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Ron Wayne, Apple, Inc.'s sometimes forgotten third co-founder, has written an autobiography titled Adventures of an Apple Founder: Atari, Apple, Aerospace & Beyond. The book is available starting today from as a paperback from Amazon or via Apple's iBookstore.
Wayne held 10% of Apple when it was founded, but sold it soon after for a few thousand dollars. From the book's description:
There is much more to the story of Ron Wayne than his brief involvement with the Apple Computer Company (before it re-formed as Apple Computer Inc.).
In the spring of 1976 while working as chief draftsman and product development engineer at the video game maker Atari, Ron assisted a co-worker with the subtle intricacies of forming a small business.It was with Ron's natural sensibilities, experiences, and skills honed over a lifelong career in many disciplines that he offered himself openly as a resource to two much-younger entrepreneurs: Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak. These same traits would drive Ron's decision to leave a short time later.
It is one of life’s profound realities that people rarely recognize “history” while they are in the midst of making it. The events that transpired that spring would come to define such a case.
Adventures of an Apple Founder offers insight into the experiences that define the man whose passion for engineering and design spans over three quarters of a century, half a dozen industries, and a lifetime of adventures!
Wayne's isn't the only Apple founder's biography to be released in 2011. Steve Jobs' long awaited bio from Walter Isaacson will be released November 21st.
Hat tip to MacStories.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)I always like hearing backstory and little known facts and such.
Though the breakup of the word "adventures" is a terrible eyesore.
...I wonder if Steve Jobs ever reached out to Ron Wayne over the years to say "I told you so" or to send him a conciliation gift...
:) Wouldn't be undeserved but if the stories are true he actually tried many times to get Ron to come back into the fold at Apple. I am pretty sure Ron has punched himself in the face more than enough to cover everybody's desire to do so. His choice is a lesson for us all though, fear is a traitor. It makes us lose the good things we might win by being too afraid to even try.
Does anyone else think that having an autobiography is kind of... sad?
It's someone declaring their own historical importance, rather than having someone else declare it for them (as in a biography.)
While I understand what you mean by your comment about autobiographies they tend to be a bit more focused on specific periods in someone's life rather than everything that's happened to them since they first took a breath. Well we all know he isn't as fantastic as Steve Jobs but his little part in the Apple story could still be an interesting read.
That being said I'm sure Mr. Wayne simply realizes that this will be the greatest time to get his story out. Opportunistic, yes, but good business sense...this time ;).
It would not have ended up as 10% of Apple today, as it would have become quite diluted.
It would still be worth several hundred million, even diluted.
That being said I'm sure Mr. Wayne simply realizes that this will be the greatest time to get his story out. Opportunistic, yes, but good business sense...this time ;).
Rofl. Yes, "this time". I get the feeling that the book won't sell enough copies to compare to where he could have been. I wonder if Steve Jobs ever reached out to Ron Wayne over the years to say "I told you so" or to send him a conciliation gift. One has to wonder if Apple would have been the same success story with the "parental supervision" of Ron Wayne.