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iWoz is the biography of Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the first Apple computer. I’ve read most of the stories about the creation of Apple Computer. The Little Kingdom and Infinite Loop being the main ones. This is the first book by one of the guys who was actually there though, one of the Steve’s. The book gives a interesting account of what made the man, what made him become and engineer and what drove him to blend science with human feeling. I’ve sped through the first two chapters about Woz’s early time in Sunnyvale, CA. He was an exceptionally smart kid, quite privileged, with a father who became the biggest influence on his life.

I had to skip a little ahead though to get Woz’s take on his first meeting with Steve Jobs though. Re-enactments such as Pirates of Silicon Valley show them to be good friends but split by their passion to ‘change the world’ versus this being a hobby but for the people. I think this little excerpt gives some insight:

“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. The Beatles.. they were more like pop songs.. To us, Dylan’s songs struck a moral chord. They kind of made you think about what was right and wrong in the world, and how you’re going to live and be.

At any rate, the first introduction we never forgot, and later on Steve and I were really linked. Linked forever.”

iWoz reads easy and is very much ‘voiced’ by Woz. Sentences tend to start with “Boy.. and was that a prank I played.” Let’s see if the remainding chapters keep me enthralled.