Steve Jobs' biography release date moved up: Oct 24

The book is the only authorized biography of Steve Jobs' life and includes one-on-one interviews

Since the announcement of Steve Jobs’ death last night, there has been no shortage of information pouring out of the news world on the iconic Apple leader.  It’s actually a little surprising to see who is talking about Steve Jobs’ legacy—it’s everyone from CNN and the tech blogs to President Obama, Ashton Kutcher, and my favorite mommy blog.  Even some of my least techy friends have been taking to Facebook to bid Jobs adieu—one of whom doesn’t even own an Apple device, as far as I know.

The drive for information is palpable, due in part to Jobs’ own predilection for privacy, but he did leave the world with one official chronicle of his life.  The first and only official biography, titled simply “Steve Jobs” (previously iSteve: The Book of Jobs), by Walter Isaacson, is due out sooner than anyone expected.  Publisher Simon & Schuster confirmed that the biography will be released October 24.

This is the second time that the publisher has pushed up the publication date.  Originally, the book was scheduled to be released in March 2012, but that was later moved up to November 2011.

Customers can pre-order the book on Amazon, where the biography has already planted itself firmly in the number one spot on the bestseller list.  It’s been in the top 100 for the last month.  Amazon is currently selling the book for $17.88, 49% off its $35 list price, and the Kindle edition will be available for $16.99.

The book’s allure comes from the fact that it’s the only one that got clearance from Steve Jobs as well as in-depth one-on-one interviews with the former Apple CEO.  Author Walter Isaacson reportedly spoke to Jobs just four weeks ago, at which point Jobs indicated that he knew his death was imminent, a source told the Wall Street Journal.

Jobs died Wednesday of a rare, though not particularly aggressive, form of pancreatic cancer known as islet cell carcinoma, a type that only accounts for 1.3% of all pancreatic cancer diagnoses.  The neuroendocrine tumor was found on his pancreas in 2003, and Jobs lived a surprising eight years, during which time he explored alternative treatments and even traveled to Switzerland to try out a new experimental therapy. 

When caught early, people with islet cell tumors actually have good odds of surviving. 

Some 80-90% of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have the much more aggressive adenocarcinoma, for which the one-year survival rate is 20% and the five-year survival rate is just 5%.  Patrick Swayze and the “Last Lecture” professor Randy Pausch had adenocarcinoma.