Accidental Millionaire: The Rise and Fall of Steve Jobs at Apple Computer [Hardcover]

Lee Butcher (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Through the story of Apple Computer in California's "Silicon Valley," Butcher, sometime editor of regional business magazines, traces the evolution of electronic computation from room-size vaccuum-tube units to the pinhead-microchip integrated-calculator circuits that now govern industrial communication. Apple was a classic shoestring, garage-based partnership, comprising a quiet genius (Stephen Wozniak) and an offbeat go-getter (Steven Jobs), which within three years came to be worth over $1 billion. Venture capital, publicity and a well-timed stock issue brought millions to Apple's principals, but as Butcher tells it the enterprise was ill-prepared for success. Haphazard management, poor marketing judgment and Jobs's abrasive personality, the author holds, led to internal chaos and dissension, with reciprocal executive screaming, employees in tears and parking-lot fist fights. Eventually, investors forced the appointment of a traditional executive from Pepsico, John Sculley; Wozniak lost interest, and Jobs, aged 30, lost out. Photos. 20,000 ad/promo; first serial to California Business.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A fascinating unauthorized biography of Apple co-founder Steven Jobs, this also provides a history of Apple Computer, Inc., and insights into the personal computer industry. At times, Butcher seems biased against Jobs and his product the Macintosh, but he does manage to enumerate Jobs's positive entrepreneurial qualities. The book is based on interviews with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, early Apple employees, Jobs's teachers and friends from high school and college, and long-time players in the Silicon Valley high-tech industry. Jobs declined to be interviewed. This is a captivating, "can't put down" type of book, which will be in demand. Recommended for public, academic, and company libraries. Mary Greene Havener, ERT, a Resource Engineering Co., Concord, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Paragon House; 1st edition (September 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0913729795
• ISBN-13: 978-0913729793
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #440,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Culture > Biographies

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it. It told about the heart of Apple's Macintosh, December 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Accidental Millionaire: The Rise and Fall of Steve Jobs at Apple Computer (Hardcover)

It made me understand the realationship between Jobs & Woz. It gives credit where credit is due. It puts Apple Computer into a whole new light for me. I look at the team behind the Macintosh in a while new way.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good writing style: Easy and enjoyable to read, February 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Accidental Millionaire: The Rise and Fall of Steve Jobs at Apple Computer (Hardcover)

Format of book would be better if it was more chronological. Steve Jobs is portrayed as one of the biggest jerks to ever exist although the book isn't as focused on him as the title indicates. The behind the scenes chaos at Apple is made quite evident.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Steve Jobs: tyrannical glue, December 7, 2002

By 

Derek M. Siems (Lafayette, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accidental Millionaire: The Rise and Fall of Steve Jobs at Apple Computer (Hardcover)

I cannot begin to describe how much apple computers have played a part in my life up to the present. I can still recall the days of my early childhood when I would spend Saturday mornings with my Macintosh LC. The opportunity to discover the roots of these pinnacles of computing technology was welcomed with open arms. The book begins speaking of both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as small Californian children with a hunger for knowledge for technology. Wozniak, being the son of an engineer, had an almost instinctive approach to computing technology creating a 10 - bit calculator in his early teens. Steve Jobs, on the other hand, was more fascinated with what technology could do than how it worked. The first collaboration of Wozniak and Jobs brought about the "blue box", which was used to make free long distance calls illegally. As the two sought a more productive and legal venture, they moved on to computing technology. As the book progresses, it goes into the intense conflict between Jobs and what seems like the rest of the company of Apple computers. I used to believe Steve Jobs was the creator of everything in the early days of Apple; however, I was shown otherwise by this book. Steve Jobs actually was the man that put things in motion by inspiring an pressuring his fellow technical friends to make something of their skills and created Apple as the product of the collaboration.

I am afraid I cannot give this book a four or five star rating due to its frequent overlapping and unnecessary repetition of information. This overlapping actually makes the middle chapters of the book difficult to follow. For instance, one chapter will be talking about the apprehension of IBM's PCjr. computer in 1983 and then in the next chapter will start talking about Apple projects and company turmoil in 1982. In a book that follows the progression of company, it is important that the reader can easily identify the chronological order of the events. In spite of the many inconveniences of the writing style, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in Apple computers or the earlier days of computers in general. I would even recommend this book to someone in a crunch to read two-hundred pages for an English class like I did.