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Jobs asks biographer "Are you a nut case?"

updated 02:45 pm EST, Tue November 1, 2005

Jobs lashes out at author

On Friday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs who wrote an article about the untold story of Jobs' biological father, according to a report The New York Daily News. Biographer Fredric Alan Maxwell last week emailed Jobs a 4,000-word article he wrote for Fast Company magazine about Jobs' biological father, reportedly a Syrian immigrant and political science professor named Abdulfattah Jandali. The report says that Jobs simply replied with "Are you a nut case?" and signed the email with his traditional one-line closing "Steve." Maxwell, who says that Jobs doesn't enjoy close scrutiny, responded back "Are you?"

According to the Daily News, the "Montana-based author has been pushing Jobs' buttons for a while, even conducting 18 months of research for an unauthorized biography before Penguin Group's Portfolio imprint pulled the plug earlier this year [and] finally sent Jobs the piece about his birth father after Fast Company killed it." Earlier this year, Maxwell was stripped of his press credentials when he tried to enter Jobs' keynote speech at the MacWorld event in San Francisco.

by MacNN Staff

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njfuzzy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2001

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11/01, 04:13pm | report spam | close Reply |
He is a nutcase

This is an author who personally sent an executive a copy of an unpublishable article about his most private life.

The relationships between adoptees and their biological parents is a matter traditionally treated with very great privacy and care.

Also, remember that the author also "randomly" found Jobs to tell him in person he was writing about him.

Put it all together, and I have a theory... This guy is a nutcase. Why should Steve have to keep his mouth shut about such an unsettling invasion of his privacy by someone who seems to have a weird vendetta against him? I would have said something much less forgiving.

finknottle
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Aug 2000

0

11/01, 04:14pm | report spam | close Reply |
Butt out

Leave him alone. The press just loves to butt in on people's private lives. He's an intensely private individual, just leave it already!

tafticus
Junior Member

Joined: Jun 2003

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11/01, 05:01pm | report spam | close Reply |
met him...

On a totally random note, I actually met Maxwell in a post office in Ann Arbor, Michigan a while back...he seemed like a sane individual and gave me a free copy of his book on Ballmer. He told me he was starting a book on Steve Jobs...I guess he hasn't been having the best luck...

SlowX
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2001

0

11/01, 05:01pm | report spam | close Reply |
yeah

it's because of stuff like this that i try to stay un-famous. well, that, and the fact that i've done nothing of note in my life. heh

DeepDish
Forum Regular

Joined: May 2001

0

11/01, 05:59pm | report spam | close Reply |
Sue

Sue the guy if he publishes any lies.

One does not dig into the relationships between adoptees and their biological parents. Period.

What an idiot!!!

macusersneedtogetalife
Baninated

Joined: Aug 2005

0

11/01, 08:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
oh yeah...

I did your biological mother, Deepdish. She told me you like your bag licked. I didn't pry any further, so thank me...

MrKlin
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Joined: Dec 2004

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11/01, 08:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
Man what zealots

Sheesh. We have some nutty zealots - if Steve Jobs took a dump on the sidewalk you would probably take measures to protect and memorialize it because it is about his most private life.

Public figures have a lowered expectation of privacy. The courts have established that over and over again. It is nothing new. As the original article have pointed out, Steve should have simply not replied instead of feeding the troll like he has (and apparently you would too).

ciparis
Junior Member

Joined: Jan 2001

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11/01, 09:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
If the shoe fits.

The guy has spent over 18 months obsessing over Steve Jobs, even though he's had nothing published? He sounds more like a nutcase than a journalist to me.

LordJohnWhorfin
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Joined: Aug 2002

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11/01, 09:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
He is a nut

What sort of relevance does Jobs' biological father have to do with anything? What's next, a story about Bill Gates' grandmother's stepsister? Is this the next step down the devolutional ladder after reality TV?

MrKlin
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Joined: Dec 2004

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11/01, 09:36pm | report spam | close Reply |
All nuts

Is Steve's or any public figure's personal lives suddenly above writing? Or are you guys just being a little bit sensitive because you like a corporation's products?

Seriously, I find it amusing that I do not see you guys calling him a nut when he profiled Ballmer or the fact he wrote for Newsweek, Harper�s, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. Next time you get something published, let me know.

RetiredMidn
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Joined: Aug 2004

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11/01, 10:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
Stepping over the line

Yes, Steve is a public figure, and it turns out that none of this information is exactly new. But common decency has been violated in this case.

I'm also an adoptee, about six months older than Steve. Adoptees of that era generally have had no access to any information about their birth parents, and never get it. Steve probably came by this information well into adulthood, long after his self-identity was well-established. It's a strange set of circumstances, and I can appreciate that non-adoptees are fascinated by it, but we can do without the cheap, shallow, "analysis" that often accompanies it.

Sensationalizing this is nutty, hence Steve's question about being a nut case.

Farranco
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Joined: Mar 2005

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11/02, 05:02am | report spam | close Reply |
Advertising

I wouldn't be surprised if Fredric Alan Maxwell made the email reply up. His article has been rejected numerous times. Finally, when he thought he managed to get it printed Fast Company pulls it. A smart unscrupulous man might resort to lies to get attention; there is no better publicity then bad publicity. The story will get printed somewhere as it has been giving undue attention. Even if it's true it shouldn't be news, but so much today is not news. I am coming to the conclusion that the only real news I get is from John Stewart.

Maclectic
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Joined: Sep 2002

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11/02, 09:33am | report spam | close Reply |
Bah New York Daily News

If it weren't for such "quality" publications as the New York Daily News, we would have never even seen this in print. That rag is one reason people think the New York Times is so good, which it isn't. The New York Daily News just sux that much.

This whole subject is just a waste of time. I don't care that much about Steve Jobs life, but if he deserves more scrutiny than the average person than his reaction gets a G rating. Whoever thinks he over-reacted should ask Patrick Leahy what he thought of d*** Cheney's comments in DC... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3699-2004Jun24.html

"Are you nuts" is not "F_ck yourself".

Monstermind
Junior Member

Joined: May 2000

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11/02, 10:46am | report spam | close Reply |
Nice one, Maxwell.

s**** with Jobs' head. It's all he deserves for being chummy with AlGore and releasing the p1ss-poor MDD G4.

resuna
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Joined: Jan 2005

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11/02, 05:44pm | report spam | close Reply |
deepdish...

Are you a nutcase?

resuna
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

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11/02, 05:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
Oh the embarassment...

That should have been directed at "macusersneedtogetalife...".

Where's my "undo" button?

njfuzzy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2001

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11/03, 01:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
New Headline

Here's a new headline. How about "Nutcase writer harasses internet users commenting on his shenannigans"...

Today, I received the following email from Maxwell:

>Dear Fuzzy: > I'm interested in why you think the chapter of my biography is, in your words, "unpublishable." You haven't read the piece, Mr. Fuzzy, for if you did -- and very well might -- you would know that it was Mr. Jobs who talked at some length about his biological family at Stanford (which, by the way, has read the piece and called it "fantastic"). The chapter, entitled The Father of Invention, deals mainly with how eerily Jobs' behavior resembles that of his biological father -- much more so than those of his adopted parents. > I'm also interested in your evidence supporting that allegation that Mr. Jobs made in his e-mail to me. > Finally, kindly let me know where you've had article and photographs published under your given name. >Best, >Fredric Alan Maxwell

Fredric Alan Maxwell
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Joined: Nov 2005

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11/03, 01:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
My article on Steve's Da

It's interesting to read a robust exchange concerning a chapter of my book that won't be published in a year, at the earliest. Apparently, I've only met one of you, and apparently it was a positive experience for they have good things to say about me. Yet one of your fold of anonymous chatters makes a few charges that they can have absolutely no way of knowing are true -- for the simple reason that they aren't. The person, who writes under an alias, says, "I wouldn't be surprised if Fredric Alan Maxwell made the email reply up. His article has been rejected numerous times. Finally, when he thought he managed to get it printed Fast Company pulls it." How does this person know that my chapter had been rejected numerous times? That Fast Company printed it? (Where? When?) I actually did a variant of the chapter under assignment from Fast Company, which killed the piece, and am considering placing it in other places who've expressed interest in publishing it (which, by the way, I sent Jobs as a professional courtesy). Aside: The piece details his birth father's life and how eerily his behavior resembles Jobs, its core being the nature v. nurture debate. The same chatterer goes on to opine that "A smart unscrupulous man might resort to lies to get attention; there is no better publicity then bad publicity." Part of this may be true, but it certainly doesn't apply to me. Where are the lies? You haven't even read the piece, yet are insinuating it isn't true. I can understand his final comment, that the only real news he gets is from Jon Stewart. While Jon is a very funny man, whom I met in Chicago last year at the BookExpo when he was flaking his first book, he's best known for his work on television -- a medium limited in its ability to explore subjects in the depth that a quality book can. My last book came out after surviving intense scrutiny, including a 45 day legal review, and I'm sure that my next one will do the same. This is part of the responsibility of being brought out by a major publisher, and under your given name. Feel free tow rite me directly at stevejobsbio@yahoo.com

Fredric Alan Maxwell
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2005

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11/03, 01:44pm | report spam | close Reply |
njfuzzy

Mr. Fuzzy, who wrote me a private e-mail under the name of Ian C. Struckhoff, has revealed mine. Rather than post Mr. Fuzzy's private response to me -- such a thing would violate his copyright -- he claims that my article is "unpublishable" because one pub killed it. Wow! That sounds like we live in a totalitarian state, that there aren't, literarly, tens of thousands of other venues for which it can appear. Finally, he wrote me that "Mr. Jobs is a human being. You have no right to discuss his birth parents, his adoption, or anything of the sort, without his consent." Apparently we truly live in a different country and/or world, Mr. Stuckhoff, your's being one where a person must get permission to write about someone else, even a public figure who craves the spotlight, who openly talked about his birth and biological families at Stanford in June. If that's the case in your world, Mr. Fuzzy, I now understand your logic -- and screen name.

kk
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 1999

0

11/06, 05:42pm | report spam | close Reply |
Bad smell

There is something that doesn't smell quite right here.

So Fast Times magazine killed the version of the article that was submitted and Portfolio Imprint of Penguin Publications killed the so-called "authorized biography" (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/360722p-307363c.html)

That still doesn't explain why Fredric Alan Maxwell has been posting on all available sites across the internet using the Steve Jobs-Arab father angle in an apparent bid for attention.

As the author of the Ballmer book, he should not have any difficulty finding another publisher. So why this frantic activity?

This is the same Fredric Alan Maxwell who was ejected from the January 2005 MacWorld Conference and subsequently ranted about Jobs to The Silicon Valley Watcher:

"The three most common words people use to describe Steve Jobs: "visionary, genius and ***hole," says angry author (Maxwell) after being ejected from MacWorld show." (http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2005/01/the_three_most_1.php)

Hardly an unbiased author for a biography. But that is up to the publishing house - and many would see that as a selling point.

But the continuous harping on the Arab-American connection - and its use by this writer for the ends of self-publicity - is questionable to say the least. And distasteful.

And the nature v. nurture argument - saying Jobs got the bad parts of his character from his biological Father - is not 100 per cent sound. Jobs was adopted when he was days old. And apparently many of his character traits - aggressiveness, stubborness, etc., - were also evident in his adoptive father Paul Jobs (see: iCon: Steve Jobs by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon). And what about the biological mother? Or doesn't she count?

This flurry of internet activity on the part of Fredric Alan Maxwell just doesn't make sense. There is more to this than meets the eye.

Fredric Alan Maxwell
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2005

0

11/07, 06:40pm | report spam | close Reply |
"Facts are stupid things

"Facts are stupid things" said Ronald Reagan. He meant to say "stubborn things" but slipped. Sorry, kk, but ya gots to get your facts straight.

"Fast Times magazine?" "Saying Jobs got the bad parts of his character from his biological Father (sic)." "hardly and unbaised author" Where do you get these facts, kk?

You haven't read the piece, kk, so how do you know what it says about Steve's biological mother? Or his adoptive mother and father?

Oh, by the way, it makes sense to correct the record when people distort the facts -- as soon as possible, as firmly as possible, or else they have a tendency to multiply.

And yes, kk, there is more to this story than meets the eye. Far more. You'll be able to read about it -- or the lawsuit -- sometime soon, I suspect. And I gotta go -- and get back to the story that I'm working on.

k. chumley
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2005

0

11/08, 07:10am | report spam | close Reply |
lawsuit?

This is great - who are you threatening with a lawsuit Mr Maxwell (or should I say Mr Klin)..

Someone who confused Fast Times magazine with Fast Company magazine?

Or Steve Jobs?

Or anyone else who has disagreed with you?

Chill out.

Fredric Alan Maxwell
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2005

0

11/09, 12:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
lawsuit

Again, for the record, I am not threatening anyone with a lawsuit, but am filing one in Santa Clara Country Courthouse when I return from my current project, which should be shortly.

banjo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2005

0

11/09, 10:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ann Arbor

Remember Ann Arbor Mr Maxwell? That is where you used the f-word on the local lady librarian last Summer (July 2004). Interesting comments they had about you: http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2004/07/27/the-f-word/

Especially about your writing and research.

Fredric Alan Maxwell
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2005

0

11/10, 02:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ah, Ann Arbor

Ah, yes, the Ann Arbor Discrict Library. July, 2004? You're off by six months, banjo. I was forced to file suit against them in Federal Court. The library changed their policies. If you want more legitimate information on the case, rather then chat room chatter, read my "Are Tar and Feathers Next?" piece in the Ann Arbor News. And if you want to read my motion withdrawing the case after I'd gone to Cali to continue the Jobs bio, let me know.

Interesting that you should have that blog. I thought that it was taken down awhile ago. And, if you rely on people who won't give their names, well, there you are. Apparently, you do not care if information is true, or distorted, or downright false. There's a lotta folk in our country like that right now, so you've got a bunch of company. This is one of the reasons that the London Mirror, I believe, ran a headline after the last presidential election, saying something like "How Could 59 Million Americans Be So Stupid?" We're all living with the consequences. For a long time.

But the real question is: why are you so intent on trying to discredit me? Do you work for Apple? You seem to have such hate in your words -- and won't show your face. You set up an account under a false name the same day that you pull something from a chat room that I thought had been taken down. Hum. Now tell me what you've written under your real name, banjo, and had published?

Again, if anyone needs more information on the subject(s) feel free to write me: stevejobsbio {at} yahoo.com. I'm getting more Steve Jobs and Apple stories every day.

k. chumley
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2005

0

11/23, 09:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
Best reply to F.A.M.

The best reply to F. Maxwell (and he has posted his story all over the internet) can be found at:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/slurslee/

He says it all.

kk
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 1999

0

11/24, 09:42pm | report spam | close Reply |
Stanford excuse not true

Please let us state once and for all that it is not true that Jobs "openly talked about his birth and biological families at Stanford in June." As if he had already outed the identity of his birth father. No Mr Maxwell.

He talked about his unmarried mother, not his birth father.

see: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

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Jobs asks biographer "Are you a nut case?"

updated 02:45 pm EST, Tue November 1, 2005

Jobs lashes out at author

He is a nutcase

Butt out

met him...

yeah

Sue

oh yeah...

Man what zealots

If the shoe fits.

He is a nut

All nuts

Stepping over the line

Advertising

Bah New York Daily News

Nice one, Maxwell.

deepdish...

Oh the embarassment...

New Headline

My article on Steve's Da

njfuzzy

Bad smell

"Facts are stupid things

lawsuit?

lawsuit

Ann Arbor

Ah, Ann Arbor

Best reply to F.A.M.

Stanford excuse not true

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Jobs asks biographer "Are you a nut case?"

updated 02:45 pm EST, Tue November 1, 2005

Jobs lashes out at author

Related Articles

Recent Articles

He is a nutcase

Butt out

met him...

yeah

Sue

oh yeah...

Man what zealots

If the shoe fits.

He is a nut

All nuts

Stepping over the line

Advertising

Bah New York Daily News

Nice one, Maxwell.

deepdish...

Oh the embarassment...

New Headline

My article on Steve's Da

njfuzzy

Bad smell

"Facts are stupid things

lawsuit?

lawsuit

Ann Arbor

Ah, Ann Arbor

Best reply to F.A.M.

Stanford excuse not true

Login Here

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