Steve Jobs is the authorized biography of Steve Jobs. The biography is written at the request of Jobs by acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson, a former executive at CNN and Time who has written best-selling biographies about Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein.[1][2] Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—in addition to interviews with more than one hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Isaacson was given "exclusive and unprecedented" access to Jobs's life.[3] Jobs is said to have encouraged the people interviewed to speak honestly. Although Jobs cooperated with the book, he asked for no control over its content and waived the right to read it before it was published.[4] An unauthorized biography, iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business by Jeffrey Young, was published in 2005 by John Wiley & Sons. The publisher claimed to provide "insider scoops" and a "no-holds-barred style",[5] but was criticized by Jobs, resulting in the removal of all books published by John Wiley & Sons, including the popular For Dummies series of instructional books, from Apple Stores.[6] Originally planned for release on March 6, 2012, its release date was moved forward to November 21, 2011 due to Jobs's deteriorating health,[4] and again following Jobs's death on October 5, 2011.[7] It was released on October 24, 2011 by Simon & Schuster in the United States.[8]

  Walter Isaacson began his career in journalism at The Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item. He joined TIME in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazine's fourteenth editor in 1996. He became Chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003. He is the author of American Sketches (2009), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007),[2] Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003) and Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and he is the co-author, with Evan Thomas, of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986). He is the editor of Profiles in Leadership: Historians on the Elusive Quality of Greatness (2010, W.W. Norton). On October 24, 2011, Isaason's authorized biography of Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs was published by Simon & Schuster. Because of Jobs' death just weeks earlier (on October 5, 2011), Steve Jobs became an instant international best-seller, breaking all records for sales of a biography. The book was based on over forty interviews with Jobs over a two year period right up until shortly before his death. Isaacson also drew on conversations with friends, family members, and even business rivals of the entrepreneur whose vision revolutionized computing, music, phones, animated films, and even publishing. He is the chairman of the board of Teach for America and of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He is on the boards of United Airlines, Tulane University, Overseers of Harvard University, the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and the Society of American Historians. In October 2005, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco appointed Isaacson vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, a thirty-three-member policymaking board that oversaw spending on the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. In December 2007, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, which seeks to create economic and educational opportunities in the Palestinian territories.[3] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed him vice-chair of the Partners for a New Beginning, which encourages private-sector investments and partnerships in the Muslim world.[4] He also serves as the cochair of the U.S.-Vietnamese Dialogue on Agent Orange, which in January 2008 announced completion of a project to contain the dioxin left behind by the U.S. at the Da Nang air base and plans to build health centers and a dioxin laboratory in the affected regions.[5] Isaacson had been working on a biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs since 2009, the first biography of Jobs written with his full cooperation, with Jobs granting extensive interviews. Pre-orders of the book skyrocketed to the number one position at Amazon.com after news of Jobs' death broke. Steve Jobs was published on October 24, 2011 by Simon & Schuster