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Book
Reviews
MAC OS X Help Line, Panther
Edition
by Ted Landau
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
Ted Landau's MAC OS X Help Line,
Panther Edition is the most comprehensive book available
for troubleshooting your Mac; this edition has been updated
to include information for users of Panther.
At over 1100 pages in length, this
book is very large. Fortunately, the book has a reasonably
good index, though I've found the organization of the book
somewhat troublesome. Understandably, covering such a large
subject area is going to result in significant
organizational challenges for the author; with this edition
of the book I found myself frequently having to jump around
to many sections of MAC OS X Help Line, Panther
Edition to gather all the information necessary to deal
with issues in OS X.
Still, this is the definitive
troubleshooting book for OS X users, and Ted Landau has done
a remarkable job of gathering useful and essential
information both for using and for troubleshooting the Mac.
And throughout MAC OS X Help Line, Panther Edition
Ted has interspersed many comments and notes which provide
readers with very useful tips and insights on how to get the
most out of their Macs.
(rated 4.5 out of a possible 5)
Additional information: MAC OS X
Help Line, Panther Edition is published by
Peachpit
Press and has a list price
of $39.99.
AppleScript: The Missing Manual
by Adam Goldstein
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
AppleScript is a powerful tool that
most Mac users don't utilize because learning it can be
daunting. True, as computer languages go, AppleScript is
relatively easy to use, but I've found that most users are
intimidated when dealing with any computer language. I've
found most books that attempt to provide a guide to
AppleScript either assume too much of a familiarity with
computer languages on the part of the average user or are
too disjointed and incomplete to be truely
useful.
I was pleasantly surprised when
reading AppleScript: The Missing Manual -- this book
is both nicely organized and clearly written. While it's
unlikely any individual book will make a reader fluent in
using AppleScript, AppleScript: The Missing Manual
provides a very good starting point.
AppleScript: The Missing
Manual's organization and clear examples provide a solid
foundation for working with AppleScript. Also, the author's
many insightful comments, notes, and tips provide the reader
with a "feel" for AppleScript that is noticeably missing in
most other AppleScript books.
If you are interested in learning
about AppleScript and how it can be used to customize your
Mac and enhance your experience when working with your Mac,
reading AppleScript: The Missing Manual is a great
starting point.
(rated 4.5 out of a possible 5)
Additional Information:
AppleScript: The Missing Manual is published by Pogue
Press (O'Reilly)
and has a list price of $24.95.
Mac OS X Power Tools, Second
Edition
by Dan Frakes
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
This excellent book has been updated
to cover Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther). As with my
review
of the first edition, my only gripe with the book is its
title: Sybex's choice of a title implies the book is
written for power users when in fact it's an excellent
source of clearly written information that benefits both
novice and experienced Mac users.
The second edition is slightly larger
than the first edition (about 650 versus about 600 pages),
even though the Appendix that deals with transitioning from
OS 9 to OS X has been moved to the book's
website.
Mac OS X Power Tools, Second
Edition, is a comprehensive and well-written book that will
be an invaluable resource for virtually any level of Mac
user; this book is highly recommended.
Additional information: Mac OS X
Power Tools, Second Edition, is published by Sybex and
has a list price of $39.99. The direct link to the book's
website is: Mac
OS X Power Tools
Digital Photography Pocket Guide,
Second Edition
by Derrick Story
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
If you are new to digital photography,
you may find the terminology and myriad controls that are
associated with your new camera to be confusing. The
Digital Photography Pocket Guide does a nice job of
organizing and explaining this information in a very compact
4" X 7" book that contains about 100 pages.
The book includes a good index and
plenty of color pictures to illustrate many of the author's
useful suggestions and tips for taking better photographs.
Additionally, the Digital Photography Pocket Guide
makes good use of tables to clearly present important
information relating to topics such as image resolution,
image compression, and image memory
requirements.
If your camera came with a good
manual, you probably already have much of the information
that's included in the Digital Photography Pocket
Guide. However, the clear and concise presentation of
this data in a easy-to-carry and inexpensive book makes
taking a look at this book a worthwhile proposition (you may
also find the book's many tips for taking better pictures
very useful).
If your camera came with one or more
mediocre or poorly written/organized manuals, the Digital
Photography Pocket Guide should shorten your learning
curve when working with your new camera and provide you with
useful advice on how to take better pictures.
Additional information: Digital
Photography Pocket Guide is published by
O'Reilly
and has a list price of $14.95.
Mac
OS X Power Tools
by Dan Frakes
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
Mac OS X Power Tools is a very
useful book that is much more than its name implies. In
fact, Sybex's choice of a name for this book doesn't do the
book justice.
True, Mac OS X Power Tools
contains considerable information on how to get the most
out of OS X and Mac OS X Power Tools does contain
lots of tips on where to find powerful tools to enhance the
capabilities of OS X, but this definitely is not a book only
for computer geeks and power users!
Dan Frakes does an excellent job of
providing a very readable book for users of all levels, and
he has included a considerable amount of information on
fundamental OS X tasks such as configuring OS X, installing
third-party software, and installing and reinstalling system
software.
Mac OS X Power Tools is not a
basic guide to OS X and it's not a troubleshooting guide
like Ted Landau's excellent Mac OS X Disaster Relief
(also reviewed on this web page); rather, Mac OS X Power
Tools includes some useful information on those topics
and contains extensive information on third-party
applications and methods that help users to get the most out
of OS X.
Indeed, most of Mac OS X Power
Tools' pages are loaded with an impressive amount of OS
X productivity-boosting information -- clearly, a lot of
work went into researching and organizing this well-written
book. Extensive cross-referencing is present throughout
Mac OS X Power Tools and this, along with a very good
index and Table of Contents, makes it easy to locate
specific data within the book.
Mac OS X Power Tools is a great
addition to users' libraries -- no matter what their levels
of expertise! The abundance of useful information in Mac
OS X Power Tools will make most users' lives easier and
more productive while working with OS X.
Additional information: Mac OS X
Power Tools is published by Sybex and has a list price
of $39.99. The direct link to the book's web page is:
Mac
OS X Power Tools
The Little Digital Camera Book
by Cynthia L. Baron and Daniel Peck
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
If you are new to photography, you may
be having some dificulty finding a good resource for getting
a good overview of the terms, techniques, and concepts that
are used in photography. If you are working with your first
digital camera, you're probably also looking for a source of
information that can explain the basics of this new and
exciting technology!
The Little Digital Camera Book
attempts to cover both of these topics in one, non-technical
book, and it accomplishes this task with varying degrees of
success. While the main focus of the book clearly is on
digital photography, it provides useful information and
covers concepts that apply to both digital and non-digital
photography.
The Little Digital Camera Book
contains just over 200 pages, includes a fairly detailed
table of contents and a good index, and has three
appendices.
My main criticism of the book stems
from the book's errors and omissions. For example, when
discussing taking pictures of moving objects The Little
Digital Camera Book refers to setting the camera to a
speed of 1/125 of a second. However, in most instances this
shutter speed is too slow to prevent the blurring of a
moving subject. Additionally, the book doesn't mention
important and basic information about the relationship of
the distance between a moving subject and the photographer
and its affect on the recommended shutter speed. Further,
The Little Digital Camera Book does refer to using
different ISO settings (this affects the camera's
sensitivity to light) and its effect on shutter speed but
fails to mention the significant effect this setting has on
image quality (the "noise" that's present in the digital
image).
Still, The Little Digital Camera
Book does contain a great deal of useful information
that is presented with minimal technical jargon, and it
covers many topics that are essential to understanding the
basics of digital photography. I think novice digital
photographers will find The Little Digital Camera
Book to be fairly easy reading and a useful
resource.
Additional information: The Little
Digital Camera Book is published by Peachpit
Press and has a list price
of $21.99.
Mac OS X Disaster Relief
by Ted Landau
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
While the focus of Mac OS X
Disaster Relief is on troubleshooting OS X, the book
includes lots of useful information and insights on how to
get the most out of OS X.
Mac OS X Disaster Relief
accomplishes a difficult task: the information in the book
is explained clearly enough that most novice Mac users will
find Mac OS X Disaster Relief to be an essential
resource while it still provides enough detailed technical
information that seasoned Mac users will find the book to be
both interesting reading and a valuable
reference.
Mac OS X Disaster Relief
includes comprehensive information on resolving OS X related
problems, but Mac OS X Disaster Relief also covers a
wide range of other useful topics, such as installing and
reinstalling OS X and how to setup and use both OS X and
many of its components.
The book is organized into 10 chapters
that total almost 600 pages. At the beginning of each
chapter is a thoughtful page that lists the main subtopics
covered by the chapter. Mac OS X Disaster Relief also
includes a good index.
Even though Mac OS X Disaster
Relief was published several months prior to the release
of OS 10.2 (Jaguar), most of the information in the book
also will be useful to users of Jaguar. Around the end of
this year, purchasers of the current edition of Mac OS X
Disaster Relief will be able to download a free
supplement to the book that addresses issues that are
specific to Jaguar. (In late December, an updated version of
the book is expected to be available.)
Ted Landau is widely recognized as the
guru of Mac troubleshooting, and this book is the best
single source of OS X troubleshooting tips and techniques
that I've seen!
Additional information: Mac OS X
Disaster Relief is published by Peachpit
Press and has a list price
of $34.99.
The Little Mac OS X Book
by Robin Williams
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
The title of this book is a little
misleading: it's not a little book! Fortunately, good things
do come in large packages, too.
One reason this book is so large
(about 800 8.5" x 10" pages) is that Robin Williams provides
both a detailed guide on how to use OS X and its associated
software and information about the fundamentals of using a
Mac. As the author of many instructional computer books
(Robin is the author of the acclaimed The Little Mac
Book), Robin has long been recognized for her fine work
in this area.
With The Little Mac OS X Book,
Robin has put the abundant space in the book to good use;
the book is chock full of useful illustrations and sidebars.
Also, interspersed throughout the book are helpful tips on
using your Mac.
The Little Mac OS X Book is
organized into 40 chapters and a couple of appendices. With
such a comprehensive book, a good index is essential. To its
credit, The Little Mac OS X Book includes an
extensive index, though I would prefer to see more cross
referencing on troubleshooting-related
topics.
For novice Mac users, The Little
Mac OS X Book includes a tutorial that provides a basic
overview of using a Mac by directing readers to appropriate
sections of the book. For more experienced Mac users, the
author suggests using the index to find information on the
topics they are interested in. Experienced Mac users should
find the "Where Did it Go?" appendix especially useful, as
it describes where favorite features of OS 9 (or their
replacements, if they exist) can be found in OS
X.
The Little Mac OS X Book
is a very useful and readable book that will appeal to both
novice and experienced Mac users who are trying to learn
quickly how to use Mac OS X! Because The Little Mac OS X
Book covers such a broad range of subjects, it also is a
good general reference for users of OS X.
Additional information: The Little
Mac OS X Book is published by Peachpit
Press and has a list price
of $29.95.
Mac OS X: The Missing
Manual, 1st Edition
by David Pogue
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
If you already have Mac OS X, most
likely you're already painfully aware that OS X comes with
virtually no documentation. Years ago, Apple produced the
most user-friendly OS on the planet and earned a
well-deserved reputation for providing its users with
unusually good documentation.
While Apple
still excels at producing state-of-the-art computer systems,
they have joined the unfortunate trend in the industry of
not providing printed manuals with both software and
hardware products.
Fortunately for Mac OS X users, this
documentation "vacuum" has been filled by David Pogue's
Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. David's book contains
almost 600 pages of essential information about OS X --
whether you are a first-time Mac user or a seasoned Mac
veteran, Mac OS X: The Missing Manual will make your
life easier while learning/using OS X!
The book is nicely
organized into six parts that include 21 chapters and five
appendixes. Throughout the
book, there are numerous pictures and tips that help the
reader get the most out of the text. Additionally, the book
includes many sidebars, notes, and other tidbits that
significantly add to the overall content of the book while
also making the pages more interesting,
visually.
I especially like the many references
in the book that deal with the elements of previous versions
of the OS that have been moved, modified, or eliminated in
OS X, as this makes it easier for users of older versions of
the Mac OS to transition to OS X.
Mac OS X:
The Missing Manual also
provides important details about the myriad new features and
technologies which have been incorporated into OS X.
While Apple
extols the numerous innovations included in OS X, most
readers will be hard pressed to find and effectively use
many of them without having the type of guidance that is
provided in Mac OS X: The Missing
Manual.
I find David's writing
style to be quite engaging and the content of the book to be
clearly explained; at the risk of sounding like a computer
geek, for me reading the book was a fun way to discover and
explore the powerful capabilities that OS X has added to my
Mac. Even if reading an
especially well-written book about Apple's latest-generation
operating system isn't your idea of a fun project, this book
is an invaluable reference resource.
In the Introduction to the book, David
says,"The purpose of this book...is to serve as the manual
that should have accompanied Mac OS X." While it's
disappointing Apple has failed to see the benefit to
themselves and to their users that including a good manual
with OS X would have provided, I believe David has met his
objective. This book does an excellent job of filling the
documentation void left by Apple, and I highly recommend
this book to users of OS X!
Additional information: Mac OS X:
The Missing Manual is published by
O'Reilly
and has a list price of $24.95.
Macworld Mac Secrets,
5th Edition
by David Pogue and Joseph Schorr
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
Mac Secrets is an over 1200
page tome that is packed with user tips, tricks, shortcuts,
and solutions to problems for your hardware, system
software, and applications. Fortunately, Mac Secrets'
detailed table of contents and large index facilitate
accessing this treasure chest of Mac-related
information.
If you are a Mac geek, this is a "must
have" book that is the preeminent source of both Mac Easter
eggs and Mac "secrets," and it explores almost every
electronic nook and cranny of your system. If you are either
a casual Mac user or a Mac user that gets by with using your
Mac as little as possible, I believe you'll find the
friendly and engaging style of the book inviting and,
possibly, even addictive; Mac Secrets is an enjoyable
way to improve your familiarity with your Mac and become
more productive when using your Mac.
While much of what is in the book
can't be called essential information, there are so many
useful and interesting tips and tidbits in Mac
Secrets that most users should find it to be both an
intriguing and a valuable resource.
Because this edition of Mac Secrets
was published prior to the release of Mac OS 9, the book
doesn't contain any OS 9-specific information. However, much
of the information in the book is still useful when using OS
9, as is the information that's related to numerous
applications and pre-G4 hardware.
Included with Mac Secrets is a
CD full of high-quality freeware, shareware, and commercial
programs (including some special, free offers and
discounts). If you end up using some of the included
software and/or special discounts, the initially rather high
$49.95 suggested price of the book can turn into quite a
bargain!
Additional information: Macworld
Mac Secrets is published by IDG
Books and has a list price
of $49.99.
Sad
Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters and What To Do About
Them, 4th Edition
by Ted Landau
Reviewed by Steve
Becker
Whether you are a novice Mac user or a
seasoned veteran, this book will provide you with a wealth
of useful information.
Sad Macs... is useful as a
detailed guide to both minimizing the risk of incurring
problems with your computer and fixing most problems you may
encounter while using your computer. However, the scope of
the book is delightfully broad and also provides lots of
useful information on using, configuring, and
troubleshooting peripheral equipment that's attached to your
system.
Throughout the book Ted includes lots
of useful tips and anecdotal experiences that help the book
provide a valuable perspective when you are trying to
balance the orthodox way of doing something with either a
more convenient or other alternative
approach.
Because Sad Macs... covers such
a wide range of troubleshooting-related issues, it would be
unwieldy (it contains almost 1000 pages) if it were not well
organized and indexed. Fortunately, the book is reasonably
well organized and includes a very complete
index.
When you can spare some time, I
suggest looking through Sad Macs... to pick up some
great tips on using and maintaining your Mac. In fact, if
there is a single, better reference for avoiding problems
with your system or for getting out of a problem situation
when it does occur, I'm not aware of it!
Additional information: Sad
Macs... is published by Peachpit
Press and has a list price
of $34.99.
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