| Steve Jobs | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Walter Isaacson |
| Original title | iSteve: The Book of Jobs |
| Cover artist | Albert Watson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Biography |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster (U.S.) |
| Publication date | October 24, 2011 |
| Media type | E-book and Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
| Pages | 656 pp |
| ISBN | 1451648537 |
Steve Jobs is the authorized biography of Steve Jobs. The biography was written at the request of Jobs by acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson, a former executive at CNN and Time who has written best-selling biographies about Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein.[1][2]
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—in addition to interviews with more than one hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Isaacson was given "exclusive and unprecedented" access to Jobs's life.[3] Jobs is said to have encouraged the people interviewed to speak honestly. Although Jobs cooperated with the book, he asked for no control over its content other than the book's cover, and waived the right to read it before it was published.[4]
Originally planned for release on March 6, 2012, its release date was moved forward to November 21, 2011 due to Jobs's deteriorating health,[4] and again following Jobs's death on October 5, 2011.[5] The book finally released on October 24, 2011 by Simon & Schuster in the United States.[6]
Contents |
The book is described as "[chronicling] the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing."[4]
Publisher Simon & Schuster announced on April 10, 2011 that Walter Isaacson, a former executive at CNN and Time who has written best-selling biographies about Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, will write an authorized biography on Steve Jobs, described by the publisher as providing an "unprecedented look at the life of Apple's CEO and co-founder."
The book was originally titled iSteve: The Book of Jobs, but was changed to the "simpler and more elegant" title after Isaacson's wife and daughter told him it was "too cutesy."[7]
As I watched him battle that disease, with an awesome intensity combined with an astonishing emotional romanticism, I came to find him deeply compelling, and I realized how much his personality was ingrained in the products he created. His passions, demons, desires, artistry, devilry and obsession for control were integrally connected to his approach to business, so I decided to try to write his tale as a case study in creativity.
Isaacson described how in Summer 2004, he received a phone call from Jobs asking him if he would "take a walk" so they could talk. Isaacson had recently published a biography of Benjamin Franklin and was writing another about Albert Einstein. It was then that Jobs asked Isaacson to write a biography of him. Isaacson's initial reaction was to wonder whether "[Jobs] saw himself as the natural successor [to Franklin and Einstein]."
Isaacson assumed that Jobs was in the middle of his career and therefore "demurred". Instead, Isaacson suggested that he would write a biography of Jobs when he retires in "a decade or two." Isaacson later realized that Jobs had contacted him just before he was going to receive his first operation to treat his pancreatic cancer.
This is the perfect match of subject and author, and it is certain to be a landmark book about one of the world's greatest innovators … Just as he did with Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson is telling a unique story of revolutionary genius.
Although Jobs cooperated with the book, he asked for no control over what was written and waived the right to read it before it was published.[4] Isaacson began work on the book in 2009.[10]
The front cover uses a photographic portrait of Jobs commissioned by Fortune magazine in 2006 for a portfolio of powerful people. The photograph was taken by Albert Watson.
When the photograph was taken, he said he insisted on having a three hour period to set up his equipment, adding that he wanted to make "[every shoot] as greased lightning fast as possible for the [subject]." When Jobs arrived he didn't immediately look at Watson, but instead at the equipment, focusing on Watson's 4×5 camera before saying "wow, you're shooting film."[12]
If you look at that shot, you can see the intensity. It was my intention that by looking at him, that you knew this guy was smart. I heard later that it was his favorite photograph of all time.
Jobs gave Watson an hour longer than he had given most photographers for a portrait session. Watson reportedly instructed Jobs to make "95 percent, almost 100 percent of eye contact with the camera," and to "think about the next project you have on the table," in addition to thinking about instances when people have challenged him.[12]
The title font is Helvetica.[13]
The back cover uses another photographic portrait of Jobs taken in his living room in Woodside, California in February 1984 by Norman Seeff. In a Behind the Cover article published by Time magazine, Seeff recalls him and Jobs "just sitting" on his living room floor, talking about "creativity and everyday stuff," when Jobs left the room and returned with a Macintosh 128K (the original Macintosh computer). Jobs "[plopped] down" in the lotus position holding the computer in his lap when Seeff took the photograph.[14]
We did do a few more shots later on, and he even did a few yoga poses—he lifted his leg and put it over his shoulder—and I just thought we were two guys hanging out, chatting away, and enjoying the relationship. It wasn't like there was a conceptualization here—this was completely off the cuff, spontaneity that we never thought would become a magazine image.
The book's working title, iSteve: The Book of Jobs, was chosen by publisher Simon & Schuster's publicity department. Although author Walter Isaacson was "never quite sure about it", his wife and daughter reportedly were. However, they thought it was "too cutesy" and so Isaacson persuaded the publisher to change the title to something "simpler and more elegant."[15]
The title Steve Jobs was allegedly chosen to reflect Jobs' "minimalist" style and to emphasise the biography's authenticity, further differentiating it from unauthorized publications, such as iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business by Jeffrey Young.[16]
Proposals for the book to be adapted into a feature-length biographical film were announced a few days after Jobs's death.[17] Sony Pictures acquired the rights to the book from author Walter Isaacson for a seven-figure sum. The film will be titled Steve Jobs and will be produced by Mark Gordon.[18]
Although it will be the first feature-length film to document the life of Jobs, previous films have been produced. In 1999, a television film Pirates of Silicon Valley was released, with Noah Wyle playing Jobs.
Extracts from the biography have been the feature of various magazines, in addition to interviews with the author, Walter Isaacson.[19]
To commemorate Jobs's life after his death on October 5, 2011, Time published a commemorative issue for Jobs on October 8, 2011. The issue's cover featured a portrait of Jobs, taken by Norman Seeff, in which he is sitting in the lotus position holding the original Macintosh computer, which was published in Rolling Stone in January 1984 and is featured on the back cover of Steve Jobs. The issue marked the eighth time Jobs has been featured on the cover of Time.[20] The issue included a photographic essay by Diana Walker, a retrospective on Apple by Harry McCracken and Lev Grossman, and a six-page essay by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson's essay served as a preview of Steve Jobs and described Jobs pitching of the book to him.[8]
Bloomberg Businessweek also released a commemorative issue of its magazine commemorating the life of Jobs. The cover of the magazine features Apple-like simplicity, with a black-and-white, up close photo of Jobs and his years of birth and death. In tribute to Jobs's minimalist style, the issue was published without advertisements. It featured extensive essays by Steve Jurvetson, John Sculley, Sean Wisely, William Gibson, and Walter Isaacson. Isaacson's essay served as a preview of Steve Jobs.
Fortune featured an exclusive extract of the biography on October 24, 2011. The excerpt focused on the "friend-enemy" relationship that Jobs had with Bill Gates.[21]