I started reading this a few weeks ago, and was struck by how much casual magic there seemed to be in India at that time. In the parts describing his childhood, every other page described a mystical experience. It made it a little hard to connect with my life, and by extension, trying to understand how it might have affected Steve Jobs. My only (cynical) explanation is that the magic was a result of a yogi cult of personality, which Jobs was able to use later on.
I'd be interested to hear what other people thought if they've read any of it.
For a time I was embarrassed to even admit that I read it. I still am. The book is full of incredible people and events that don't and should not make any sense to a rational person. So I have written off this book as a third class fantasy novel. BUT: what is important to me here more than the book's content is the personality of the people who like it (knowing the fact that the author presents this as true facts). Steve jobs seemed to have a need in supernatural / magic to be able to perform magic. This book (and probably others like it) kept reinforcing his belief and created distorted reality for him like he used to create for his employees.
There are so many levels of interpretation when we read a book, and as such, what we get out of it varies depending upon the scope of our view.
prat may have been onto something with his post. I have only read part of this book so far and already I can see the parallels and applications to modern times/thinking. It's funny how zen buddhism seems timeless in it's application.
I'd be interested to hear what other people thought if they've read any of it.