I bought and read this book right around the time it came out, but I am just now getting around to blogging about it. I always read an auto-biography expecting a biography… and I am always disappointed. When looking at your own life I think it is hard to remember it in a linear fashion, most of the auto-biographies I have read jump around way too much. iWoz isn’t really even an auto-biography, it’s like one really long rambling interview. Steve doesn’t always come across well, a comment said after a couple beers with a big smile can come across completely different when set in type. I think this makes him seem more conceited than he actually is (of course I have never met the guy so I am just hoping this is the case).
There are plenty of interesting things in the book. I found the pre-apple and early-apple stories the most interesting, the parts after apple was successfully are much less interesting. (the love festival thing, etc) I think the real failure of this book is the format. Apparently the book was written through multiple interviews and thrown together as a book. It doesn’t flow very well, the writing style is very conversational, and it doesn’t probe into the most interesting areas. Someday a real biographer will tackle some of the tech pioneers and we will get the real story.
-James
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