The Author of 'Steve Jobs' is Letting the Internet Edit His Book About the Internet

Because the Internet.

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Walter Isaacson, the author of Steve Jobs, the awesome biography of the Apple co-founder, is getting ready to send his next book to store shelves. But before then, he's turning to the Internet for some help.

Isaacson is writing a book about the rise of the modern digital world, and in order to make sure all of the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed, he's submitting portions of his book to online networks so people can make notes and add information. "Online collaboration is why the Internet was originally built," says Isaacson, "and I’m interested in any comments or corrections readers might want to make before I publish in a year." He's already sent excerpts in to Medium, Scribd, and LiveJournal, and one big name from the early Internet era has already contributed some edits. Stewart Brand, editor of the Whole Earth Catalog—which was a magazine of interest to Jobs and Steve Wozniak in their early years—went in and corrected things about his own life that were in the book. 

Isaacson is the former CEO of CNN and managing editor of Time, so we can trust there is a method to his madness. “In the past, I have sent parts of my drafts around to people I knew,” he said. “By using the Internet, I can now solicit comments and corrections from people I don’t know.”

[via TechCrunch]

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