14 books that inspired Steve Jobs

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Steve Jobs Commencement HD

Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Steve Jobs: lifelong scholar.

Why did Apple 'think different?'

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Because, Steve Jobs said while introducing the iPad, the Mac maker was never just a tech company.

"The reason that Apple is able to create products like the iPad is because we've always tried to be at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts," he said.

Jobs' lifelong interest in the humanities gave Apple a human touch.

By combining tech and the liberal arts, Jobs said that Apple was able to "to make extremely advanced products from a technology point of view, but also have them be intuitive, easy-to-use, fun-to-use, so that they really fit the users."

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Jobs arrived at that perspective through a lifetime of reading, as reviewed in Walter Isaacson's biography and other places. We've put together a list of 14 books that most inspired him.