I have a collection of books about all things Apple. Steve Wozniak’s iWoz gets added to the shelf as an ultra insider’s view of Apple Computer’s early days.
Where’s that foreword by Steve Jobs? In fact, where’s all the secrets, the scoops, the dirt, the hostility?
That’s not Wozniak’s style and that’s not what you find in iWoz.
Other books about Apple, Steve Jobs, and the early days of Silicon Valley were expose driven. Insider perspective; dirt, if you will.
There’s Apple Confidential 2.0. There’s iCon, about Steve Jobs. You get the idea.
If you’re hoping for some insider knowledge about Apple’s early days, that’s what you get.
The problem, of course, is Woz; Steve Wozniak—Apple co-founder, the other Steve.
Digging dirt is not the Woz style, though he has plenty of opinions and shares a few. For example, the title:
“iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing it.
The book is a narrative. It’s Steve, the Woz, talking to you.
Actually, Wozniak is talking to journalist Gina Smith, the co-writer. Wozniak is a teacher, but needs a journalist to help him write.
What I’ve found in the book so far is about what you’d expect from Steve Wozniak, not what you’d expect from Steve Jobs.
And certainly not what you expect from someone so intimately acquainted with Apple’s early days, Steve Jobs, et al.
There’s stories of pranks such as ripping off telephone systems for free long distance. Steve might get a bill from AT&T.
Woz has opinions, too. What about Steve Jobs coming back to Apple? It was “exactly what Apple needed.”
Remember, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs were friends. Teenage friends; the type who do all kinds of things together.
What’s interesting to note is that Wozniak remains an Apple employee, though there’s no mention of how much money he makes.
The other Steve, like the other other Steve, doesn’t like books about Apple and its history, so this one carried an intention to set the record straight.
Why didn’t Steve Jobs write the book’s forward, as he had agreed? No one knows for sure, except Steve Jobs.
Wozniak opines that it was probably a misunderstanding, as Jobs’ draft copy did not contain the chapter giving him credit for Apple’s turnaround.
What did the two Steve’s do in the early days, pre-Apple Computer?
“Steve and I were into listening to Bob Dylan and his lyrics, trying to figure out who was better, Dylan or the Beatles. We both favored Dylan because the songs were about life and living and values in life and what was really important.”
Wozniak claims to have invented the personal computer, and few will argue the point.
How about the computer revolution itself?
“Most of these people were young, a few were old, we all looked like engineers; no one was really good-looking. Ha. Well, we’re talking about engineers, remember.”
It was after that first meeting in the Homebrew Cmputer Club in March of 1975 that Woz started designing the computer that became the Apple I.
According to a published report in SFGate, Gina Smith interviewed Wozniak and compiled most of what makes up the book. And more.
So much more was obtained during the interviews that there’s speculation Wozniak may publish an iWoz II book.
If you’re into all things Apple, and grow tired of all the investigative dirt pieces, you’ll find it refreshing to try a different viewpoint; a true insider from the early days at Apple.
About Bambi Brannan
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