
Steve Jobs is an intensely private man. He values his privacy so much, he's had no qualms
fighting the Times of London about a profile they wrote on him last summer. Four years earlier, Jobs
played hardball with Wiley & Sons, the publisher of '
iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business'.
Jobs told Wiley & Sons to halt publication of the unauthorized biography. Wiley & Sons refused to back down so Steve punished them by pulling every book by Wiley & Sons from all Apple retail stores. Talk about hitting someone where it hurts; some of Wiley & Sons' biggest selling books were titles like
The Mac OS X Bible and
Mac OS X Tiger For Dummies (you can see a full list of their Mac titles
here).
It looked like anyone hoping for a look inside Steve's past would be hoping forever. Not any more.
The New York Times is reporting that Steve himself is set to collaborate on an
authorized biography, to be written by
Walter Isaacson, the former managing editor of Time magazine. The New York Times says the book is still in its early planning stages and would cover the entire life of Jobs, from his youth through his years at Apple.
Isaacson is the author of two best-selling biographies, "Einstein: His Life and Universe" and "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life." All of his books have been published by Simon & Schuster who, coincidentally, got the
center spot in the iBookstore participating-publishers slide during the iPad unveiling.
Neither Apple or Isaacson would comment on the rumors, but seeing how Apple is now in the book business, now's as good as time as any for an authorized Steven P. Jobs biography. What do you think? Buy an iPad, get the biography of its creator for free?