"Steve Jobs" The Biography, Set to be Released on Oct. 24

In a book review published on Friday, the New York Times notes that Jobs' story "calls for a book that is clear, elegant and concise enough to qualify as an iBio," and goes on to say that author Walter Isaacson's "Steve Jobs" does its best to hit that mark. The biography, set to be released on Oct. 24, is based on 40 personal interviews Isaacson had with Jobs before his death on Oct. 5.

Maslin calls "Steve Jobs" a biography of record, explaining that the author penned the 630-page book after Jobs authorized him to chronicle his life in 2009. Although Isaacson knows how to celebrate genius, being biographer of two long-dead geniuses, Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, Jobs' biography posed a challenge as the subject was battling a mortal illness during the book's writing. "Steve Jobs" gives deep insight into the private life and relationships of its subject, facets of life that Jobs closely guarded from the public eye.

Also detailed is the corporate intrigue Jobs participated in with rivals like Bill Gates and John Sculley. Maslin writes that the chapters devoted to Jobs' illness describe the "relative tenderness" of Gates' last meeting with Jobs. The review makes it clear that the influence Jobs had on those he met was an important focus for Isaacson.

While the book "greatly admires its subject" and focuses on Jobs and the people around him, the biographer's portrayals of product announcements, complete with Jobs' theatrical introductions, are the most "adulatory passages" of the biography.

Maslin says Isaacson basically compares Jobs to the writer's previous biographical subjects, emphasizing how deceptively effortless Jobs' ideas look due to his amazing foresight. "Mr. Isaacson’s long view basically puts Mr. Jobs up there with Franklin and Einstein," Maslin said. Steve Jobs" is a streamlined portrait of Jobs and his legacy, one that is not analytical and gives an uncolored look into the life of its subject.

Insights into Apple co-founder Steve Jobs's vendetta against Google and his criticisms of fellow high-tech titans spread quickly online before the release of his authorised biography this week.
In the spring, the notoriously private Jobs began meeting people he wanted to see before he died, according to the book. They included Gates, who visited Jobs's home in May for more than three hours.

The book also discloses that, contrary to popular belief, Jobs, who was adopted, did meet his estranged biological father, Abdulfattah Jandali.
''It was amazing,'' he told Isaacson. Apple CEO Steve Jobs refused to allow surgeons to perform what could have been life-saving surgery on his pancreatic cancer, says his biographer Walter Isaacson. Complete coverage: Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

Isaacson reveals these and many other inner thoughts of the man who entrusted him with the writing of his life story in the upcoming book, "Steve Jobs." The author talks to Steve Kroft in his first interview about Jobs, the late technology visionary whose innovative products like the Macintosh, iPhone and iPad changed the world. Isaacson conducted over 40 interviews with Jobs, some of them taped right before his death. Isaacson says Jobs vowed never to let his wealth change him.