Steve Jobs called Jony Ive his "spiritual partner at Apple." The London-born genius was the second-most powerful person at Apple and the creative force who most embodies Jobs's spirit, the man who designed the products adopted by hundreds of millions the world over: the iPod, iPad, MacBook Air, the iMac G3, and the iPhone. In the wake of his close collaborator's death, the chief designer wrestled with grief and initially threw himself into his work designing the new Apple headquarters and the Watch before losing his motivation in a company increasingly devoted more to margins than to inspiration.
In many ways, Cook was Ive's opposite. The product of a small Alabama town, he had risen through the ranks from the supply side of the company. His gift was not the creation of new products. Instead, he had invented countless ways to maximize a margin, squeezing some suppliers, persuading others to build factories the size of cities to churn out more units. He considered inventory evil. He knew how to make subordinates sweat with withering questions.
Jobs selected Cook as his successor, and Cook oversaw a period of tremendous revenue growth that has lifted Apple's valuation to $2 trillion. He built a commanding business in China and rapidly distinguished himself as a master politician who could forge global alliances and send the world's stock market into freefall with a single sentence.
Author Tripp Mickle spoke with more than 200 current and former Apple executives, as well as figures key to this period of Apple's history, including Trump administration officials and fashion luminaries such as Anna Wintour while writing
. His research shows the company's success came at a cost. Apple lost its innovative spirit and has not designed a new category of device in years. Ive's departure in 2019 marked a culmination in Apple's shift from a company of innovation to one of operational excellence, and the price is a company that has lost its soul.

著名传记作家艾萨克森以近距离的观察视角，揭开了如今全球引人注目、富有争议性的创新企业家的神秘面纱：他善于突破常规，引领全球进入电动汽车时代、私人太空探索时代和人工智能时代，还将推特收入囊中。
埃隆·马斯克小时候在南非生活，那时他经常遭受校园欺凌，但同父亲给他造成的情感创伤相比，这些伤痛都微不足道。他的童年浸透了人性，这将他塑造为一个坚强而又脆弱的男孩，他对风险的容忍度极高，渴望营造出富有戏剧性的生活，让人类文明成为星际文明是他的宏大目标。
2008年，SpaceX的火箭在前三次发射过程中接连爆炸，特斯拉也即将破产，这是他生命中地狱般的至暗时期。在飓风来临时，他是最兴奋的人之一。动荡的环境和剧烈的冲突对他有着莫大的吸引力，有时他甚至渴望这些东西，无论是在工作中，还是在他努力维持却未能持久的恋爱关系中。每当面临艰巨的挑战，紧张感常常让他夜不能寐，甚至呕吐不止，但这些都是他赖以为生的养分。
2022年年初，也就是在SpaceX成功发射了31颗卫星、特斯拉卖出了近100万辆汽车、埃隆成为地球上最富有的人一年后，对于自己一再挑起戏剧性冲突的背后动机，他略带感伤地谈起了他的反思。
他说：“我需要改变我的思维模式，不能一直处于危机战备状态，我这种状态已经持续了大概14年，或者说我人生的大部分时间。”这更像是一个自怨自艾的评价，而不是在表达新年新气象的决心。他一边做出了这些反思和保证，一边还在秘密买入推特的股票。
两年来，艾萨克森形影不离地跟访马斯克，参加他大大小小的会议，与他一起走访工厂，深度采访了他本人，以及他的家人、朋友、同事、前妻和对手。艾萨克森揭开了马斯克内幕故事的面纱，其中有荡气回肠的胜利，也有跌宕起伏的乱局，令人拍案称奇。这些故事回答了这样一个问题：那个在马斯克心底驱使着他的恶魔，是不是也是推动创新与进步所必需的呢？

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.