The publisher Simon & Schuster announced yesterday that they have moved-up the publication date of Steve Jobs’ authorized biography from November 21 to October 24 (see cover at right). It hits the shelves this month. You can pre-order a copy right now from Amazon.com.
One of the last people to see Jobs before his death was his biographer, Walter Isaacson. In that meeting, Jobs explains why he authorized his biography. Here is an account of Jobs’ final meeting with Isaacson:
Steve Jobs, in pain and too weak to climb stairs a few weeks before his death, wanted his children to understand why he wasn’t always there for them, according to the author of his highly anticipated biography.
“I wanted my kids to know me,” Jobs was quoted as saying by Pulitzer Prize nominee Walter Isaacson, when he asked the Apple Inc. co-founder why he authorized a tell-all biography after living a private, almost ascetic life.
“I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did,” Jobs told Isaacson in their final interview at Jobs’ home in Palo Alto, Calif.
Isaacson said he visited Jobs for the last time a few weeks ago and found him curled up in some pain in a downstairs bedroom. Jobs had moved there because he was too weak to go up and down stairs, “but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant,” Isaacson wrote in an essay on Time.com that will be published in the magazine’s Oct. 17 edition…
Isaacson’s book includes extensive interviews with the Apple co-founder, who rarely discussed his private life. Isaacson has written best-selling biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.
His comments about his time away from his children has to be one of the saddest things I’ve read since hearing about his death. It has certainly tempered my enthusiasm about the legacy of the man. But that won’t keep me from buying the book. In fact, I’ve already ordered a copy.
4 Comments
Jes
Denny,
Just a few moments ago I was once again thinking about writing my blog.
You see, for several years I wrote often. I’m a homeschooling mother and am deeply passionate about teaching my children how to study God’s Word inductively. My passion extends to helping other women and children learn how to do the same.
I wrote largely about those two things.
I loved writing my blog and interacting with other women who would often write to tell me that my words had encouraged or inspired them that in their roles as wives and mothers, they too had a call to establish themselves and their children in the study of God’s Word…and that they COULD do it.
But as my children grew older, and after having been diagnosed with MS, I’ve found that the time and energy spent on my blog takes me away from “face time” with my kiddos and the precious women whom the Lord brings that I can actually walk with side by side.
I haven’t understood how other moms have the time to do all that’s required as a wife, homeschooling mother, homemaker, disciple maker, etc… and still maintain writing their blogs and communicating with all those who leave comments or correspond with them via email.
And how do the ones do it who are managing all of the above, taking speaking tours, and writing books?
As all of this was running through my head just moments ago, I reassured myself AGAIN, that no one can do all of the above and do it well.
Something always falls through the cracks.
I don’t want it to be my children or my husband.
And I definitely don’t want it to be my personal time with the Lord.
This comment about Steve’s children deeply saddens me too.
What if all I have are 56 years?
That leaves me only a handful to complete the good works that God designed, before the foundation of the world, for me to walk in.
May I walk worthy and stay focused on what those two sets of eyes and ears are receiving from me.
I still hope so much that Steve Jobs renounced his false belief system before he died, and entered into covenant with Jesus….
Brian Manns
Walter Isaacson is an excellent biographer.
Derek
If he was concerned that his family didn’t know him very well, why didn’t he spend more time with his family in the last months of his life? Why did he have to speak to his children through his biographer?
In one sense, Steve Jobs has been fortunate to know that he had months or relatively few years to live since at least 2008. Many people would love to have that knowledge because it would give them a good excuse to quit work and spend time with family.
I’ve heard some people reflecting on Steve and it is clear that he was totally consumed by the pursuit of the next thing in technology. He lived to give the world the next big thing at least 4 or 5 times (with Pixar, the iPod, iMac, iPhone and iPad), a stunning feat. Sadly, the cost of this pursuit is alienation from his own family and an eternity to consider the sad reality that he who dies with the most toys does not in fact win anything, except maybe regret and sorrow over misplaced priorities.
Reg Schofield
I have spoken to many grown children who hardly know their Fathers because they were consumed by work and things. Now that they have families many have chosen careers and occupations that allow them time with their wives and children. Some have even turned done promotions because it would have taken them away from their family. Jobs made decisions for whatever reason he did but the sad thing a piece of paper by a biographer can never replace real time with your Dad while you had a chance to be with him.