'Becoming Steve Jobs' excerpts reveal Tim Cook offered Jobs his liver, more

March 14, 2015

Amazon's store listing for upcoming book Becoming Steve Jobs briefly revealed some previously unknown tidbits about the late Apple CEO earlier today.

Included in the excerpts were details about Jobs' desire to acquire Yahoo and his views on an Apple TV, along with the revelation that Tim Cook once offered to donate part of his liver to Jobs during his battle with cancer.

One of the major tidbits to come from the excerpts, which were first spotted by Cult of Mac, was that Tim Cook offered to donate a portion of his liver to Jobs after he found out that the two shared the same bloodtype. Fast Company, whose executive editor, Rick Tetzeli, is one of the book's authors, later released the following excerpt in which Cook recalls Jobs' refusal of the offer:

"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 interesting portion of the book details Jobs' interest in acquiring Yahoo. According to Cult of Mac, Jobs and Disney CEO Bob Iger were, at one point, interested in purchasing the company together, which would have given Apple access to a number of search and web tools.

Finally, an interview with Apple VP of Design, Jony Ive, reveals that Jobs had absolutely no interest in creating an Apple-branded TV when the two first met.

Overall, the book looks like it will be a fascinating look into the life of Steve Jobs as told by his closest colleagues. Becoming Steve Jobs releases on March 24, and can be pre-ordered as an iBook from iTunes for $14.99, as well as from Amazon in both hardcover and Kindle editions.

Sources: Cult of Mac, Fast Company; Via: 9to5Mac