Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs Archive (MacRumors, Hacker News):
A curated collection of Steve’s speeches, interviews and correspondence, Make Something Wonderful offers an unparalleled window into how one of the world’s most creative entrepreneurs approached his life and work. In these pages, Steve shares his perspective on his childhood, on launching and being pushed out of Apple, on his time with Pixar and NeXT, and on his ultimate return to the company that started it all.
Featuring an introduction by Laurene Powell Jobs and edited by Leslie Berlin, this beautiful handbook is designed to inspire readers to make their own “wonderful somethings” that move the world forward.
It’s even available as an EPUB file.
The holy grail, it would seem, is the physical edition of the book, which has been given to employees at both Apple and Disney.
As of this writing, there are roughly two dozen of them for sale on eBay, with prices as high as $25,000. Many of the listings have active bidders, most of them in the $1,000 range or so.
Also, for everyone enjoying the book on the website, due to a regression in the latest version of Safari/WebKit, it works best in Chromium browser. (Example: the full-screen pages lock into place as you swipe.)
It’s hard to capture the delight of a real book, but this website does a fantastic job coming close. Lots delightful, thoughtful little details.
I have to admit that the existence of the Steve Jobs Archive generates mixed feelings in me. It’s dedicated to curating the work of an important historical figure, but also feels a bit like it’s designed to be a hagiographic tool for influencing how Jobs is remembered by history. (Given how history tends to flatten people’s life stories and accomplishments into caricature or outright falsehood, I entirely understand the impulse.)
[…]
The highlight of the book, however, is his Stanford commencement address from 2005. It’s a remarkable speech to begin with, one that will likely be quoted for years to come. But the book also provides Jobs’s notes to himself as he began planning what to say in the speech! (He just kept sending himself emails whenever he thought of something, and because of that quirk, we get to peek inside his thought process.)
Previously:
Update (2023-04-21): Adam Chandler:
[You] can also show “completed” listings and those are averaging $350-$500
