iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Along the Way

If you are looking for a blow by blow history of Apple this is not it, which is refreshing. This book focuses on Steve Wozniak's life and what motivated him to design the first personal computer, the path that led him to that point and the path he took from that point. Steve Jobs is mentioned in the book but only sparingly where it contributes to Wozniak's narrative. Of course the book focuses on Steve's engineering life but also focuses on his relationships with his father, wives and children. Overall a very well rounded account of Steve's life and is a must read for any Apple fan, especially as a foil to the books on Steve Jobs.

iWoz is one of my favorite audible books of all time (on par with "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"). Its very inspiring. I wish I could have listened to this 15 years ago while I was taking computer architecture and digital logic in college. Its nice to know about the people actually inventing and really doing the stuff you read about in textbooks.

If you love Apple, engineering, technology, history, or a wonderful story - you will love this book. It offers great insight into how the Apple I and II came about - including all the inventions, designs, and experiences that lead up to these moments.

I enjoyed the book immensely and is a must for anyone who owned an Apple II and/or grew up during the early days of personal computers. It really brought back some memories.

Woz should be looked at as one of the top inventor / engineers of the 20th century. He truly was brilliant when it came to implementing elegant designs. Hats off to a man who appears to have lived his life his way!

This is a very entertaining book and found it well paced. Actually had a couple of parts that had me laughing or at least grinning. The couple of slow pieces are understandable given it is a true story.

If you ever remember having problems with OS7/8 ? the book contains the answer? not surprising who?s product caused the issue (even when it was not running).

If you are a tech person, and especially if you used computers in the early days of PC's, this book will be great for you. If you are not into the details of the innards of long gone computers, then you may want to pass.

This book is written to aspiring engineers and has a great deal of detail about circuits created by Mr. Wozniak. The book goes into great detail about how he designed circuits for the Apple and other things. I did not know he invented SuperBreakout for Atari. I wish I had a little more education on basic electronics so I could have enjoyed the technical parts of the book. The early years at HP take up a good part of the book. Mr. Jobs is treated generally well in the book except for a time where he cheated Mr. Wozniak out of some money from Atari. Mr. Wozniak makes some references at the end to Apples Rebirth but did not seem to be involved. If you like very tech stuff then you will like this book. The book is written in naive style that lets the reader draw their own conclusion about the characters described. His former spouses are described in such a way that the reader can infer their character flaws. I would think that Mr. Wozniak would not be happy with me taking some of the stories at more than face value. Remember to read or listen between the lines.

Steve Wozniak isn't a complicated man, as he'll tell you in this book. But through his genius, a ton of things we take for granted were his ideas. This is a great listen if you want to take yourself back to a time before the internet, the proliferation of personal computers and technology.

The Plus's: He really does a good job of re-creating a sense of wonder he felt as he designed the first modern personal computer. His positive attitude permeates the entire recording.

The Minus's: Lot's of engineer-speak. He does ramble on about the counter-culture of the sixties & the anti-governmental ideas. And there isn't very much about Apple Computers or Steve Jobbs here. You have to get half-way through it before he even gets to Apple.

All in all, a good read, but I would have liked a little more information about the early Apple years.

This book took about 3 days to make. It is simply a transcript of interviews and includes all the filler words and weird phrasing. Either just have Woz do the speaking, or actually write a real biography.

Excellent narration captures the "gee whiz" approach to life that seems to be the core of Woz. Clearly he was and is a kid at heart as well as the extremely intelligent engineer that created the original Apple 1 and 2. Without a doubt, his work helped to revolutionize how people live, work and play on a global scale. What came though for me was that Woz the engineer could neither communicate effectively with non-engineers nor could he envision how to market his products. I can see where some might think the story self-indulgent but it is, after all, an autobiography. Woz, ever the engineer, takes the logical approach of telling his story straight out, make of it what you will. What some find self-indulgent I took as Woz believing in himself and his accomplishments and wanting to get his side of the story on the record. The book was made more poignant for me as I was about halfway though when Apple announced that Steve Jobs had died. Woz was clearly a gifted engineer but without the marketing vision of Jobs, Woz might have remained just another engineer in the backroom. I was a high school student in 1970 and actually used most of the computers discussed in the book. It brought back some great memories. I found it to be a compelling, interesting story very well read by Patrick Lawlor.

As an engineering type, I really appreciated the theme/story and the life observation/commentary presented. All of the technical discussions are very well presented so readers of all backgrounds can enjoy the story behind this very facsinating indivdual; the type of individual who would be great to meet and know. I was glued to every minute of this book.

To learn about Woz the book will give you great insight, yet because it is audible you will find it difficult to get through the 10+ minute explanation of practical jokes and details that Woz thought important (example a practical joke with a TV Jammer in college for the main TV Viewing room and all the different positions he got the students to hold while making the TV Signal work...10+ Minutes of this... too many things like this). Yet some stuff does give you insight for down the line. Seems like the last 2 chapters of the book probably had an editor involved as it picks up and really comes together and really gives you an insight to Woz nowdays (pre-Kathy Griffin meeting...now I would have liked to read that).

Maybe the book will really appeal to geeks. Maybe it is what it is like letting the Geek Personality really come through in the book. In either case I would have skipped this if I had only known about the long passages. But now I have insight on Woz.