I'm a fan of Isaacson's biographies of people who died before he started his research. I particularly liked his Benjamin Franklin book.

But his biography of Steve Jobs (and now Musk) betrays a central problem in the genre.

When immensely powerful people, about whom there is intensely curiosity among the general public, give one biographer uniquely close access, they are giving huge gifts -- sometimes worth millions of dollars -- to the biographers. 

 When powerful people in Washington and New York give vast access to a select group of journalists and news organizations -- access is the name of that game -- they are part of a process that should always make you cautious. 

It's a similar conundrum. 

 @f8d9bc1c 

This is the nature of journalism. This is the nature of social life. Everyone is trying to control the narrative.  It's why they invented deodorant.