Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The highly anticipated biography of Apple and Pixar co-founder Steve Jobs, who died October 5, arrived in bookstores today from publishers Simon & Schuster.

The book, written by noted biographer Walter Isaacson with Jobs' cooperation but independent of his control, is on track to become the best-selling book of the year on Amazon.

I picked up a copy early this morning and before starting it in its proper order, I naturally skipped ahead to the chapters about Pixar.

The history found in these chapters will no doubt be familiar to readers of To Infinity and Beyond! and The Pixar Touch. Even so, Steve Jobs offers a few fascinating, never-before-published accounts.

Isaacson tells of Jobs' brazenness during an FBI interview, required before Pixar could sell its Pixar Image Computers to the NSA. He shares John Lasseter's two-word valediction to DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffery Katzenberg after Katzenberg purloined the plot of A Bug's Life.

The narrative segues into the challenges Pixar faced from its "foes", as Isaacson terms them. Jobs spoke candidly about his experiences with Katzenberg and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

Considering that Jobs selected Isaacson to write his life story because of his ability to 'get people to talk', this isn't surprising. Isaacson got exactly that, not only from Jobs, but from others who worked with him through the years, including Lasseter.

The result is a contemporary history of Jobs, whose achievements were such that co-founding the world's greatest animation outfit can at times seem like a footnote.