Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Authors Walter Isaacson

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Product Description
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 656 pages
# Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 24, 2011)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1451648537
# ISBN-13: 978-1451648539
# Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.2 x 2 inches
# Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds

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Reviews


This is well written and similar to the recent "Endgame" Bobby Fischer bio from Frank Brady in that it does a fine dance of reportage and hero worship. There's not much I will recount that you won't already find plastered on the 60 minutes website, but there's plenty on Steve Jobs and B.O., chain smoking Marxists and some good interviews of some people at Apple you don't hear much from otherwise.

I want to know the answers for the following questions.
1) How did Jobs convince Woz to do all the tech work for him and still take a share of Woz's earnings (in 1974).
2) What really inspired him to go to India? Did that trip help him in making any important decisions later in life?
3) It is well known that Jobs is not a good programmer. How did he earn the respect of his fellow workers?
4) How did he become a millionaire in 5 years? How did he get the customers to buy all those bulky machines?
5) Was he really a shrewd man?
6) How did he get a Job in Atari without a college degree?

Steve Jobs has always projected a "larger than life" image because of the tremendous impact of his great products.But,Jobs had a strict regard for privacy of his personal life. We hardly knew the guy outside of his great business achievements.

Walter Isaacson has done a a great job in revealing the "real" Steve Jobs,warts and all.The life of Steve becomes more inspiring when you realize the great hurdles that he had to cross to go on to the remarkable things he has achieved.

SAT Study Guide

The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd edition







Authors The College Board

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Product Description
The Official SAT Study Guide: Second Edition will help students get ready for the SAT with

- 10 official SAT practice tests, including 3 new recent exams
- detailed descriptions of math, critical reading, and writing sections of the SAT
- targeted practice questions for each SAT question type
- practice essay questions, along with sample essays and annotations
- a review of math concepts tested in the exam
- test-taking approaches and suggestions that underscore important points
- free online score reports
- exclusive access to online answers and explanations at collegeboard.com
- $10 discount on The Official SAT Online Course to all book owners

Product Details
# Paperback: 997 pages
# Publisher: College Board; Second Edition edition (July 21, 2009)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0874478529
# ISBN-13: 978-0874478525
# Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.1 x 1.5 inches
# Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds

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Reviews


I found this particularly unfair to students who strive to study from the most updated material, when in reality, it's not so updated. This year, many students had to pay almost $25 for a book containing only 3 new tests, when they thought the College Board was selling 10. The only major difference is that now, tests 3-10 have lots and lots of typos.

The book is new and cheap. It didn't take long for it to get delivered to my house.
I really like that is took me step by step on what to expect. Also there were 10 practice test,each of those practice test did help me improve. My kids used the SAT books published by the College Board and had gotten good results. They scored 790 and 800 in math. Despite of some typos in the latest edition, I still give it 5 stars. I don't believe that other publishers can come up with questions like the College Board. How can a copy be the same or better than the original?

The College Board is evil. However, we still need to give them our money and take the SAT if we want to go to a good school. So, to get a good score, you need to get this book. As it says on the cover, these are real questions by the people who actually write the test. Once you do a bunch of these, it becomes very predictable. It would be nice if they could give accurate scores at the end of the tests, instead of those ridiculous ranges, but whatever. Also, watch out for a bunch of "careless" mistakes throughout the book.

How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience







Authors Carmine Gallo

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Product Description
The following summarizes some of its suggestions for planning and preparing a presentation.

1)What is the one big idea you want to leave with your audience? It should be short, memorable, and in subject-verb-object sequence.

2)Identify why you're excited about this company/product/feature, etc.

3)Write out the three messages you want the audience to receive, and develop metaphors and analogies in support.

4)Include a demonstration if your product topic lends itself to such. (Eg. pull the product out of your pocket if it is 'pocket-sized.'

5)Invite partners and customers to participate.

6)Include video clips if helpful, but limit to three minutes or less.

7)Answer the "Why should I care?" that's in the audience's mind. Have a passion for creating a better future.

8)Having an enemy (eg. IBM, Microsoft) helps visualize 'the problem' you're solving.

9)Simplify your presentation (and products).

10)Make numbers meaningful - eg. "Stores 1,000 songs," not "5 GB memory."

11)Don't use 'bullet-point' style visuals; instead, use short phrases that accompany your talk, or pictures.

12)Practice, practice, practice - and ask for feedback.

About the Author

Carmine Gallo is the communications coach for the world’s most admired global brands. A former anchor and correspondent for CNN and CBS, Gallo has addressed executives at Intel, Cisco, Google, Medtronic, Pfizer, and many others. Gallo writes "My Communications Coach," a regular column for Forbes.com. He has written several bestselling and award-winning books, including The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Gallo has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Success magazine, and on CNBC. Gallo’s latest book, The Power of Foursquare, reveals how innovative businesses around the world are leveraging new mobile marketing tools to attract and engage customers.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 256 pages
# Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 11, 2009)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0071636080
# ISBN-13: 978-0071636087
# Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
# Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces

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Reviews


Performance piece

When Steve Jobs takes to the stage he often tells dramatic stories, so it's appropriate that the book itself is structured as a three-act play. Act 1 tells how to create the story, Act 2 tells how to deliver it, and Act 3 stresses the importance of rehearsal. Gallo adds "Director's Notes" that summarize each chapter (or scene), and he introduces a cast of supporting characters.

Organizing the book in this way also reinforces the importance of telling a story in three parts; of delivering a speech with three messages. In fact, Gallo concedes, the chapter on the effectiveness of breaking a speech into three "could easily have become the longest in the book."

Live action video

A book alone will go only so far. If you've never actually seen Jobs present in person, then you haven't experienced the "reality-distortion field" his charisma and eloquence creates in the auditorium. Gallo has this covered.

The book's end notes provide URLs for some of the 47,000 [...] video clips showcasing Jobs and clearly demonstrating the techniques discussed. Viewing the videos compensates for the poor-quality monochrome photos of Jobs onstage-the one disappointment in the book.

Speechwriters' playbook

The book is a playbook for writing a great speech. Jobs and his team start scripting a speech long before firing up PowerPoint or, in their case, Keynote software. They settle on an attention-grabbing headline ("The world's thinnest notebook"); then they decide on the three key messages; develop analogies and metaphors; and scope out demonstrations, video clips and cameo guest appearances.

Next they develop the "plot" of the speech, setting up an antagonist (Microsoft or IBM in the early days), dressing up numbers and including plenty of "amazingly zippy" words. Finally, they script a memorable "holy smokes" moment that people will talk about long after the event ends. The slides they eventually create are heavy on images and light on text and bullet points.

Zero Day

Zero Day







Authors David Baldacci

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Product Description
John Puller is a combat veteran and the best military investigator in the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigative Division. His father was an Army fighting legend, and his brother is serving a life sentence for treason in a federal military prison. Puller has an indomitable spirit and an unstoppable drive to find the truth.

Now, Puller is called out on a case in a remote, rural area in West Virginia coal country far from any military outpost. Someone has stumbled onto a brutal crime scene, a family slaughtered. The local homicide detective, a headstrong woman with personal demons of her own, joins forces with Puller in the investigation. As Puller digs through deception after deception, he realizes that absolutely nothing he's seen in this small town, and no one in it, are what they seem. Facing a potential conspiracy that reaches far beyond the hills of West Virginia, he is one man on the hunt for justice against an overwhelming force.

David Baldacci is one of the world's favorite storytellers. His books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with over 110 million copies in print. David Baldacci is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America.

About the Author
David Baldacci lives with his family in Virginia. He and his wife have founded the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America. He invites you to visit him at www.david-baldacci.com and his foundation at www.wishyouwellfoundation.org, and to look into its program to spread books across America .

Product Details
# Hardcover: 448 pages
# Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 31, 2011)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0446573019
# ISBN-13: 978-0446573016
# Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches
# Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds

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Reviews


David Baldacci-the modern master of the thriller and #1 worldwide bestselling novelist-comes a new hero: a lone Army Special Agent taking on the toughest crimes facing the nation.

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25







Authors Richard Paul Evans

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Product Description
My name is Michael Vey, and the story I’m about to tell you is strange. Very strange. It’s my story.

To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey is an ordinary fourteen-year-old. In fact, the only thing that seems to set him apart is the fact that he has Tourette’s syndrome. But Michael is anything but ordinary. Michael has special powers. Electric powers.

Michael thinks he's unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor also has special powers. With the help of Michael’s friend, Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up this way, but their investigation brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric children – and through them the world. Michael will have to rely on his wits, powers, and friends if he’s to survive.
About the Author
Richard Paul Evans is the #1 best-selling author of The Christmas Box. His novels have each appeared on the New York Times bestseller list; there are more than thirteen million copies of his books in print. His books have been translated into more than 22 languages and several have been international best sellers. He is the winner of the 1998 American Mothers Book Award, two first place Storytelling World Awards for his children’s books, the 2005 Romantic Times Best Women Novel of the Year Award, and the 2011 Wilbur Award for Fiction (Book). Evans received the Washington Times Humanitarian of the Century Award and the Volunteers of America National Empathy Award for his work helping abused children. Evans lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Keri, and their five children.

Product Details
# Reading level: Young Adult
# Hardcover: 336 pages
# Publisher: Simon Pulse/Mercury Ink (August 9, 2011)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1451656505
# ISBN-13: 978-1451656503
# Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6.2 x 9.2 inches
# Shipping Weight: 1 pounds

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Reviews


Things I will discuss when recommending this book: Michael's use of violent force to handle bullies. Near the start of this story Michael uses his ability to pulse an electric shock into a human in what he feels is his last resort to gain respect and end the tormenting of bullies. Michael uses violence to level the high school playing field. And, because this is fiction, Vey is an underdog/anti bullying hero when he uses violence to gain respect. In real life, teens who resort to violence are expelled. In real life, if a teen reaches for a weapon in response to a lifetime of disrespect- they become a murderer. It is the idea that in order to be special, to overcome or succeed, you need to have some special "Thing" that you are born with. Whether it is being born with special electrical powers, magic abilities (Harry Potter) or being strong with the force (Star Wars) it carries an implied elitism that supposes that you are not born with unusual "Thing", you cannot achieve great things.

It really isn't my style of reading, but I sincerely enjoyed it. It's the first of a series and I am interested to read the next book. I am not going to write details and ruin it for everyone, but it's definitely not what I was expecting, but I was not disappointed. It's a quick read and well worth the time and money to read.

Steve Jobs in His Own Words

I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words







Authors George Beahm

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Product Description
Jobs made an indelible mark in multiple industries, and played an enormous role in creating others. Consider how Jobs and Apple shaped the following fields: personal computers (laptop and desktop), apps (for multiple electronic devices), computer animation (Pixar), music (iTunes), telecommunications (iPhone), personal digital devices (iPod), books (iBook), and, most recently, tablets (iPad). Jobs was the greatest business visionary of our era.

Jobs, who passed away on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56, co-founded Apple in 1976. He stepped down from that role in August 2011, bringing an end to one of the greatest, most transformative business careers in history. Over the years, Jobs gave countless interviews to the media, explaining what he called “the vision thing”—his unmatched ability to envision, and successfully bring to the marketplace, consumer products that people find simply irresistible.

Product Details
# Paperback: 160 pages
# Publisher: Agate B2 (October 19, 2011)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1932841660
# ISBN-13: 978-1932841664
# Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches
# Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces

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Reviews


The quote about broad-based education, for example, at first seems a strange choice of topic until one reads the quotes about the Pixar years. Beahm's selection of quotes reveal as much about the editor as the speaker. Both have minds that range far and wide, yet find the diamonds amidst the terrain. Including the bibliography in this book is as refreshing as it is informative. I've not been a fan of Jobs, but this book made me soften my opinion. Additionally, and perhaps one of the most unique characteristics of this book compared to other quotation books, the editor provides the full citation for each quote and in many cases a link for the reader to visit online.

I was being treated that way. Steve Jobs was very brusque, and Jobs said, "Well, tell me about--", and, I told him about Datapoint Corporation's ARCnet network and how everybody could share the resources. And then Steve Jobs gave me his philosophy: "Everybody can have their own computer. It shouldn't be tied to anything else. Time sharing is a thing of the past." And I said, "No, I'm not talking about time sharing.