iWoz: Chapters 1-3

    This book is an autobiography on Steve Wozniak, the multi-millionaire most known for being co-founder of Apple with Steve Jobs. The story has so far only described his early years and childhood, further detailed through stories about his family and lifestyle. For example, when he and his friends were eleven years old growing up in Silicon Valley, they formed a group called the Electronics Kids. Since most of the group members had fathers that were engineers or mechanics, they had background knowledge on how to build cables and microphones. Therefore, they decided to build a secret intercom system connecting six houses together in order to plan out when they would sneak out of their rooms at night. When the idea was finally brought to life, they bought toilet paper to throw at girls' houses.
   Wozniak states his purpose very plainly on the cover of the book: "How I invented the personal computer, co-founded Apple, and had fun doing it." Other than illustrating his purpose in the subtitle of the book, the straightforward wording also alludes to a rhetorical device that the author uses: simplicity. Both in terms of vocabulary and descriptive language, Wozniak's simplicity conveys to his audience of Apple users and future engineers that he is not hiding his message behind complex rhetoric or detail. In other words, the author is using a lack of rhetoric as a rhetorical strategy. With regard to accomplishing his purpose, Wozniak uses accounts from his life, such as the Electronics Kids mentioned earlier, to connect to his audience and establish ethos. Fortunately, the author does not have to work that hard to establish ethos, since anyone buying the book probably knows who Steve Wozniak is.