Upcoming book reveals Steve Jobs refused liver transplant offer from Tim Cook, didn't want Apple to build TV, mulled Yahoo buy

The forthcoming book "Becoming Steve Jobs" is shaping up to be a revelation on the late Apple cofounder's life, and a recent "leak" reveals Jobs refused a living donor liver transplant from current CEO Tim Cook, was looking into an acquisition of Yahoo! and didn't want Apple to produce another TV product.

While "Becoming Steve Jobs," coauthored by tech journalist Brent Schlender and Fast Company executive editor Rick Tetzeli, is not due out until March 24, Cult of Mac discovered that a substantial portion of the book was available through Amazon's "Look Inside the Book" feature.

Amazon has since removed most of the preview, but the publication was able to glean a few interesting tidbits before it was redacted.

One of the more sensational revelations is that Cook offered to give an ailing Jobs part of his liver. After discovering that he shared the same rare blood type as Jobs, Cook underwent a series of tests at a hospital and, after being found in good health, visited Jobs at his home to deliver the good news. Although he was in need of a donor, Jobs refused.

In an attempt to get out ahead of the "leak," Fast Company later published an excerpt related to Jobs' apparently vehement refusal.

"Somebody that's selfish," Cook continues, "doesn't reply like that. I mean, here's a guy, he's dying, he's very close to death because of his liver issue, and here's someone healthy offering a way out. I said, 'Steve, I'm perfectly healthy, I've been checked out. Here's the medical report. I can do this and I'm not putting myself at risk, I'll be fine.' And he doesn't think about it. It was not, 'Are you sure you want to do this?' It was not, 'I'll think about it.' It was not, 'Oh, the condition I'm in . . .' It was, 'No, I'm not doing that!' He kind of popped up in bed and said that. And this was during a time when things were just terrible. Steve only yelled at me four or five times during the 13 years I knew him, and this was one of them."

Another section tells the story of how Jobs and Disney CEO Bob Iger discussed buying Yahoo!, which would have granted access to a treasure trove of patents and Internet-related services.

Finally, the book tackles the topic of an Apple branded television set. Shortly after returning to Apple in the late 1990s, Jobs revealed his stance on TV to Jony Ive during one of their first meetings, saying, "I just don't like television. Apple will never make a TV again." Jobs was likely referring to the Macintosh TV, an early 1990s attempt to combine a computer with a television set.

The quote is in contrast to information published in Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography from 2011. In Isaacson's telling, Jobs said he "cracked" the code to making a simple television, setting off a tempest of rumors that have yet to die.

"Becoming Steve Jobs" is available for preorder through Amazon.com and the iTunes iBookstore.