It's already Amazon's best-selling print book of the year, as well as the best-selling new release in any category, which is pretty phenomenal given how late in the year it was released. And soon Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs could come in an expanded version.
Fortune reports Isaacson told an event in San Francisco he was considering rewriting the 630-page book. One possibility he's weighing up is adding extensive annotations filling in background information. Another is fleshing out the details surrounding Jobs' death -- the publication date was brought forward a month following Jobs' passing in October.
"This is the first or second draft," Isaacson said. "It's not the final draft."
A new version could shed some new light on Jobs' projects, one of which was a yacht he was designing for his family. (There's also that little matter of Apple's standalone TV set Jobs mentioned to Isaacson like it was no biggie.)
Isaacson also revealed Jobs wanted some input on the cover design, jokingly pretending to stop cooperating if he refused. "It took me about one-and-a-half seconds to say 'Sure!'" Isaacson said. "I mean this is one of the greatest design eyes of our time." Jobs' influence is evident, with the minimalist design and Apple font.
While Jobs opened up for the biography, he refused to discuss philanthropy with Isaacson, even ignoring a phone message from Bill Gates asking him to take the Giving Pledge, a program that encourages billionaires to give half their money to charity. Apple has been criticised for its lack of charity work in the past.
Jobs' biography soared to the top of UK bestseller lists, selling 37,000 copies in its first fives days on sale. Among the tidbits it revealed were that Jobs thought the iPhone antenna problem was a Google smear, that he wanted to wage thermonuclear war on Android, which he believed was stolen, and that he wanted to replace phone networks with his own Wi-Fi network. Moon on a stick.
Would you read an extended version of the biography? What would you like it to have more of? Let us know on our Facebook page, or in the comments below.
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Comments 8
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anonymous 17 December, 2011 15:07
Would love to read more about everything that concerns Steve Jobs his work, future projects, family, anything really. He may have been a very controversial person but his input into the development of the technology is unquestionable!
Alastair Mitchell 17 December, 2011 15:35
I bought the book on the iBookstore. Does this mean I would just "update" my book or would I need to buy a whole new book for a couple extra chapters?
Same applies to those using Amazon Kindle.
anonymous 17 December, 2011 17:30
would love to read more about Steve Jobs, but not if Isaacson wrote it. I found the biography very disappointing.
Is it really philantrophy if somebody donates half of his fortune because he has been asked to do so? And how can a donator do so anonymously while at the same time not being criticized for not donating?
anonymous 17 December, 2011 19:12
I acquired this book in paper form, because some important volumes just need to be owned, and handled, and enjoyed for their physical beauty. I felt this was such an important subject, I needed the physical book in order to gain the most pleasure. If an ADDITIONAL volume is produced I would acquire it in the same way for the same reasons, and because I would feel the need to understand the extra information. It would have the same level of importance as Volume 1.
However, if the original book is re-released with additional information within it, I would feel (expletive deleted,) and upset and I would not buy it at all. I would be very very annoyed if that's the way they decide to go. For goodness sake, it makes no logical sense whatsoever!
Alimus 19 December, 2011 09:52
@ anon 19.12
'it makes no logical sense whatsoever'
Yes it does, there are 3 people who have commented before you who seem like they would buy it. As such by withholding some of the material and re-releasing a slightly better updated version of the same product they can get people to part with more cash.
Wait does this feel familiar to anyone else?
anonymous 19 December, 2011 11:10
Jobs would be proud.
Not because his life and opinions would be more wholly documented, rather because his phiolosophy of releasing hardly improved products so that idiots would provide him with some easy cash lives on even after his death.
anonymous 19 December, 2011 22:38
@Alimus:
"Yes it does, there are 3 people who have commented before you who seem like they would buy it. "
Actually, only anon15:07 appears to want to buy it regardless of whether it was a whole new volume or simply the same book with a couple of new chapters. Aliastar seems to be saying he'd only buy it if he could 'update' it, whereas anon17:30 seems to be outright say he would NOT buy the book, since it is still being written by Isaacson. That's only a third of the people who commented...
anonymous 8 January, 2012 01:15
The book is a great read.
But I would have liked to have read more about Steve's personal life and family.
The book is very much from the perspective of his career accomplishments etc and how much he pursued his passion for Apple and Pixar.
But what about more important things in life, like family.