Rating: 

Any topic as complicated as a computer operating system is going to overwhelm the printed page. There are simply so many things to cover. Pogue deals with basic Macintosh operations from using the Finder and the Dock to manipulating windows, searching for files, setting up user accounts and so on. After covering the basics, he goes on and on – through all aspects of the computer: System Preferences, networking, installing software, etc. etc. The range of topics is staggering and might be self-defeating, a limitation I will return to later. The author is most attentive to users familiar with Windoze, explaining where the differences lie. The many System adjunct utilities are each discussed (Exposé, Spaces, Time Machine, etc.) And as if the operating system itself (OS X 10.5 a.k.a. “Leopard”) were not enough, the book also covers all the software bundled with current Macs. So we are taken on tours of Safari, iTunes, Mail, iChat, Garage Band, and more: a seemingly endless array.

Windoze users will be very interested in sections explaining the Mac’s new world. I may be biased in thinking that the Mac interface is infinitely superior to Windoze. But I think that Pogue takes a fairly balanced view of the two systems – with the end result that no reader should feel too heavily propagandized. Eight different ways of transferring files from your PC to the Mac are presented in Chapter 5. Chapter 7 deals with finding Mac software equivalents for things that are either different or unavailable on the Mac. But then, for those problematic cases where no Mac equivalent exists, there is also a whole chapter (Chapter 8) devoted to running Windoze on the Mac (using Boot Camp).

I found the book’s organization very successful. You can either read from page one and be transported along in a meaningful way, or you can use it as a reference to look up topics. There is a very cursory troubleshooting section in an Appendix. Other Appendices explain where basic Windoze functions are found on the Mac and another lists standard Mac keystroke combinations. But the bottom line is that much of the book is taken up with page after page explaining different software programs.

Overall, the book is written on an elementary level. There is plenty of detail, but the detail is basic detail. By this, I mean that there are instructions for doing simple tasks you need to run a Macintosh. But there is only that much detail – and no explanation at all on what to do if things go wrong. It takes you through the steps you need to use a Shared Account, for example. This is a way that multiple users on a single computer can share files across user accounts. But a book like this simply cannot (simply could not, in the available space) explain the infuriating frustrations of “Permissions” and how they work. When you put a file in the “Shared” log-in, who does it “belong” to? And how to do “fix” that problem when you find that the file cannot be opened because “You Do Not Have Sufficient Privileges?” There are hundreds of such examples like this, where “How to do it” is only the beginning, and where “How to explain it” or “How to fix it” really are required.

In all, I think that Pogue’s book will help most people. And I learned a lot from it. It’s a great and handy reference volume. And it provides enough detail to get you started on any Macintosh. My chief criticism is that by trying to cover a world (a universe!) of software, it tries to do too much. I would much prefer to see the operating system and core Mac functions covered in more detail while referring the reader to other books for related software (iChat, iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, etc.) This book cannot be all things although it tries. With this limitation, many people will find the book invaluable. I don’t know of a better one.

Note: Reviewer is president of the Straitmac User's Group, a Macintosh users group located on the Olympic Peninsula, Washingrton. Join us at: http://www.straitmac.com.