Steve Jobs
I’ve been spending the last week pretty much glued to my new Kindle Fire, which is to be expected. It’s shiny and new and therefore requires my attention for many hours of the day. However, I’ve been using it more for one activity than any other, which has been unexpected (though honestly it shouldn’t have been). What activity? Well, it is a Kindle, so what do you think I’ve been doing?
Reading.
Specifically, I’ve been hooked on the Steve Jobs biography, which I finally finished yesterday. For all his flaws (and he had quite a few, as the book lays out), Jobs was a truly fascinating man, and reading about his life has been anything but a chore. The only thing difficult about reading this biography was getting through the last couple chapters. It’s tough to observe someone, even secondhand, struggling through their last few months of life, especially because we as readers know exactly how much time he had left. I had to set the book down several times and take a break; it was more than I could handle at times.
It’s definitely a worthwhile read though. What I found most striking about the book (and this is by no means a spoiler) is that Jobs is often described as having a binary outlook on people: in his mind, you were either a hero or a shithead. And throughout the novel, I found myself having this same binary outlook about Jobs himself. He was often a visionary, but he was just as often an asshole.
Reading on that screen doesn't strain your eyes? That was I specifically wanted an e-ink screen, despite the Nook Color being all shiny! and new! (And then, of course, I didn't like the nook interface.)
The only times it hurts my eyes is when I try to read in low light situations. If the room I'm in is well lit, reading on the Fire is similar to reading a magazine page.
[…] and the Fire seemed like it would fit that niche nicely. The only book I owned initially was the Steve Jobs biography, and I just assumed that it (and maybe some of the free classics) would be the only thing I read on […]