Jobs 'authorised biography' out this month; he didn't ask for any control
The release of the authorised biography entitled “Steve Jobs,” by Walter Isaacson, has been moved up to October 24, according to a spokesman for US publisher Simon & Schuster. Authorised it may be, but Jobs didn't even ask for the right to read it.
The publisher first intended to bring out the book in February, then moved it up to late November and finally decided on the October date after the Apple co-founder passed away yesterday.
The book is already the best-selling title on Amazon.com, zooming from 437 to No. 1 - a leap of 43,000% - in the hours after Jobs' death. It is number three on the website of US bookseller Barnes & Noble. It can be pre-ordered for $17.88 at both online retailers - about half its regular cover price. In the UK, where the publisher is Little Brown, the price from Amazon will be £16.99 - or around $25. Isaacson, a former managing editor for Time magazine and currently the chief executive officer of the Aspen Institute, has written best-selling biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Henry Kissinger. Simon & Schuster say the book is "a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionised six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing." The author carried out more than 40 interviews with Jobs over two years, and also interviewed more than 100 family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues. Jobs asked for no control over what was written - nor the right to read it before it was published.