Walter Isaacson Isn't Bothered By His Critics

In the last couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of buzz about a new biography of Steve Jobs—called “Being Steve Jobs.”

Now, if you’re thinking: “Wasn’t there already a biography of Steve Jobs?”, you’re absolutely right. Walter Isaacson’s book “Steve Jobs” came out in 2011 and skyrocketed to success. It sold over a million copies, becoming the fastest selling biography ever written. Fascinatingly, it was an authorized biography. Steve Jobs had hand-picked Isaacson to write it, and granted him over 40 interviews, right up until Jobs’s death.

So what’s new in “Being Steve Jobs?” It focuses on the positive sides of Steve Jobs. It paints a much rosier picture of him. It includes interviews with Tim Cook and other Apple executives, reminiscing fondly about the warmer side of Jobs.

As the new book prepares for publication, meanwhile, those Apple executives are going public with their dissatisfaction of Isaacson’s book.

Tim Cook: “I thought the [Walter] Isaacson book did him a tremendous disservice. It was just a rehash of a bunch of stuff that had already been written, and focused on small parts of his personality.”

Jony Ive: “My regard [for Isaacson’s book] couldn’t be any lower.”

Eddy Cue: “Becoming Steve Jobs (book): Well done and first to get it right.”

Just as the brouhaha was beginning to boil, I got a chance to interview Walter Isaacson himself, at the SXSW festival in Austin. I asked him about all of this sudden retroactive sniping about his depiction of Steve Jobs.

As you’ll see from the video excerpt, I had been pleasantly surprised at how well Isaacson had balanced the tyrant/genius aspects of Steve Jobs. But in Isaacson’s view, more viewpoints are always welcome. Only when all biographies are considered in their entirety will history begin to get a complete picture of the man.