Mac OS X: The Missing Manual
Paperback, Third Printing, February 2002, 596 pages
By David Pogue
© Copyright 2002 by Pogue Press, LLC
ISBN 0-596-00082-0
Review written June 23, 2002
By Donald W. Larson, O'Reilly Book Evangelist
Email: dwlarson@mac.com
Web Site: http://www.timeoutofmind.com/
In February 2002 I moved over from MacOS 9.1 to the new Apple Operating System MacOS X. It's a major change in usage even with a great user interface like Aqua. Although I'm an Apple user since 1981, I knew I would need a great new reference nearby to help me in the transition from old to new. I asked my O'Reilly contact for the book I'll speak to next.
David Pogue's, "Mac OS X: The Missing Manual", is a tremendous help for anyone moving to the new Mac OS. I've met David when he came to a few of my San Diego Macintosh User Group picnics. He's a great guy and a very talented person. One of his talent's is writing and in the titled book, he expresses the new frontier "X" with clarity.
The book has 21 chapters and six appendices. It covers everything I could think of that a beginner or expert user would love to know about 'X". David begins the transition to the new OS from the vantage point of the user viewing the Aqua experience the first time. He traverses the topics of folders and the Dock, which presents the most visible changes in how information is organized on the hard drive.
He writes about how the programs are different and how AppleScript is supported in new ways. An entire chapter is devoted to the concept of discrete users and how those spaces are kept distinct from one another. This bears witness to the underlying Unix operating system that governs the new machine.
Because Unix is available underneath, David takes the time to explain the permissions concept and how to use the Terminal program to explore the depths of Unix and lead us easily into that new realm.
I initially started reading this book straight through back in February. I found the writing style was easy to follow but I kept getting sidetracked with David's suggestions to try his exercises out. Often one thing leads to another and I lost my reading train-of-thought. I enjoyed his style so much I gave up trying to read straight through. I discovered instead his book is a well-written reference book with a story perspective to it.
For the last few months I grabbed for this book every time I needed a fast answer about MacOS X. David maintains a website with up-to-date information and many free or shareware program listings that accompany the book. I now have a pretty good working knowledge of the book's material. I attended the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference last May and I'm glad I had absorbed much of the book by then. Many of the presentations at that conference were clear because of the foundation I had learned from the book.
Everyone using MacOS X needs this book. Thanks David!
Rating 10 out of 10. This rating is my own personal value system and as such is very subjective. I think a rating of 5 means I would read finish reading a book. A rating of 10 would indicate I had trouble putting a book down and have no complaints at all about it.
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