2016-09-19
Pixars former chief financial officer turns in an insiders account of one of the worlds most influential digital media companies.Steve Jobs had made and lost a fortune by the time Levy showed up, having founded and then been ejected from Apple and gone to NeXT. In 1994, his new Pixar digital film company had chewed its way through $50 million of Jobs money with little to show for it. In part thanks to Levys legal skills and analytical powers, Jobs turned that around to become one of the wealthiest people in the world, controlling billions of dollars. The authors account of his dozen years with Jobs follows an unsurprising, almost by-the-numbers trajectory: new guy comes to embattled company, helps company face and then overcome challenges, and finds himself wealthy and powerful but unfulfilledwith the twist that, instead of becoming a celebrity chef or an around-the-world adventurer, Levy winds up a student and then teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. In between the cut-to-standard scaffolding, though, Levys account offers some pleasant moments and insights, including anecdotes on how Toy Story came into being pixel by pixel, a process that helped lure Levy into the company to begin with. (How do I know Im not simply falling for the allure of a high-tech company making a film? he asked a mentor, to which the response, in so many words, was, Dont be a schmuck and go for it.) No mere technocrat, Levy is also good on the details of digital filmmaking, as when he writes of the considerable difficulties involved in rendering skin so that it doesnt look like painted rubber: These are nuances we never think about, he observes, but they are glaringly obvious when they are missing. Thats just so, and theres not much missing herealthough there isnt much in the way of news about Jobs himself, the star of the show. A footnote to Walter Isaacsons Steve Jobs, but not a minor one.
The never-before-told story of Pixar's improbable success.
“Hi, Lawrence?” the caller asked. “This is Steve Jobs. I saw your picture in a magazine a few years ago and thought we'd work together someday.”
After Steve Jobs was unceremoniously dismissed from Apple, he turned his attention to a little-known graphics art company that he owned called Pixar.
One day, out of the blue, Jobs called Lawrence Levy, a Harvard-trained lawyer and Silicon Valley executive to whom he had never spoken before, in the hope of persuading Levy to help him get Pixar on the right track.
What Levy found in Pixar was a company on the verge of failure. To Pixar and Beyond is the extraordinary story of what happened next: How Levy, working closely with Jobs and the Pixar team, produced and implemented a highly improbable roadmap that transformed the sleepy graphics art studio into one of Hollywood's greatest success stories.
Set in the worlds of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, the book takes readers inside Pixar, Disney, law firms, and investment banks. It provides an up-close, first-hand account of Pixar's stunning ascent, how it took risks, Levy's enduring collaboration and friendship with Jobs, and how Levy came to see in Pixar deeper parallels that apply to all aspects of our lives.
Reviews:
“What a delightful book about the creation of Pixar from the inside. I learned more about Mr. Jobs, Pixar and business in Silicon Valley than I have in quite some time. And like a good Pixar film, it'll put a smile on your face.” -- Andrew Ross Sorkinin The New York Times (7/4/2016)
“I love this book! I think it is brilliant. Of course I am biased, but even so, I think people will love this story -- one they didn't even know existed. And Lawrence has told it beautifully.” -- Ed Catmull, Co-Founder and President Pixar Animation, President Disney Animation, bestselling author of Creativity Inc.
“Lawrence Levy's To Pixar and Beyond is the gripping story of how, through hard work, vision, and a devotion to excellence, tiny Pixar transformed itself into a Hollywood powerhouse. But it's also something more: a wonderful buddy story -- between Levy and Steve Jobs --and how their friendship and partnership transformed them both.” -- William D. Cohan, bestselling author of House of Cards and Money and Power
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“Hi, Lawrence?” the caller asked. “This is Steve Jobs. I saw your picture in a magazine a few years ago and thought we'd work together someday.”
After Steve Jobs was unceremoniously dismissed from Apple, he turned his attention to a little-known graphics art company that he owned called Pixar.
One day, out of the blue, Jobs called Lawrence Levy, a Harvard-trained lawyer and Silicon Valley executive to whom he had never spoken before, in the hope of persuading Levy to help him get Pixar on the right track.
What Levy found in Pixar was a company on the verge of failure. To Pixar and Beyond is the extraordinary story of what happened next: How Levy, working closely with Jobs and the Pixar team, produced and implemented a highly improbable roadmap that transformed the sleepy graphics art studio into one of Hollywood's greatest success stories.
Set in the worlds of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, the book takes readers inside Pixar, Disney, law firms, and investment banks. It provides an up-close, first-hand account of Pixar's stunning ascent, how it took risks, Levy's enduring collaboration and friendship with Jobs, and how Levy came to see in Pixar deeper parallels that apply to all aspects of our lives.
Reviews:
“What a delightful book about the creation of Pixar from the inside. I learned more about Mr. Jobs, Pixar and business in Silicon Valley than I have in quite some time. And like a good Pixar film, it'll put a smile on your face.” -- Andrew Ross Sorkinin The New York Times (7/4/2016)
“I love this book! I think it is brilliant. Of course I am biased, but even so, I think people will love this story -- one they didn't even know existed. And Lawrence has told it beautifully.” -- Ed Catmull, Co-Founder and President Pixar Animation, President Disney Animation, bestselling author of Creativity Inc.
“Lawrence Levy's To Pixar and Beyond is the gripping story of how, through hard work, vision, and a devotion to excellence, tiny Pixar transformed itself into a Hollywood powerhouse. But it's also something more: a wonderful buddy story -- between Levy and Steve Jobs --and how their friendship and partnership transformed them both.” -- William D. Cohan, bestselling author of House of Cards and Money and Power
To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History
The never-before-told story of Pixar's improbable success.
“Hi, Lawrence?” the caller asked. “This is Steve Jobs. I saw your picture in a magazine a few years ago and thought we'd work together someday.”
After Steve Jobs was unceremoniously dismissed from Apple, he turned his attention to a little-known graphics art company that he owned called Pixar.
One day, out of the blue, Jobs called Lawrence Levy, a Harvard-trained lawyer and Silicon Valley executive to whom he had never spoken before, in the hope of persuading Levy to help him get Pixar on the right track.
What Levy found in Pixar was a company on the verge of failure. To Pixar and Beyond is the extraordinary story of what happened next: How Levy, working closely with Jobs and the Pixar team, produced and implemented a highly improbable roadmap that transformed the sleepy graphics art studio into one of Hollywood's greatest success stories.
Set in the worlds of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, the book takes readers inside Pixar, Disney, law firms, and investment banks. It provides an up-close, first-hand account of Pixar's stunning ascent, how it took risks, Levy's enduring collaboration and friendship with Jobs, and how Levy came to see in Pixar deeper parallels that apply to all aspects of our lives.
Reviews:
“What a delightful book about the creation of Pixar from the inside. I learned more about Mr. Jobs, Pixar and business in Silicon Valley than I have in quite some time. And like a good Pixar film, it'll put a smile on your face.” -- Andrew Ross Sorkinin The New York Times (7/4/2016)
“I love this book! I think it is brilliant. Of course I am biased, but even so, I think people will love this story -- one they didn't even know existed. And Lawrence has told it beautifully.” -- Ed Catmull, Co-Founder and President Pixar Animation, President Disney Animation, bestselling author of Creativity Inc.
“Lawrence Levy's To Pixar and Beyond is the gripping story of how, through hard work, vision, and a devotion to excellence, tiny Pixar transformed itself into a Hollywood powerhouse. But it's also something more: a wonderful buddy story -- between Levy and Steve Jobs --and how their friendship and partnership transformed them both.” -- William D. Cohan, bestselling author of House of Cards and Money and Power
“Hi, Lawrence?” the caller asked. “This is Steve Jobs. I saw your picture in a magazine a few years ago and thought we'd work together someday.”
After Steve Jobs was unceremoniously dismissed from Apple, he turned his attention to a little-known graphics art company that he owned called Pixar.
One day, out of the blue, Jobs called Lawrence Levy, a Harvard-trained lawyer and Silicon Valley executive to whom he had never spoken before, in the hope of persuading Levy to help him get Pixar on the right track.
What Levy found in Pixar was a company on the verge of failure. To Pixar and Beyond is the extraordinary story of what happened next: How Levy, working closely with Jobs and the Pixar team, produced and implemented a highly improbable roadmap that transformed the sleepy graphics art studio into one of Hollywood's greatest success stories.
Set in the worlds of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, the book takes readers inside Pixar, Disney, law firms, and investment banks. It provides an up-close, first-hand account of Pixar's stunning ascent, how it took risks, Levy's enduring collaboration and friendship with Jobs, and how Levy came to see in Pixar deeper parallels that apply to all aspects of our lives.
Reviews:
“What a delightful book about the creation of Pixar from the inside. I learned more about Mr. Jobs, Pixar and business in Silicon Valley than I have in quite some time. And like a good Pixar film, it'll put a smile on your face.” -- Andrew Ross Sorkinin The New York Times (7/4/2016)
“I love this book! I think it is brilliant. Of course I am biased, but even so, I think people will love this story -- one they didn't even know existed. And Lawrence has told it beautifully.” -- Ed Catmull, Co-Founder and President Pixar Animation, President Disney Animation, bestselling author of Creativity Inc.
“Lawrence Levy's To Pixar and Beyond is the gripping story of how, through hard work, vision, and a devotion to excellence, tiny Pixar transformed itself into a Hollywood powerhouse. But it's also something more: a wonderful buddy story -- between Levy and Steve Jobs --and how their friendship and partnership transformed them both.” -- William D. Cohan, bestselling author of House of Cards and Money and Power
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169740417 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Audiobooks.com Publishing |
| Publication date: | 11/01/2016 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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