Steve Jobs biography sells 380K US copies in first week

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
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.
«13

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 42
    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.
  • Reply 2 of 42
    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!
  • Reply 3 of 42
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gmcalpin View Post


    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.
  • Reply 4 of 42
    maecvsmaecvs Posts: 129member
    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......
  • Reply 5 of 42
    shompashompa Posts: 343member
    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.
  • Reply 6 of 42
    I read it on my iPhone. Great read.
  • Reply 7 of 42
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    I'm half way through, first book I have ever read on my iPad. I have followed Steve Jobs for more than 30 years yet most of the information in the book is completely new to me. I will miss Steve forever.
  • Reply 8 of 42
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    Do thee figures include digital dowloads too?
  • Reply 9 of 42
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shompa View Post


    I have read the book two times.



    They should rereads the way Android defenders count activations as sales.
  • Reply 10 of 42
    pokepoke Posts: 506member
    I've almost finished the book and I've found it disappointing. The parts covering the early days of Apple and the Mac are a cookie cutter regurgitation of stuff that has been written before. It's really bizarre to read it since Jobs just kind of drops in from time to time (Isaacson obviously relied heavily on Hertzfeld's account) and there's no attempt to reassess Jobs's early contributions at Apple in light of his return (which is absolutely essential and needs to be done; I think Isaacson really missed an opportunity there). The stuff on NeXT, too, is rather weak (for example, Isaacson focuses on the short-lived, failed hardware division and repeats Gates's claim that Apple never used any of NeXT's technology). The short account of Pixar and Jobs's role in its success is much more successful, perhaps because there was less existing material to draw from.



    The last 1/3rd has been more interesting because there's a lot of new material but Isaacson still struggles to integrate Jobs's personality with his achievements in a convincing way.
  • Reply 11 of 42
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    For anybody sitting on the fence, here's a list:



    It's a lot of fun, at least the first third. Some good laughs.



    Easy to read, absolutely no intrusion from the author, just story after story.



    I knew much of it before, but Isaacson's retelling make it seem fresh.



    Much new painful detail about Steve, at least to me, but always you see how maybe his ruthless drive is what was needed to get the high level of inspiration into the products. And his victims, the poor engineers around him, seem to say it was worth it in the end.



    I have the feeling the best is yet to come. I hope it's the best-selling bio of all time because it really is the story of a defining moment, or a defining lifetime, in our history.
  • Reply 12 of 42
    Apple wouldn't be where it's at right now if Steve wasn't the biggest asshole in the planet.



    Getting Apple and Pixar to where it's at (add juggling between the company) cost Steve his life.
  • Reply 13 of 42
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    Steve's death was the best thing to ever happen to Isaccson or Simon & Shuster.
  • Reply 14 of 42
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gmcalpin View Post




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



    He writes very well. I'm interested in the Einstein bio.
  • Reply 15 of 42
    It was an insanely great book and I hope it sells millions more.
  • Reply 16 of 42
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post


    You can love or hate Jobs, take your pick,



    It is likely that the vast majority of people neither loves nor hates him.



    He's just some random businessman to most - they care about him about as much as they care about the CEO of any other giant corporation.



    Do you imagine that people love or hate, say, for example, Warren Buffet? Rex Tillerson? Howard Stringer?



    Most of these CEO-types don't even register on people's radar. They may have heard of Jobs, and they might even know which company he used to run. But love? Hate?



    More like passing interest, at most.
  • Reply 17 of 42
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post


    It is likely that the vast majority of people neither loves nor hates him.



    He's just some random businessman to most - they care about him about as much as they care about the CEO of any other giant corporation.



    Do you imagine that people love or hate, say, for example, Warren Buffet? Rex Tillerson? Howard Stringer?



    Most of these CEO-types don't even register on people's radar. They may have heard of Jobs, and they might even know which company he used to run. But love? Hate?



    More like passing interest, at most.



    You have an amazing ability to reduce any subject matter to the mundane and tedious.
  • Reply 18 of 42
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Commodification View Post


    It was an insanely great book and I hope it sells millions more.



    Even in death the consummate salesman outsells everybody. I wonder how the Bio will affect Apple sales. SJ apparently said he wanted the book written so that his children could learn about him - understand why he wasn't always there for them. I don't doubt he said that or the he meant it but I wonder if somehow the salesman in him knew that it would be a surefire way to keep the buzz going well beyond his own time.
  • Reply 19 of 42
    How quickly they translated the book into British
  • Reply 20 of 42
    rob55rob55 Posts: 1,291member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post


    Steve's death was the best thing to ever happen to Isaccson or Simon & Shuster.



    As was Michael Jackson's for his estate and even Amy Winehouse's for hers. Something about the passing of a celebrity or celebrity type that drives people to want to buy their music, read their biography, watch their movie, etc... Makes me wonder if Heath Ledger would still have won the Oscar had he not died.
Sign In or Register to comment.