The Zen of Steve Jobs

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The Zen of Steve Jobs (eBook) Pub. Date: 12/5/2011 Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
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The Zen of Steve Jobs Pub. Date: 1/3/2012 Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated

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Overview

An illustrated depiction of Steve Jobs' friendship with Zen Buddhist Kobun Chino Otogawa and the impact it had on Jobs' career

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs (1955-2011) had such an enormous impact on so many people that his life often took on aspects of myth. But much of his success was due to collaboration with designers, engineers and thinkers. The Zen of Steve Jobs tells the story of Jobs' relationship with one such person: Kobun Chino Otogawa.

Kobun was a Zen Buddhist priest who emigrated to the U.S. from Japan in the early 1970s. He was an innovator, lacked appreciation for rules and was passionate about art and design. Kobun was to Buddhism as Jobs was to the computer business: a renegade and maverick. It wasn't long before the two became friends—a relationship that was not built to last.

This graphic book is a reimagining of that friendship. The story moves back and forward in time, from the 1970s to 2011, but centers on the period after Jobs' exile from Apple in 1985 when he took up intensive study with Kobun. Their time together was integral to the big leaps that Apple took later on with its product design and business strategy.

Told using stripped down dialogue and bold calligraphic panels, The Zen of Steve Jobs explores how Jobs might have honed his design aesthetic via Eastern religion before choosing to identify only what he needs and leave the rest behind.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

At one point in this graphic novel biography, the titular icon states his design philosophy in a succinct phrase: “What you leave out will shape the whole.” This also describes the philosophy driving this book. While not a conventional biography, this book uses a nonlinear mosaic structure to give the reader glimpses into Jobs’s relationship with Zen roshi Kobun Chino Otogawa, whom he met following his ouster from Apple. Melby starts with the near collapse of Apple Computers in 1985 and then jumps around a time line that covers decades. Each scene connects loosely to the next, sometimes showing the origins of ideas Jobs would later employ in redesigning Mac, sometimes connecting only through the relationship between the priest and his student. Melby portrays Jobs as an aggressive egotist as much as an innovator, and particularly later in the book, he is shown to be careless with his friends. The artwork uses shadow and color to indicate form in a way that is deliberately reminiscent of early iPod commercials. A fascinating section in the back matter details the artists’ process in finding that aesthetic. Overall, the drawings and the sparseness of the narrative work together to shape a fine story, one perhaps too large to be told in one volume.(Jan.)

Library Journal

This innovative graphic novel unveils a less publicized part of Jobs: his flirtation with Zen Buddhism and friendship with Kobun Chino Otogawa, as iconoclastic a Zen priest as Jobs was a computer guru—and how Jobs' tinge of Zenitude affected Apple products. Drawing on extensive research, Melby reimagines their relationship as a push-pull between action and letting go, between substance and space, between perfection and mistakes. The final image depicts Jobs crowing "Perfect" at his own calligraphy of the kanji character for "mistake." Kobun's final mistake was attending to meditation rather than to his young daughter, which led to their joint drowning. The art is fluid, two-color washes, abetted by insightful extras that supply context. VERDICT Drawing on two famous figures, Melby raises many of the Important Questions: how to live one's life? What is substance and what is background, and how can they dance together? What will be left as legacy? An intriguing readalike for teen and adult readers of Isaacson's bestselling Jobs biography plus other geeks and geek-curious.—M.C.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781118295267
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Publication date: 1/3/2012
Edition number: 1
Pages: 80
Sales rank: 127,344
Product dimensions: 6.80 (w) x 9.80 (h) x 0.50 (d)

Meet the Author

Caleb Melby is a Forbes contributor and a native of Mankato, Minnesota, a town known as the site of the nation's largest mass hanging. It is otherwise a very nice place. Prior to writing The Zen of Steve Jobs, Caleb wrote for the Chicago Tribune and the Times of South Africa. He currently lives in a variety of places with no wives and no children.

Since its founding in 1917, Forbes has been providing insights and information that ensure the success of those who are dedicated to the spirit of free enterprise. Its flagship publications, Forbes and Forbes Asia, reach a worldwide audience of more than 6 million readers and its website, Forbes.com—the leading business site on the Web—attracts an audience that averages more than 21 million people per month. Forbes also publishes ForbesLife magazine and licensed editions in more than 18 countries around the world.

JESS3 is a world-renowned creative agency that specializes in data visualization. Through the mastery of illustration, information design, animation, and engineering, JESS3 brings beauty to complex concepts, issues, and data sets. In addition to working with Forbes on The Zen of Steve Jobs, JESS3 is dedicated to the craft of storytelling for vanguard brands that include Google, Nike, Intel, MTV, Twitter, Samsung, Facebook, and NASA. JESS3 also has a dedicated labs division, which funds and launches its own products and initiatives.

Customer Reviews

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LZBea

Posted January 29, 2012

Buy the hard copy; I couldn't view any of the text on my iPad.

Being this is a cartoon style book, I couldn't read any of the text on my iPad - even when enlarging it. I'm curious to hear if others are having this problem. I'd like to get a refund, but haven't had the time to check into it yet.
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The_Reader55

Posted January 14, 2012

Highly Recommend

This a lighthearted look at appreciating the space around us and at the same time profound thought provoking with its simplicity, will lighten your thoughts and bring a smile to your face. Well done!
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Anonymous

Posted December 14, 2011

Ha

Aha
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