First authorized Steve Jobs biography in 2012

Jobs breaks his silence of more than 25 years to give details of his life to Walter Isaacson

Leading book publisher Simon & Schuster announced late Sunday that the very first authorized biography of Steve Jobs, “iSteve: The Book of Jobs,” by Walter Isaacson, will be published in early 2012. A former executive at CNN and TIME magazine, Walter Isaacson has written biographies on a number of history’s greatest achievers, including Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Henry Kissinger. He has also written books on American leaders and thinkers, as well as the quality of leadership among the world’s foremost figures.

Isaacson’s latest book, which has been reportedly in the works since 2009, is significant as Jobs has never authorized a biography before, despite the scores of books that have been written about him. A quick trip to Amazon turns up hundreds of results, with titles like “The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation,” “Inside Steve’s Brain,” and “iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business.” The latter title, an unauthorized biography by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon, won the wrath of the Apple CEO himself, who was so outraged by the book that upon its publication, Apple banned all books published by John Wiley & Sons from all of Apple’s retail stores.

Isaacson’s book marks the first time that Steve Jobs has spoken with a book author for a book about himself or Apple in over 25 years.  

Other than the fact that it is an authorized biography, no details on the book have been released as of yet and neither Isaacson nor Jobs are commenting on the book. But seeing as it is a biography, it will likely touch on the major points in Jobs’ life, including his resignation from Apple in the 1980s, his success with Pixar Animation Studios, his subsequent return to Apple in 1997, and more personal challenges like his struggle with 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,” said Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp in a statement. “Just as he did with Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson is telling a unique story of revolutionary genius.”

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