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Steve Jobs biography sells 380K US copies in first week

The newly released authorized biography of Steve Jobs moved nearly 380,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. alone, already making it one of the best selling titles of 2011.

Data from BookScan US revealed that Walter Isaacson's book, entitled "Steve Jobs," sold a total of 379,000 copies in its first week in America, according to TheBookseller.com. It outsold the next-best selling title, "The Litigators" by John Grisham, by more than three to one.

The next closest nonfiction title was "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly, and Isaacson's detailed retelling of the life of Jobs outsold that by almost eight to one. "Steve Jobs" is already the 18th best selling book of 2011, ahead of "The Confession" by John Grisham. Sales of the book in the U.K. were also high in the first week, with 37,244 copies sold.

Signs that the book was poised to become a huge hit surfaced last week, on its first day of sales, when the world's largest online retailer, Amazon.com, said "Steve Jobs" may become the top selling book of 2011. A spokeswoman for the retailer said Isaacson's book was, after just one day, on pace to outsell every other book sold by the company.

In addition to being a top seller in hardcover at Amazon, it has also been the No. 1 title on the company's Kindle platform, and on Apple's iBooks.

News of high sales of the biography come as Jobs is also set to be the subject of a new documentary airing tonight on PBS. Entitled "Steve Jobs - One last Thing," it will air at 10 p.m. Eastern, and will be the first broadcast of a 1994 interview in which Jobs detailed the philosophy of his life.



42 Comments

gmcalpin 16 Years · 266 comments

I'm a little over half-way through. It is FANTASTIC. Beautifully written.

I knew Steve Jobs was an asshole to a lot of people, but I'm really dumbfounded by some of the things he did and how he acted, particularly when he was younger. And the book does a terrific job presenting things to us rather objectively, without painting him either as some great hero or a villain.

I'm going to have to pick up Isaacson's earlier biographies soon.

solar saves 15 Years · 32 comments

I decided to get the Audible version and listen to Steve Jobs being read on one of Steve's products, my iPod Touch. I thought that was rather appropriate... Thank you Steve!

lkrupp 20 Years · 10521 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by gmcalpin

I'm a little over half-way through. It is FANTASTIC. Beautifully written.

I knew Steve Jobs was an asshole to a lot of people, but I'm really dumbfounded by some of the things he did and how he acted, particularly when he was younger. And the book does a terrific job presenting things to us rather objectively, without painting him either as some great hero or a villain.

I'm going to have to pick up Isaacson's earlier biographies soon.

I have read a couple of Einstein biographies and Isaacson's is the best by far in my opinion. I'm about a third of way through the Jobs biography and I am astonished at his obsession with design and the notion that something should look just as good on the inside too, even if nobody sees it.

You can love or hate Jobs, take your pick, but you simply cannot deny that he affected all users of technology. After the multi-colored iMacs came out it didn't take long at all for other appliances to emulate the design look and feel. Let the Fandroids rant and rave but, after the iPod, iPhone, and now iPad, everything looks like these Apple products.

maecvs 14 Years · 129 comments

I'm about half way through as well. The more you read about the man, his quirks and flaws, he was not perfect, but his genius was unquestioned. The way he infused himself into his products. No one but Jobs could have done half the things he was able to.

Will Apple grow and prosper post Jobs? I guess, we will find out. One thing is for certain, the drive and dedication he drew from his employees will never be replaceced. The reality distortion field may have been the stuff of legend, and scorn, but, it made Apple what is is today. Let's see if Tim Cook has a little "RDF" of his own......

shompa 21 Years · 341 comments

I have read the book two times.
Its a great, great book.

The "one more thing" chapter made me cry.

I still can't believe that Steve is gone.