'Insanely Great' is a Steve Jobs bio that's easier to digest
Steve Jobs biographies abound, but the most recent, from author Jessie Hartland, is a little different. Well, a lot different, in fact. Because unlike Walter Isaacson’s magnum opus, and unlike most of the other, unauthorized biographies of Jobs, Hartland’s book tells the life of the Apple co-founder using the form of a graphic novel.
Called “Steve Jobs: Insanely Great,” the graphic novel tells the life of Jobs, beginning with his childhood and continuing with his career at Apple, using “a series of black-and-white, pencil-drawn panels,” according to Macworld. The author, Jessie Hartland, has had her drawings published in countless newspapers and magazines, and she’s even penned another “graphic biography,” “Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child.”
Concerning her work on Steve Jobs, she said:
I had heard he was a rebel, an iconoclast, and that he’d started a little business in his parents’ garage and it became the world’s most valuable company. I wanted to know more. Who wouldn’t want to know more?
From here, Hartland embarked on planning, sketching, and eventually drawing and writing “Insanely Great.” Her research involved scouring through Isaacson’s biography, and even visiting Silicon Valley in California (which was no mean feat for Hartland, considering she lives and works in New York City).
“Steve Jobs: Insanely Great.”
The author added:
Steve Jobs died relatively young, yet he did 10 times more than most people do in a long lifetime. To piece the story together, understand it completely, winnow it down, and get it all in the right order took some time.
I just love the look of “Insanely Great.” Its illustrations, and the fun, witty text which accompanies these, are perfectly matched. (I especially like drawing depicting the birth of the Apple I, and the text, which reads: “Their prototype comes together. Woz is a techy wizard.”)
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, as depicted in “Insanely Great.”
You can pick up “Steve Jobs: Insanely Great” now from Amazon. Prices start at just $11.88 for a paperback copy.