Filed under: Productivity, Tips and tricks, Education, Odds and ends, Books and Blogs, Leopard, Books
Mini-review of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition
If you're trying to figure out what to buy yourself with the gift card you got this holiday season, let me recommend David Pogue's Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition. I was fortunate to get a copy of it for Christmas this year (thanks, sweetie!) and it's 866 pages of sweet, Leopard-y goodness. The book is divided into six sections that cover just about every conceivable thing you could ever want to know about the OS. It takes a look at how to maneuver around the desktop, how to use the native apps to their fullest potential, what to do with once your online with your Mac, and everything in between.
If you already know your way around OS X, this manual is a terrific reference tool for looking up obscure things you don't do very often, like tweaking onscreen colors to mimic a Windows PC monitor. At the other end of the spectrum, if you're a switcher there are roughly seven trazillion tips and tricks to help you learn how to get the most out of your new operating system.
Pogue's writing style is upbeat, easy to understand, and sometimes downright hilarious. The book is well laid-out and progresses fairly intuitively, although the editor seems to have gone a little crazy with the headings, sub-headings, and sub-sub-headings on many of the pages. Also, while I'm sure Pogue touches on all 300 of Leopard's new features, it's not always immediately clear which features he's describing are different from the previous version, Tiger.
Despite these minor shortcomings, I love this book and think it's a great addition to any Mac users bookshelf. This manual is one you don't want to miss.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
J Dogg said 3:18PM on 1-02-2008
If I already have the "Peachpit Learning Series" book of Mac OS X Leopard, would this help at all? Should I return it and get this instead?
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sDawkins78 said 3:47PM on 1-02-2008
I 2nd this comment. I'd like to know as well, having just recently bought the Peachpit books for Tiger and Leopard (I'm trying to get some certifications).
Scott said 3:18PM on 1-02-2008
Two comments on design:
WOW, does that book cover look ugly! I've bought many copies of Pogue's previous work on Tiger, and always appreciated the cover's understated look. This looks like they're going after the "Dummies" audiences. Ugh!
Second, congratulations to TUAW for banishing that ugly mostly-black/purple Leopard background and replacing it with something much more appealing, the blue gradient you have now. The other tweaks to the design in the header, with clearer links to the sister blogs and the "Send Us Tips" and "RSS Feeds" buttons, are an improvement, as well (although the contrast between the white text and gray backgrounds of those two buttons could be a little stronger, so the words don't get lost).
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JoelW said 10:49PM on 1-02-2008
I'm a soon to be switcher awaiting a refresh of the Mac Pro. In anticipation of my future Mac goodness, I requested this book for Christmas.
So far I've read through Chapter 6 and I'm looking even more forward to making the switch. There are so many little things possible in OS X that I cannot do in Windows. While I like Pogue's Think Geek tv series, I have yet to laugh at some of the attempts at humor in the book.
Overall I'm very pleased with its readability and detailed explanations of how to take full advantage of the OS.
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David R said 11:10AM on 1-03-2008
I wish the publisher would make this available as a pdf download, like they did with The Pogue's iPhone Missing Manual. Having that on my laptop has been a great help on several occasions.
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