The look of Walter Isaacson's bio will be as spare and restrained as any Apple product
Click to enlarge. Copyright Simon & Schuster
"The cover," writes Isaacson in private e-mail, "is the Albert Watson portrait taken for Fortune in 2009. The back is a Norman Seeff portrait of him in the lotus position holding the original Macintosh, which ran in Rolling Stone in January 1984. The title font is Helvetica. It will look as you see it, with no words on the back cover."
He's talking, of course, about Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, the first book about the life of Apple's (AAPL) cofounder written with Jobs' support and cooperation (see The man who won Steve Jobs' trust). It was back in the news Monday when new listings on Amazon (AMZN) and Barnes & Noble (BKS) revealed that the pubdate had been moved up to Nov. 21, 2011, from March 6, 2012 . The change sparked speculation that the new schedule might somehow be related to a decline in Jobs' health.
"It's actually not related to any decline," writes Isaacson. "I turned most of the book in this past June. It's now all done and edited. The March 2012 date (or whatever date it was) was never a deeply-considered pubdate. Like the original cover design, it came about because the publisher wanted to put something in the database last spring."
Below: The publishers' description of the book and the author bio as it appears on the B&N website. A description of the book that included a quote has been replaced with the one you see below. You can read the longer one here. The author's bio leaves out the fact that Isaacson and Laurene Powell, Steve Jobs' wife, both sit on the board of Teach for America.
"iSteve: The Book of Jobs" was the publisher's idea. The author had second thoughts.
Amazon still doesn't have the title quite right
The first biography of Apple's (AAPL) CEO to get Steve Jobs' blessing -- and cooperation -- hasn't yet been published. Or even finished. But it's already made it (briefly) into the top 50 on Amazon's bestseller list. And it's already undergone its first revision.
It's got a new title.
The old MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 5, 2011 6:15 PM ET
Who is Walter Isaacson, and why did Jobs choose him to tell the story of his life?
Isaacson at the iPad unveiling. Photo: Michael Copeland
[NOTE: Simon & Schuster announced Sunday that the first authorized biography of Steve Jobs -- iSteve: The Book of Jobs by Walter Isaacson [Since renamed Steve Jobs] -- will be published in early 2012. A version of this article was posted in February 2010 before the S&S MORE
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