Wozniak book splits the critics

PARTLY ON THE basis that the quietest guy in the room is often the most interesting, a cottage industry has grown up seeking the low-down and scoopy on that most secretive of organisations, Apple Computer. Little wonder then that Steve Wozniak's just-published autobiography has generated plenty of coverage this week.

Wondrously titled iWoz, it's a tale of the making of, love them or hate them, one of the great US companies, with plenty of room for tales of pranks and matters relating to his Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

But does it deliver the inside track, the Apple juice? Not really. Among kind-of revelations, the Woz says: He alone engineered the Apple I.

Woz and Jobs discussed who was better: Bob Dylan or The Beatles, before deciding it was Dylan. Dylan appears on the latest iTunes ads and has several links to the company, as we have bored on about many times.

Woz and Jobs still get on despite the odd falling-out, for example, over a game called Breakout.

Woz lost a ton of money on festivals.

He was a brainy kid, fascinated with electronics and a healthy appetite for pranks.

Last and most important of all, Woz and Jobs worked as Alice In Wonderland characters in a shopping mall.

Excerpts can be seen here.

The book has already received a slightly duff review from the Washington Post which says that Woz "doesn't write with nearly the same precision" as he used in engineering.

Blogger Clinton Ecker is also uncertain about the style: "I was a little annoyed at first the book was written so simply. I soon realised that this is probably just how Steve Wozniak talks or something and got over it. It covers a lot of stories you've probably heard before and ties them all together with a bunch of information surrounding Woz's upbringing. He also said he wasn't too upset that Steve Jobs stiffed him over the Breakout money. Overall a pretty OK book, it looks nice on the bookshelf, and is a super-easy read. You probably won't be interested unless you really like electronics, Apple, computer history, or all three."

Way back in May, however, Guy Kawasaki here

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/05/gina_smith_the_.html, for it is he, gave it a double thumbs-up:

“I loved the book because it isn't the typical theoretical tome written by an expert or consultant (i.e., someone who can't do but can write).”

Anyhow, it's got to be better than Gates's The Road Ahead or most of the rubbish that passes for tech guru musings in print. µ

TRIVIA
The book was co-written with the assistance of journalist Gina Smith. Sharp-eyed readers, or just people who should get out more, might remember Smith as the co-founder with Larry Ellison of Network Computer company NIC. She ran the company from 2000 to 2002 in an unusual, albeit short-lived, career move.