Launched last year, the Official Steve Jobs Archive has released its first major publication. The free book called Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs in his own words has been available since Tuesday in various digital formats and can also be read directly on the web.
A whole life on 320 pages
There is a curated collection of Jobs’ speeches, interviews and letters on almost 320 pages, supplemented by numerous photos, many of which were previously unpublished. Among other things, Jobs tells about his childhood, about the founding and expulsion of Apple, about his time at Pixar and NeXT and finally about his return to the company that started it all. The book begins with childhood and adolescence, before going into three sections about the times from 1976 to 1985, 1985 to 1996 and finally 1996 to 2011.
The book comes with an introduction by Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs’ widow. Also useful is an index of key events in Jobs’ life. First image in “Make Something Wonderful” is little Steve on a bike (“A bicycle of the mind”), the last showing his resignation letter from August 2011. The Apple co-founder finally died on October 5, 2011 at the age of only 56.
Steve Jobs archives with official blessing
The Steve Jobs Archive was launched in September 2022 with the blessing and initiative of Laurene Powell Jobs, to whom Jobs had been married since 1991. The website is designed and maintained by archivists. A senior historian will collect artifacts, interviews and other materials related to Jobs’ life and digitally process them. There will also be longer conversations with many people who have worked with Jobs, including current Apple boss Tim Cook, Apple’s ex-design boss Jony Ive and many more.
There is already one smaller digital exhibition to review, which includes early emails, images, videos, and audio recordings and revolves around Jobs’ motivational methods. Further “digital exhibits” on areas of life of the Apple co-founder are planned for the future, as well as further publications and even fellowships. The archive has not yet revealed how the latter will develop.
(bsc)
