A new biography portrays Apple Corp. co-founder Steve Jobs as a perfectionist, often abrasive with others, and stubborn — initially refusing potentially life-saving treatment for pancreatic cancer and giving up religion because he was troubled by images of starving children.

Walter Isaacson, former Time magazine and CNN executive and the current chairman of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, was given unfettered access to the tech genius for a new biography to be released Monday, titled Steve Jobs.

Isaacson said in an interview Sunday with CBS’ 60 Minutes that when Jobs eventually sought surgery for the cancer, it had spread to the tissues surrounding his pancreas. The book reveals that Jobs deeply regretted not having had the surgery sooner.

Jobs also spent years studying Zen Buddhism and traveled through India in search of spiritual guidance.

The biography, for which Jobs granted about 40 interviews, also is a look into the thoughts of a man who was famously secretive, guarding details of his life as he did Apple’s products.

“He’s not warm and fuzzy,” Isaacson said of Jobs. Instead, he described the Apple executive as “very petulant, very brittle” and sometimes “very, very mean.”

The book originally was scheduled to come out in March. But its release date was moved up after Jobs’ death on October 5 at age 56.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is responsible for all U.S. government and government sponsored, non-military international broadcasting, including the Voice of America.