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Comment by LeonM | Hacker News Reader

Woz sure seems like a humble guy.

You should read his biography 'iWoz' [0], it's a really nice read.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/iWoz-Computer-Invented-Personal-Co-Fou...

Though it might be attributable to bad writing/editing on the part his co-author, iWoz is by far the worst, most disappointing book I've read this year. It is essentially a 300-page 'humblebrag' about how smart he knows he was as a kid, how he's still kind of a kid, and what qualifies as bad things other people do versus pranks I pull. Read it for the interesting facts (in between reminiscences of the middle school science fair) and historical perspective, not for the writing or, as far as I can tell, to glimpse Woz's real character.

This is the polar opposite of how I feel about Woz's book. I started reading it after first reading the Jobs biography, in which I found the parts about Woz to be the most fun to read. I never finished the Jobs biography after getting iWoz. If the book reads like a "humblebrag", it's because it WAS a humblebrag...Woz decided to write it after apparently being frustrated with how Jobs was getting all the credit for Apple's early innovations...and in my opinion, Woz was 100% entitled to shout from the walls his amazing accomplishments.

I'm surprised you say that the book doesn't provide insight to Woz's real character. If anything, one of the book's shortcomings is that it reads as if an overexcited kid wrote it...but that seems to be Woz's actual character. You didn't find it at all interesting to read about Woz's insecurities, and how he basically created the Apple I as a means to have something to initiate small talk about with Homebrew club members?

One of the best chapters was when Woz explained getting through the trauma of his airplane crash. Other descriptions of the incident are considerably more darker, but Woz approaches it as you'd expect an engineer to.

(1) Agree that he has the right to brag. (2) I'm sure his character is much deeper and more interesting than what I perceived just by reading the book, without knowing him personally– that is what I mean.

As I said, I'm inclined to attribute the issues I have either with the writer, editor, or some dynamic in between. If the whole thing was presented in a 45 minute long lecture, I'd have been pretty excited. As an autobiography, I was disappointed. (Thanks for the thoughtful reply by the way– if I didn't have to run I'd try to give a more thorough exposition.)

I really enjoyed iWoz book - even so much that I wrote directly to Steve to thank him for writing it. It's warm and inspiring book and especially the last chapters about following your passion really made it for me.

Have you read a better autobiography or biography about Woz? I thought the book was great. (Almost all autobiography's are 'humblebrags')

Unfortunately no, I don't know of any other biographies of Woz that I could recommend. It's the only thing holding me back from saying "don't read this" in my previous comment.

For me, "by far the worst, most disappointing book I've read this year" is pretty much saying "don't read this."

In fact, I think I'd be more inclined to read it had you said "don't read this" (compared to what you actually said).

Perhaps it's the ONLY book he's read this year?

I just want to add that I couldn't get past the first third of the book for the same reason. It felt like every chapter was another "humblebrag" event and the pranks weren't really that funny to me either.

I'm sure Woz is an amazing guy though. I would love to learn more about one of the giants from just before my time if anyone has another book they could recommend.

You've got to read iWoz in the context of the times it refers to. Jobs and Woz started out as a couple of naive, idealistic young hippies. Only one of them really changed.

A biography of Woz is never going to read like a glossy, romanticized biography of Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Andrew Viterbi, Elon Musk or whoever. That's not who he is. He's... well, he's Woz. It takes all kinds, especially his.

> I would love to learn more about one of the giants from just before my time if anyone has another book they could recommend.

It's been years and years since I read this, but I remember really enjoying it: http://www.amazon.com/Out-their-Minds-Discoveries-Scientists...

yup, an absolutely amazing read, having recently finished reading it, I have even more respect for the guy and his work. I am really hoping the new jobs movie puts him in better light than what the last movie did.

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