Steve Jobs: Insanely Great

by Jessie Hartland

Overview

Whether they’ve seen Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs movie, read Walter Isaacson’s biography, or just own an iPhone, this graphic novel retelling of the Apple innovator’s life will capture the imaginations of the legions of readers who live and breathe the technocentric world Jobs created.
 
Told through a combination of black-and-white illustrations and handwritten text, this fast-paced and entertaining biography in graphic format presents the story of the ultimate American entrepreneur, the man who brought us Apple Computer, Pixar, Macs, iPods, iPhones, and more.
 
Jobs’s remarkable life reads like a history of the personal technology industry. He started Apple Computer in his parents’ garage and eventually became the tastemaker of a generation, creating products we can’t live without. Through it all, he was an overbearing and demanding perfectionist, both impossible and inspiring. Capturing his unparalleled brilliance, as well as his many demons, Jessie Hartland’s engaging biography illuminates the meteoric successes, devastating setbacks, and myriad contradictions that make up the extraordinary life and legacy of the insanely great Steve Jobs.

Here's the perfect book for any teen interested in STEM topics, especially tech.
 
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this comic tale can hang with the sprawling biographies.” —Macworld.com
 
“An accessible take . . . undoubtedly valuable for kids who are growing up using Apple’s products but knowing little about the man who created them.” —GeekDad.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307982988
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	10/11/2016
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	400,906
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jessie Hartland is the author and illustrator of the highly acclaimed graphic biography Bon Appétit: The Delicious Life of Julia Child, which the New York Times described as “bursting with exuberant urban-naïf gouache paintings and a hand-lettered text that somehow manages to recount every second of Child’s life.” Her illustrations have appeared in newspapers and magazines throughout the world, including the New York Times, Bon Appétit, Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, and Travel and Leisure. She is also a commercial artist whose work can be seen on ceramics and fabric, as well as in advertisements and store windows. She lives in New York City with her family. To learn more, visit jessiehartland.com and follow @JessieHartland on Twitter.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Young Sprout 1

Chapter 2 Growing Up 15

Chapter 3 Steve and war Start their First Business 29

Chapter 4 College and Enlightenment 37

Chapter 5 Apple Is Born 53

Chapter 6 Moving Up 73

Chapter 7 Moving On 87

Chapter 8 Rise and Fall 101

Chapter 9 The Family Man 131

Chapter 10 Branching Out 137

Chapter 11 The Return to Apple 151

Chapter 12 Expansion 169

Chapter 13 Refined Design 191

Acknowledgments 219

Bibliography 220

Notes 222

Editorial Reviews

Hartland ably captures the many facets of entrepreneur and innovator Steve Jobs in this graphic biography…. Luddites and iFans alike should find this volume an illuminating introduction to Jobs’s life and the recent history of consumer electronics.” —School Library Journal starred review

"Harland brings the style of simple drawings paired with easy-to-digest facts she used in her first novel, Bon Appétit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child, to a breezy yet thorough illustrated biography of Apple pioneer Jobs." —Publishers Weekly

"Hartland’s signature squiggle style and handwritten text create a disarming, intimate view of the subject, as does the lack of any color. Like Job’s innovative designs, her approach is sleek and simplistic, covering just what is needed while still standing out from the competition" —Booklist

"Wonderfully fun…I think he (Jobs) would absolutely adore that there’s this graphic biography of him.
―Nancy Pearl, 
 
“For being a streamlined look at an impressively packed life, Insanely Great is a complete and multifaceted story…The book is nuanced without being sprawling; comprehensive but not exhaustive—or exhausting, for that matter.” ―Macworld.com 
 
“If you are a fan of Steve Jobs, would like to learn more about this brilliant man or like the comic form, then this is the perfect book for you.” ―TeenReads.com
 
“I love Hartland’s illustrations. They exhibit a pleasing simplicity that should make them appeal to anyone with a love of Apple-style minimalism.” ―CultofMac.com
 
“[A]n accessible, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining biography.” ―ComicsGrinder.com

From the Publisher

05/04/2015
Harland brings the style of simple drawings paired with easy-to-digest facts she used in her first novel, Bon Appétit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child, to a breezy yet thorough illustrated biography of Apple pioneer Jobs. Beginning with his literal birth and following through the important moments of his life, Harland’s take is both engaging and educational, though not especially demanding of the reader. The black and white art is unrefined but pleasant and contributes to the overall tone, which is effortlessly charming without being terribly enlightening or revealing. Harland uses the page layouts to full advantage, with maps, diagrams and call-outs galore. Though it’s certainly informative for all ages, some readers will yearn for something with more depth and complexity in its execution, even as they whiz through the Richard-Scarry-for-grown-ups pages. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (July)

Publishers Weekly

★ 06/01/2015
Gr 8 Up—Hartland ably captures the many facets of entrepreneur and innovator Steve Jobs in this graphic biography. Jobs's entire lifespan is here, from his precocious childhood tinkering to his determination to see his final product, the iPad, through before his untimely death. In between, Hartland portrays Jobs in all his geeky, passionate, difficult glory. This work doesn't shy away from Jobs's demanding, perfectionist side, but it also portrays his delight in the "perfect product": an odd mixture that Hartland describes as Jobs's "reality distortion field." Apple is, of course, center stage, and readers will find the graphic representation of the evolution of various Apple products helpful. Hartland also covers Jobs's ouster from Apple in 1985, his development of the NeXT computer, and his work with Pixar. Throughout, panels depicting the latest technology (for instance, color TVs and digital watches in the late 1970s, cordless phones and the Sony Walkman in the 1980s) provide readers with a feel for competing products. The artwork is deceptively simple, at first blush appearing like the doodles of an average teenager, but these loose, expressive illustrations are detailed and convey large amounts of information. VERDICT Luddites and iFans alike should find this volume an illuminating introduction to Jobs's life and the recent history of consumer electronics.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI

School Library Journal

2015-03-30
A free-wheeling graphic biography of Steve Jobs. The late visionary behind Apple and Pixar lent himself to caricature, and illustrator Hartland (Bon Appétit: The Delicious Life of Julia Child, 2012, etc.) takes full advantage. Her inspirational version of the "insanely great" Jobs is a misfit who refused to follow the rules or play well with others, who was as rebellious as he was smart. Eventually becoming one of the richest men in the world, he followed a spiritual path of asceticism, looking for gurus, seeking a purer truth than can be found in material possessions. Yet he showed a remarkable lack of compassion and empathy toward his associates and was forced out of the Apple he had founded because others considered him so difficult. He wasn't the computer whiz that his early collaborator Steve Wozniak was, but the marketing acumen of his passion for design and simplicity proved equally crucial in Apple's transformation of the personal computer from a hobbyist pursuit into a paradigm-shifting commercial product. "Woz is the engineering genius," the author writes in a kid's scrawl that matches the rough-hewn illustrations. "Steve is the salesman with the big picture." As she later quotes her subject, who saw Apple prosper beyond anyone's wildest expectations, "I don't think it would have happened without Woz and I don't think it would have happened without me." Recognizing his own deficiencies, Jobs recruited Pepsi's John Sculley to run the company: "While Steve knows himself to be quirky, tactless, confrontational, and insensitive, he knows Sculley is polite, polished, and easygoing"—though inevitably, there was a power struggle between the two. The narrative somehow squeezes Jobs' important innovations—the iMac, the music empire of iPods and iTunes, the smartphone revolution, the iPad—into a breezy narrative that engages and entertains. Nothing new or revelatory here, but the book can serve as a good introduction to Jobs and will impress with its concision those who already know a lot about him.

Kirkus Reviews

Read More