Reviews for iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: Getting to the Core of Apple's Inventor

The average rating for iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: Getting to the Core of Apple's Inventor based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-03-25 00:00:00 George Magalios I gave up. Edit: To give this a bit more depth, let me explain. Steve Wozniak is a brilliant man, a kind man, a wonderful man. I'd love to have him as a friend, family member, coworker (I said the opposite of Jobs when reading his biography). He just simply cannot write. Every page reads like an excited little boy who just came home from school (And then I built this project. And then I pushed the "on" button. And the lights didn't work. But I learned a lot. And I tried a new project for the science fair.), which I believe Woz still is, at heart. That's fantastic. That's lovely. But it doesn't make for good writing. There is something to possibly be said about the fact that maybe Woz's life is a bit dull for this sort of thing. He had no issues with his childhood. He loved his parents. He's unblemished by his past. I'm telling you, he's an absolutely excellent guy, but such good-naturedness doesn't leave a lot of room for conflict. Then again, I also think there's tons that's interesting about Woz. But it would have been better left to an autobiographer to tell, someone who could emphasize the important parts, locate them in the spirit of the times, or at the very least draw out broader thoughts from his subject. This leads me to my second problem: although this book was published earlier, I read the Jobs autobiography first. That means that any of the exciting little stories embedded here (the early days of phone phreaking, the Home Brew Club, Apple's early days) I had already heard--and frequently in much more fascinating detail. So, no matter how many times I tried, I just couldn't finish this book. Sorry Woz! Let's be friends?

Review # 2 was written on 2012-09-01 00:00:00 Wheeler Wagenet Well, as far as a biography goes, there isn't all that much and what there is, is only adding to the impression of a somewhat disjointed personality. The impression this book left me was an attempt to set the record straight, which is never a good thing in a biography. Writing-wise the book is awful. Repetition ad nauseam, boasting, etc. We don't really get to know the man behind all those achievements, that is, the universal remote control, Apple I, Apple II, Apple III (Ahem, sorry, my mistake, this one was "invented" by a committe lead by Steve Jobs, ah ah). If you're really interested to know the Wozniak's personal take on the "invention" of the personal computer, go ahead and read it. If not, there's already a all bunch of information on the web, where the record is already straight... Stick to it.