《成爲喬布斯》 記者與天才

Every new book about Steve Jobs will forever be measured against Walter Isaacson’s biography, which defined, for millions of readers, the man who built (and rebuilt) Apple.

每本關於史蒂夫o喬布斯的新書都會被拿來同沃爾特o艾薩克森的《史蒂夫o喬布斯傳》相比，後者爲數百萬讀者描繪了那位創立（並重建）蘋果公司的男人。

But the people closest to Jobs — the people who knew him best — say Isaacson missed the mark. “I thought the Isaacson book did him a tremendous disservice,” says Tim Cook, speaking out three years later. “It was just a rehash of a bunch of stuff that had already been written, and focused on small parts of his personality.”

但那些與喬布斯走得最近、最瞭解他的人，認爲艾薩克森的敘述有失準確。蘋果現任首席執行官蒂姆o庫克在三年後直言不諱地表示：“我認爲艾薩克森的作品完全是在幫倒忙。該書只是重新整理了已有的一系列材料，關注的僅僅是喬布斯個性中很小一部分。”

Isaacson’s not really to blame. He’s a skilled journalist, and he mastered an enormous amount of material in a very short time. But he didn’t get to spend much quality time with his subject until the last year and a half of Jobs’ life. Besides, he was hired to tell the story of what Steve Jobs did, not who Steve Jobs was.

我們也不能爲此責備艾薩克森。他是位技巧嫺熟的記者，在很短的時間內就獲取了大量材料。但直到喬布斯生前的最後一年半，他纔有了足夠的時間來專門準備這一主題。此外，他的職責是講述喬布斯做了什麼事，而非介紹喬布斯是個什麼人。

There are only a handful of journalists who knew Jobs well enough to tell that story. There’s Steve Levy, formerly of Newsweek. There’s John Markoff of the New York Times. And there’s Brent Schlender of the Wall Street and Fortune, who may have known Jobs best of all.

對喬布斯足夠了解，以至於能夠講述那個故事的記者可謂屈指可數。曾就職於《新聞週刊》的史蒂夫o列維是其中之一，《紐約時報》的約翰o馬爾科夫也算一個。此外，還有《華爾街日報》和《財富》雜誌記者布倫特o施倫德，他可能是最瞭解喬布斯的人了。

Becoming Steve Jobs was co-written with Rick Tetzeli, a long-time Fortune colleague, but it is told in the first person — Schlender’s first person — because it is, at heart, Schlender’s story, the story of a journalist’s 25-year relationship with a source.

《成爲喬布斯》是他與長期供職於《財富》的同事裏克o特策利合著的作品，但本書卻是以第一視角——施倫德的第一視角撰寫的，因爲這本質上是施倫德的故事，講述了一名記者與喬布斯結識25年來的所見所聞。

The book comes richly pre-publicized. Fast Company, where Tetzeli is executive editor, has been dishing out the newsiest chunks like ice cream, one scoop at a time.

本書做了大量售前宣傳工作。特策利擔任執行主編的《快公司》一直在連載最新章節，就像一次挖一勺冰淇淋一樣。

But it’s through Schlender’s stories, freshly told, often from taped interviews, that we get to know Steve Jobs as Schlender knew him. And it’s through these stories that each reader will assemble his or her own answer to the book’s central question:

施倫德的故事往往來自錄音採訪，正是通過這些故事，我們會像他了解喬布斯一樣，逐步認識喬布斯。也正是通過這些故事，每位讀者都能以自己的視角找到本書核心問題的答案：

How did a young man so reckless and arrogant become the most effective visionary business leader of our time?”

一位如此魯莽自大的年輕人，如何能成爲當代最具遠見卓識的商業領袖？

Jobs cultivated Schlender, gave him long interviews, called him to gossip and complain. Schlender visited Jobs at home; Jobs visited Schlender in the hospital, where they ended up together more often than either would have wished.

喬布斯與施倫德建立了友誼，接受他長時間的採訪，打電話跟他閒聊，抱怨。施倫德會去喬布斯家裏看他，喬布斯也會去醫院看施倫德，而他們最後在醫院會面的頻率之高，是之前誰也沒料到的。

Their first meeting — in 1986, when Jobs was drumming up publicity for NeXT — didn’t yield the Wall Street Journal feature story Jobs was hoping for, but it did convince him that Schlender was okay, not a bozo.

兩人相識於1986年，當時喬布斯正在奮力宣傳他的新公司NeXT。施倫德在《華爾街日報》刊發了一篇並未喬布斯所願的專題報道，但他認爲這位記者不錯，不是個笨蛋。

“Not writing a feature was the first salvo in the twenty-five-year-long negotiation that marked our relationship,” writes Schlender in the prologue that kickstarts the book. “There was never a minute where the basic terms of our relationship weren’t clear: I was the reporter, he was the source and subject.”

施倫德在全書的開頭寫道：“不發表特寫文章，是我們這段長達25年的友誼中確立的第一準則。在我們的關係中，有一條基本原則始終無比明確：我是記者，他是信息提供者和報道對象。”

And yet Schlender leaves Jobs’ invitation-only memorial service in October 2011 overcome with emotion for having lit into his source in their last phone call. Jobs had invited Schlender to pay a visit. But Schlender was in a dark mood. Not realizing how close Jobs was to death, he used the opportunity to air his grievances about their relationship. “After a few minutes, once I’d had my say, there was a silence on the line. And then he said he was really sorry.”

2011年10月，想到自己在與喬布斯最後一通電話中抨擊了他，施倫德懷着難過的心情離開了僅限受邀者參加的喬布斯追思會。當時喬布斯請施倫德去看看他，但施倫德情緒不佳。他沒有意識到死神已經臨近了喬布斯，還利用這一機會大發牢騷，抱怨他們的關係。“幾分鐘後，我說完了，話筒裏一時無聲。然後他說，他真的十分抱歉。”

Schlender made a halfhearted attempt to schedule a visit but quickly gave up, to his everlasting regret.

施倫德曾經試着找個時間去探望喬布斯，然後很快就取消了這個計劃。這件事讓他終身遺憾。

Highly recommended.

強烈推薦本書。