Rating: 

Panther and Tiger and, now Leopard, oh my! With each cat comes a slew of new features to master and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is no kitten – it’s a seriously big update. Rest your fears, however, because our favorite lion tamer, David Pogue has come to our rescue with the Leopard Edition of the Missing Manual series from O’Reilly Media. This new edition weighs in at nearly 900 pages but don’t let that put you off - books like this aren’t meant to be read like a novel, they are true reference guides designed to ease the transition into a new operating system. If you have a question about something specific, a quick look at the extensive 23 page index permits you find your answer efficiently.

This is much more than a What’s New book. Pogue started the Mac OS Missing Manual series long ago and updates them with each new OS update. The book begins with the very basics and covers the Desktop, Organization, Spotlight, Included Programs, the Technologies of Mac OS X and wraps up with an excellent section covering Online applications, navigation and use.

For those who are upgrading their current machines to Leopard, there is a clearly written appendix that deals with installation of the new operating system. This section alone is worth buying the book.

Pogue’s tongue-in-cheek sense of humor shines through the technicalities making for an entertaining experience rather than an onerous one. This is why I’m a fan - I’m a manual guy, I like to sit down and read about what I’m doing in order to understand it. I just cannot get the same satisfaction from onscreen Help menus and manuals that arrive on a CD. That is precisely why Pogue started the Missing Manual series – “The book that should have been in the box”.

No qualms here, I highly recommend this book. It belongs on your bookshelf; you’ll find yourself referring to it often.