Steve Jobs: Thinks Different

Children's Literature

This fascinating, fast reading, brief (77 pages) biography of the founder of Apple Computers recounts his successes as well as his failures. Readers will learn about the early history and development of the computer from the time when Jobs attended meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club, a group that gathered once a week to brainstorm and discuss their homemade computers. They will marvel at the combined foresight and abilities of Jobs and Steve Wozniak, from the time they saw the "office of the future" at the XEROX Palo Alto Research Center to the incorporation of those ideas (such as computer networking, the use of a mouse and the laser printer) in their computer for ordinary people, the Macintosh. Steve Job's ventures when he left Apple and his return to the company he founded are also included. The black-and-white photos of computers provide reference points for the reader. There are blue pages called "Tech Talk" that give simple explanations to technical terms. Part of the "Techies" series, there is an index and a bibliography that also includes the sources. 2001, Twenty-First Century Books/The Millbrook Press, $21.90 and $6.95. Ages 10 to 15. Reviewer:Sharon Salluzzo

VOYA

With a breezy style, short length, large font, numerous photographs, and attractive page design, books in the Techies series provide quick reads and laudatory profiles of major tech world figures. Each volume contains information about the subject's childhood, creativeness, struggle to achieve, and successes and failures. The books also contain a brief look at the changing technology marketplace with its fierce competition. Several one- to two-page sections of Tech Talk explore in simple terms such major technology subjects as computer language, code writing, Web page creation, the Internet, and search engines. Steve Jobs of Apple and Macintosh fame grew up in what is now the Silicon Valley. He used his interest in electricity and computers to develop, along with his friend Steve Wozniak, a "computer that was small and useful and simple enough that everybody in the world would want to have one." Marc Andreessen showed great ability in computer programming. His work led to the development of Mosaic and later Netscape, both in pursuit of the idea of making the Internet "as easy to use as possible." Jeff Bezos, with his philosophy of "work hard, have fun, make history," developed Amazon.com, starting his online business in his garage. All three men march to different drummers, are risk takers and highly competitive, and work to make computers increasingly accessible. These books will be helpful to younger students interested in the fields of technology or business. They will be additionally useful to teens looking for short biographies, serving as high interest/low vocabulary titles. Index. Photos. Biblio. Source Notes. VOYA CODES: 4Q 2P M J S (Better than most, marred only byoccasional lapses; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Twenty-First Century, 80p. PLB $21.90. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Susan H. Levine SOURCE: VOYA, August 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 3)