The Bite in the Apple: A memoir of Chrisann Brennan

Book Reviewed: The Bite in the Apple - A Memoir of My Life with Steve Jobs, by Chrisann Brennan

This book tries to redefine Steve Jobs and opens up the window a little wider into his personal side. Steve Jobs pioneered the PC revolution and emerged as a great visionary and master of innovation. He is an America hero in his own rights. It is no secret that he was also an enigma as previously observed by his close friends like Nolan Bushnell, Atari's co-founder, who described him as "difficult but valuable." Author Chrisann Brennan, a longtime girlfriend and the mother of Steve Jobs' first child Lisa Jobs was closely involved in his personal life than many people who worked with him and is better equipped to understand and write about him. She understands his spiritual and metaphysical side, and his strong interest in Zen Buddhism. She understands his frustrations when his biological mother abandoned him. But he was also a ruthless dictator who can trivialize another human being for silliest reasons. Brennan describe him as a misfit who experimented with mind-altering drugs like LSD and fascinated by the by the glamour of the 1940s. He suggested that that he flew fighter planes against the Nazis in a former life, putting himself as a believer of parapsychology. He was a fan of big band music and danced like he was living in the 1940s. Quite often he would be home very late and wake Chrisann Brennan to talk or make love; he was utterly inconsiderate and felt that his lust and interest must be served first. He just played to win. Chrisann recalls that she never had a sense of emotional intimacy with him. At the Presidio house, where they were cohabiting, she chose the master bedroom and Jobs the front bedroom, but after few weeks, he moved Chrisann's stuff out of the master bedroom and made himself comfortable there: He was graceless. For many years he denied that he was the father of Lisa Jobs, suggesting that "28 percent of the male population in the United States could be her father." He was cold and heartless. Steve Jobs was not perfect and not many people argue against that, but if he had lived longer, he probably would have been a great philanthropist like Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Only during this week, the Silicon Valley home where Steve Jobs built the first Apple computer has been designated as a historical site by the city of Los Altos, California. This is just an illustration of his force as an inventor and a futurist.