In this gloves-off profile in the Business Builders series, Corrigan depicts Apple’s phoenixlike cofounder as a hard-driving control freak whose uncommon ability to motivate and persuade has repeatedly seen him through multiple product failures and tumultuous business partnerships. Tracing Jobs’ rise from relatively humble origins to billionairedom, Corrigan focuses on his management style and public career—barely mentioning his private life beyond his stout early denial of paternity when his first daughter was born—up to the 2007 introduction of the iPhone and Apple TV. Given the book’s frequently critical tone, concluding remarks about how Jobs “does exemplify many of the qualities necessary to succeed in business, and in life” seem a little disingenuous. Readers would do well to balance out Corrigan’s perspective with other treatments of Jobs’ career, such as Donald B. Lemke’s graphic-novel-style biography, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and the Personal Computer (2007); regardless, this book’s details, insights, and assortment of interesting photographs are likely to pique many readers’ interest. A multimedia resource list concludes. Grades 6-9. --John Peters
