The Bite in the Apple: A Memoir of My Life with Steve Jobs

Sometimes people don’t say things because they understand too much. Sometimes they stay quiet because they don’t understand enough. Sometimes people speak before they really understand. And sometimes they don’t because they know no one is listening. But it’s all part of history, this speaking and not speaking.

The computer flattens the emotional and spiritual dimensions of our lives, as it coaxes us away from real-time, face-to-face relationships with people and the natural world. I fear that one day we will finally have the science to show that generations of children have been harmed from using computers way too early and way too much.

“Zen meditation was not to be used for psychological purposes, or purposes unsuited for a spiritual endeavor.” This wisdom floated a bit beyond my grasp at the time. Now I understand it to mean that the development of someone’s spiritual life will always integrate into a person’s psychology and improve character, sometimes in vast ways. But spiritu

I later understood that Apple’s marketing agency had promoted the concept of a massive genius figurehead for the company. Big wink to Regis McKenna.

Sometimes he did not return my calls and other times he called constantly. And those mixed messages played havoc with my instincts.

If Steve had just been mean, I would have left. If he had been more self-reflective and considerate and tried to make things work, I would have grown to love and to trust him more profoundly. But he was kind and he was mean and he was attentive and he was aloof.

Then I added, “And by the way, what you really want is an image that’s so strong and appealing that there is immediate recognition of your company without the word ‘Apple’ written under it. Image speaks louder and with more immediacy and power to people. And that apple is beautiful!”

QUESTION: What does a person do about something that was lost in the past? ANSWER: Worry about how that loss might translate into losses in the future.

I believe Steve held multiple purposes in a single act of deception. Creativity, as I’ve said, was one. But it seems to me that he also lied to study people’s responses in order to gather intelligence.