Books: iWoz
I was pleasantly surprised, when I found this book under the christmas tree. My wife got it for me in the U.S. and I thought that it will make a great read during the holidays.
Well, actually no. This book leaves me with mixed feelings. I still have no doubts that Stephen “Woz” Wozniak was instrumental in the birth of the home computer and subsequently the personal computer as we know it today. And that he probably did more trailblazing things in the computer industry than most people.
But does he really have that much of an inferior complex that he has to rub it in constantly? After reading the book, it is clear to me, that the “I” in the book title is literally. Because “I” is probably the most used word in that book. “What I did”. “What I invented”. “What I envisioned”. Now, that is not a bad thing in itself. But mix it up with a constant drone about “how a shy and insecure guy I am” and you end up with the book.
About halfway through, I was asking myself “Well, but what is the point?“. With fiction, it happens sometimes that I’m relieved when a book is finished (John Ringo comes to mind), but this was probably the first non-fiction book where I was glad when I could close the covers. And yes, I’ve read “The road ahead” when it came out.
My personal rating: I give it 3 out of 10. One for the fact that Woz is a bona fide, in the flesh, genius. One because there is some anecdotal information all around “the area that became Silicon Valley” in there. The last for the fact that imagining Steve Jobs wire-wrapping breadboards is fun.
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