways are not the famous keynotes but the small scenes — the obsession over the inside of a case no customer would see, the insistence that focus means saying no to good ideas. The audiobook's length is precisely what allows those scenes to accumulate into understanding.
If you have any interest in technology, product, or the price of genius — yes. The chronological structure breaks naturally into eras, so treating it as a series rather than one marathon makes the runtime very manageable, especially at 1.25x speed.
No, and that is its reputation's foundation: Jobs commissioned it, then refused to interfere. The cruelty, the abandoned daughter, the reality distortion field — it is all here alongside the genius, which is exactly why it remains the definitive account.
Dylan Baker narrates, and he wisely never attempts a Jobs impression — a choice that keeps twenty-five hours listenable. His clear, intelligent delivery differentiates the book's huge cast through pacing rather than funny voices.
If this sounds like your next listen, you can hear Steve Jobs free with an Audible trial — new members get their first title included. (Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.)
No approved reviews yet. Be the first to write one.
