Dec 22 2006

iWoz

dastels @ 1:56 am
This was an excellent read.

It was a nice, not-quite-so-well-known tale of Apple’s early days. The writing/style seemed genuine and authentic. Granted, Woz did a LOT of the inovative, groundbreaking work in the personal computer industry, but he sounds almost braggy at times in the book. Sure.. he created the first breakout game, wrote the first videogame (breakout on the Apple 1), and almost singlehandedly designed what is arguably THE earthshattering invention of the 20th century (at least as far as computing is concerned)… the Apple ][.

Highly recomended, this is a great read.

Nov 15 2006

Currently reading

dastels @ 3:32 pm

Tonight I picked up IWoz, pictured below. Just started in, but pretty good so far. It’s an autobiography rather than a biography (as iCon was), and the writing is more intimate and casual. I’m looking forward to it.

 

 

iWoz

Jun 18 2006

Screw it, Let’s Do It.

dastels @ 3:48 am
I just read this fabulous little book: Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons in Life by Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Music, Virgin Airlines, etc.

The book is low price, short, easy to read, and packing with good advice. More encouraging than enlightening, but that’s never a bad thing.

From the Amazon page: Global entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has built a business empire and made billions, yet is renowned for his approachability, ability to challenge and succeed against the odds. Screw It, Let’s Do It reveals the lessons from life that have helped him through his business and personal life such as, believe it can be done and that, if others disagree with you, try and try again until you achieve your goal; or that you must love what you do. These and other lessons, with examples of how he learned them and how he’s used them, are included in this stirring and candid look at his lessons from an exceptional life, which will inspire you to make a difference in your own life.

Mar 31 2005

Revolution in the Valley

dastels @ 4:18 pm
Review of Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How The Mac Was Made by Andy Hertzfeld

2005 O’Reilly, ISBN 0-596-00719-1

“It’s chilling to recall how this cast of young and inexperienced people who cared more than anything about doing great things created what is perhaps the key technology of our lives.” — Steve Wozniak

So reads the back cover of this new book from O’Reilly, authored by Andy Hertzfeld.

Andy was one of the main authors of the system software of the original Macintosh, including the User Interface Toolbox. After three years at Apple, Anmdy went on to co-found Radius, General Magic, and Eazel.

This book was different than any I’ve read before. It was different than any other history of Apple, Mac or other technical thing (e.g “Soul of a New Machine”, “Fire in the Valley”, “The Journey is the Reward”, etc.). One of the biggest differences was how it was organized: as a series of short (2-3 pages) stories or anecdotes. This made the book highly entertaining, enjoyable, and easy to read.

There were loads of photos, including a chronological photo tour of the evolution of the Lisa’s windowing system. Lots of pics of the mac team, prototype boards, screen shots, even an appearance by Bill Gates. One really cool thing was various scans of Andy’s notes. In all it was an incredible look into what went on in those magical few years.

I have been a fan of Apple since about 1980 when I learned basic on an Apple ][. I fell in love with Macintosh when the earliest information on it was made public. After being introduced to Smalltalk by the Aug ‘81 issue of Byte.. here was a computer that made it all real. I had a couple Macs over the years, and used an early model Newton for several years at one point. I’ve finally (Feb 14, 2005) “switched”.. making a well loaded iBook my core machine. Even so, this book is loaded with details that I hadn’t read before.

It’s interesting to think about.. I’m writing a review of a book about the original Mac… 21 years after the Mac’s introduction, on one of it’s recent descendants… one with several orders of magnitude more power (10240 times as much memory, for example). Woz was right, though… the original Mac changed how people view/use computers.

If you are a Mac fan, or a computer history junkie (I’m both BTW) then get this book. It’s full of trivia, and it’s a fun read. Well done, Andy.

Mar 23 2005

Hertzfeld’s Story

dastels @ 1:39 am

Dropped into Border’s on the way back to the hotel tonight (on site somewhere near Detroit) and cruised the Mac section. Lots of books on the previous versions of things.. and Panther.. I already have a good Panther book (O’Reilly’s “OS X Missing Manual, Panther Edition.. if you run Panther you should have it)… and Tiger is out soon.

I did find something interesting, though. “Revolution in the Valley”… Andy Hertzfeld’s story of the creation of the macintosh. I read a very favourable review in one of the Mac mags I pick up occasionally, so I grabbed it… I’m just through the intro, but it looks great. It will be interesting to compare it with other tellings of that tale (Steven Levy’s “Insanely Great”, and Steve Jobs’ biography “The Journey is the Reward”). I’ll write a review when I’m finished with it.