Book review: Steve Wozniak – iWoz
Steve Wozniak
iWoz (From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It)
ISBN-13: 978-0393061437
Steve Wozniak embodies the archetype of what people (sometimes disrespectfully) denote as a "nerd" or "computer geek". He is doubtlessly a brilliant engineer and inventor, but on the other side, he is a shy and introverted person. He feels uncomfortable speaking in front of groups of unknown people. And instead of making a lot of fuss over his person he prefers to define himself by what he has achieved from a technical point of view.
Steve Wozniak's technical genius along with his timid character is one ingredient of the "Apple Myth". The other ingredient, inseparable connected with Steve Wozniak, is the "other Steve", Steve Jobs. Jobs embodies the ideal complement to Wozniak's skills. Jobs is a business man through and through, but he is also a technical visionary. Jobs and Wozniak cofounded Apple Computer in 1976. Wozniak's excellent computer hardware design and Jobs' natural business talent enabled them to turn Apple into a flourishing enterprise that dominated the home computer market for many years.
A lot has been written about the history of Apple Computer and about its founders, but with his autobiography iWoz Wozniak publishes his memoirs from his own point of view. Wozniak--or Woz, how he calls himself--primarily focuses on three phases in this life: his childhood and adolescence, the days of the homebrew computer club that led to building the Apple II computer and the foundation of Apple, and finally the years since Woz has drawn back from Apple and is devoting his time to other projects.
iWoz is not a technical book, it is quite entertaining, light reading. Woz does not deny that he is a genuine engineer with a love for elegant technical designs. But he is also busy in pointing out that he loves having fun in work and life and that he has a good sense of humor. One of Woz' favorite hobbies since his childhood is playing pranks on others at every possible occasion. The book largely lives from narrating these amusing stories interwoven with the biographical facts.
While the non-technical style of iWoz makes the book very accessible to non-technical readers, technically interested readers--like me--expect more from a book from Steve Wozniak. Unfortunately, the book almost completely lacks any technical detail. While Woz mentions many times that his electronic designs use many clever tricks to make them simpler and thus cheaper, he hardly ever elaborates on the details of these tricks.
My second concern about the book is that--for my taste--it is written in too casual style. Even as a non-native speaker I feel, that there should be a larger difference between spoken and written english. Partly the book reads like the transcript of an interview, which might be not by accident: according to the acknowledgements, the book is in fact based on a series of interviews of Woz with Gina Smith.
Nonetheless, in my opinion iWoz is still a book worthwhile reading. The book is quite entertaining and presents an important piece of computer history. Although the book lacks technical detail, Steve Wozniak's experience can be a great source of inspiration for all engineers.
Written December 27th, 2006