As the co-founder and CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs was notoriously successful at keeping secrets in-house, only leaking out enough information to keep the public clamoring for more. In his private life, Jobs kept his cards even closer to the vest, proactively guarding his friends and family from the scrutiny of the public eye.

Sensing his time was coming to an end, Jobs threw out these lessons to live by and opened up in a new biography, set to hit shelves this morning, which takes an unflattering look at many of Apple's competitors and, in some ways, Jobs himself.

A good deal of the book, authorized by Jobs and written by famed biographer Walter Isaacson, delves into his youth, his history of drug use and his battle with cancer.

In his 60 Minutes interview last night, Isaacson talked in detail about Jobs' regrettable decision to wait nine months to have his pancreatic cancer operated on, opting instead to treat the disease with a vegan diet, acupuncture and visits to a psychic.

"I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking," Isaacson said. "It'd worked for him in the past. He regretted it."

Isaacson also noted in the interview that Jobs had met his biological father before they even knew they were related. Jobs used to frequent the restaurant that his Syrian-born father managed, and he had spoken to Jobs on several occasions before either knew of their relationship.

After being told the true identity of his father, Jobs never pursued a relationship because he said he couldn't trust him.

As for the professional side of his life, Jobs lashed out at several major players in the tech space, including those who took over Apple after he was ousted in 1985. He referred to his successors as "corrupt people" with "corrupt values" who cared only about making money "for themselves mainly, and also for Apple— rather than making great products," according to the AP.

Google (News - Alert), one of Apple's biggest competitors in the mobile space, seemed to capture Jobs' ire more than any other company he faced off against. Convinced Google's Android OS was a complete rip-off of the iPhone (News - Alert), Jobs told Isaacson in 2010: "I will spend my last dying breath if I have to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

Apple has since taken Android-based handset manufacturers like Samsung and HTC (News - Alert) to court in a myriad of patent infringement lawsuits.

Jobs also took exception to the acts of a former key Apple engineer, Jon Rubinstein, who left the company after Jobs took the side of Apple designer Jony Ive in an argument over a product change. After finding out that Rubinstein had left Apple to go to competitor Palm, Jobs apparently became furious and attempted to intercede.

Recalling the situation, Jobs later told Isaacson: "the fact that they completely failed salves that wound."

Jobs also used the biography to lash out at Fox News, Microsoft's Steve Balmer, Intel (News - Alert) chips and President Obama, who he reportedly told that he would be a one-term president if he continued to treat businesses like enemies.

Jobs also had a mixed review of Bill Gates (News - Alert), who he referred to as "basically unimaginative," and a person who "has never invented anything."

"He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger," Jobs said.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves