From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-Introductory biographies of two computer geniuses. Both begin by placing the subjects in their historical and cultural milieus and include interesting anecdotes. Berners-Lee comes across as a humble man who changed our lives when he developed the World Wide Web. However, he has not accumulated great personal wealth from his seminal work. Gaines uses many quotes from her subject's book, Weaving the Web (Harper, 1999). Her title is similar in scope to Melissa Stewart's Tim Berners-Lee: Inventor of the World Wide Web (Ferguson, 2001). Riddle and Whiting describe Wozniak's successes as well as the challenges he faced after he cofounded Apple Computer. He has used his great wealth to give back to the community through philanthropy and teaching in elementary schools. The book is less detailed than Martha Kendall's Steve Wozniak (Highland, 2000). Both volumes define new words in reader-friendly terms within the text. Black-and-white captioned photos appear throughout. Useful for reports.
Sandra L. Doggett, Urbana High School, Ijamsville, MD
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Sandra L. Doggett, Urbana High School, Ijamsville, MD
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
This is the story of two friends named Steve. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs both attended Homestead high school, though Woz was several years ahead of Jobs. Throughout their teenage years, Woz would have some neat brainstorm he thought he could manufacture and Jobs was always sure he could sell it. One of their first ventures was selling Woz's "blue box" that could simulate a telephone and dial anywhere in the world for free. They were both members of the Home brew Computer Club and it was on this relationship that the future of Apple Computer began. Woz developed his own computer and Jobs was sure he could sell them. The two started a partnership in Jobs'garage after they sold all their worldly possessions just to buy the parts for their very first order. Apple Computer grew quickly from those first days in Jobs' garage to a very large company that neither man had envisioned. Woz was largely credited for the successful Apple II. At some point in time, the job stopped being fun and in 1985, Woz left Apple Computer for good. He started a series of unsuccessful companies on his own and finally returned to college to get the degree he never finished, long after he was a multimillionaire.
