Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and the Personal Computer

Graphic Library: Inventions and Discovery

by Donald Lemke

In graphic novel format, tells the story of how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak developed the personal computer.

Genres: History, Comics, Biography, Graphic Novels

32 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Donald Lemke works as a children's book editor. He has written dozens of all-age comics and children's books for Capstone, HarperCollins, Running Press, and more. Donald lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his beautiful wife, Amy, toddling toddler, Cleo, and a not-so-golden retriever named Paulie.

Reviews

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a simple, and sanitized, account of the relationship between two pioneers of computing, the electronics engineer, Steve Wozniak and the marketing visionary, Steve Jobs. Some of the surrounding facts are questionable (did Atari pay Jobs $1000 or $5000?), but the basic storyline, with a brief reference to tensions between the men, seems fairly consistent with public accounts. The personalities of the men, their initial funding challenges and associates are included. The narrative begins with Steve Wozniak in the "late 1960s" and runs through 1984 with a final page that references "Computing Today" to include business reports, music downloads and personal on-line video calls.

The weakness of the account is the artwork. Being a history that runs from the 1960s through the 1980s, I didn't mind the old school green grid lines. Far more problematic for me was that Steve Jobs looks like a woman in the first panel in which he is introduced. Furthermore, as everyone wears beards, I found myself stumbling over the drawings, trying to figure out who was saying what. The illustrators have decided to go with changing clothing styles, which is fine, but something as simple as always showing Jobs in black (which became his trademark) or Wozniak in blue would have gone a long way to being able to quickly identify who was who. It was distracting instead of enhancing.

This book doesn't cover anything else beyond the titled storyline. While inventions of others are referenced as inspiring to the men and 'competitors' are mentioned generally, there is no reference to... IBM or Motorola or anything else in the tech world. This is a strength in producing a cohesive historical narrative that does not age, but a weakness in purchasing the book.

It turns out the information age is a challenge to explain to children who are growing up in it like fish in water. I would be interested in any other recommendations that educators have for either the computer industry or the information age for elementary or middle school students.

The History of Computers (Inventions that Changed the World), Raum, 2008
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wozniak the wizard unfortunately needed the conniving of Jobs the scumbag to make their machines appropriately marketable to the world.

The historical heroism goes to Wozniak because got out before Jobs made Apple into a global corporate monster.

[Duván Mejia Cortes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brief introduction to Apple history, But I think it's a graphic novel for kids.
For me I liked but was so basic, I need to learn something more about Job's life.
Great and was easy to understand!

[Andrés Yonda Zamora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una ilustración gráfica genial de algunos hitos importantes de Apple. Uno más para la colección.

[Hamza Kaya]

sdcsadsa

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought that this might be a fun way for my kids to learn about the birth of Apple - they've only ever seen it as successful, I thought that they might be interested in reading about how it got started. Thing is...they won't touch it because the graphics on the cover say "old", not to mention the guys on the cover (says "nerd"). If you flip through the pages, the drawings are all like that - which means that even if they got past the cover, they wouldn't get past the first couple of pages.

The story ends in 1985, so no talk either about how they revolutionized personal music players, and usability in general, and how they changed the music industry. These are the things that the kids would be interested in!

They missed the boat on this - I didn't even get nostalgic when I saw the old computers. I don't know what their market is, but it certainly wasn't anyone I know.

[Stacia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was interesting and well done... although the graphics (character-wise) are a bit lacking... and the story seems to just end and skip many years from 1984, on. Overall - a good graphic read that is a good introduction for learning about the history of computers, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Apple.

[Moodhy Alajab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring !

i loved Steve jobs more and no wonder why i use ALL Mac products now lol
Smart,Simple, Creative, practical and fits me. I don't have to change anything in my head to fit it.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Capstone Graphic Library non-fiction book. Simple, accessible history of Apple Computer and its founders, Jobs and Wozniak.