Rating: 
Summary: Indispensible for the Mac newbie
Review: This book payed for itself in the first 20 pages as far as I'm concerned. My first few days with my new iMac (before I got this book), were far more frustrating than I'd anticipated. As soon as this beauty arrived however it was like the honeymoon really began. I'm sure there are others out there that are very good, but for my taste this book has the perfect balance of depth and brevity. Just for reference sake, I generally find QuickStart books from PeachPit a bit too brief.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden treasures!
Review: This book was a real eye opener. There are so many hidden features and capabilities in Panther (and OS X in general) that it really raised my appreciation for the amount of work Apple puts into it's new "cat" releases. Reading this book can save you some money on buying software when you find out what you can do with the free stuff Apple puts in. Did you know TextEdit can read and create Word documents and has amazing font controls? That Stickies can hold pictures, movies and URLs and also has amazing font controls? That Preview does Adobe PDF files much better than Acrobat Reader? It amazes me that Microsoft brags about the buggy, insecure, half hearted attempts at operating systems they produce (I'm also a long time Windows user and administrator so I feel qualified to make that statement) while Apple produces the tecnological GEM "OS X" and doesn't even tell people about it's long list of capabilities! Get the book!
Rating:
Summary: For the regular user who wants to understand Mac OS X
Review: This books covers most of what all regular users of Mac OS X might want to know - or at least be able to look up. It is written in an easy to understand way, without becoming too simple. It is matter of fact and clear. The book describes all parts of Mac OS X Panther, without making it too complicated. For most regular users the level of knowledge this books gives is quite enough - and some might say that it is even too much.
I warmly recommend this book to anyone using Mac OS X who wants to know some more about the operating system and all that it involves. It also has some simple trouble-shooting, various tips, a very good listing in one of the appendixes of Where Did It Go? meaning some of the things in OS9 compared to Mac OS X Panther.
I use this book for my courses about Mac OS X for regular users and have also used its two former versions.
Rating:
Summary: Missing Manual has Missing pages
Review: This is a great OSX book but mine showed up with pages 622 through
668 REPEATED then at page 668 it jumps to page 717. Talk about the "Missing
Manual"! Not Pogue's fault but when books are rushed to print.......
Rating:
Summary: More than just a manual
Review: This is the third edition of this book, and this really should come with every Mac. Earlier editions of this book were very good, and this one is even better. In honesty, I haven't yet finished it, but that is almost a feature, because I find that I need to read it page-by-page.This book is written in an easy, converational style. David Pogue answers your questions and often -anticipates- them. He clearly has a grasp of the subject matter and his readers. The only flaw in this book is that tidbits are on every page, and if you skim the book, you are going to overlook useful things. The book has to be read, sometimes almost line-by-line to catch everything he presents. This is okay though, you'll WANT to read every line. One sample of the writing is worth repeating. When David describes "Expose", a new Window navigation system in OS 10.3, he says, "In essence, Apple has finally realized that the Desktop really ISN'T "just another program." If the layer of open programs is the atmosphere, the Finder is the earth below." Almost poetry, in a computer manual! If you only get one book to learn about Mac OSX, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Writing
Review: This is the third iteration of "Mac OSX: The Missing Manual", by David Pogue. It updates the contents to cover the new features and elements of OS 10.3, known as "Panther" which is touted as having 150 new features. I've already described the previous editions as representing the best of software manual writing and this edition continues that excellence. The format, structure, and graphical features are the same as the earlier editions, although this volume is a bit larger, at 763 pages, including index. All the important and most popular features of Panther are covered comprehensively, including the new Sidebar navigation feature, the Exposé application "launcher", FileVault encryption, the return of the Labels feature, and fast-user switching. The new applications are covered here also, like the built-in fax program, iChat AV, and the Font Book font manager. Pogue is best when he provides power-user tips and discloses hidden or little-known features of Panther. The nearly-obscure ColorSync control panel now illustrates gamut spaces in color profiles, for example, and he describes "Pixlet", a new video codec which is a lossless highly efficient video compression tool (supposedly designed for use by Pixar employees and associates only). Other little-known tidbits include descriptions and insights to some of the Developer tools on the XCode Tools CD . There is an OSX version of Simple Text which includes a sound-record feature, not available anywhere else in Panther or in OSX applications, with the exception of iMovie. A special feature is the addition of mini-manuals on Safari and the iLife applications - iMovie, iPhoto, iChat, and iTunes.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book
Review: While I am new to Macintosh I have been a Windows system engineer for several years and have used countless referance books, this is one of the best for gaining a basic understanding of the operating system and the tools that come with OS X. The book doesn't really cover the in-depth technical details that a technician looks for in a book but this is not really part of what this book is meant for. It does however cover the MAC OS and where to find configuration settings. The book also covers the iApps, iCal, iChat, iDVD, i Mail, iMovie, iPhoto, iPod, iSync and iTunes applications in exact user friendly detail and has a lot of screen shots. For people new to MAC it also covers useful things like keyboard shortcuts and some basic UNIX commands. What I like about this book is that it is easy to understand and use. I really enjoy researching from this book, the answers are easy to find.
Rating:
Summary: I would actually give more than 5 stars for this!
Review: You know what? English is not my first language, but I speak it fluently. For people like me it is quite annoying when the writer is using "synonyms" option in their word processing program every time just to look coooool... Here:
1. When I saw this book I said when I opened the package - "Oh my God!" It was huge!
2. I opened it, and instantly felt a deep feeling of appreciation for an ease of use. David - thank you for valuing MY TIME!
3. It is funny in many places! What a relief!! Entertaining and useful at the same time.
4. It explains everything! C'mon! I was reading some picture manual recently and it was really hard! I got lost after Chapter 1 (with all cool looking pictures around)...
5. Just buy it - trust me, it's worth every dollar you invest.
And finally....
Mac Rules!!!
Rating:
Summary: I would actually give more than 5 stars for this!
Review: You know what? English is not my first language, but I speak it fluently. For people like me it is quite annoying when the writer is using "synonyms" option in their word processing program every time just to look coooool... Here:
1. When I saw this book I said when I opened the package - "Oh my God!" It was huge!
2. I opened it, and instantly felt a deep feeling of appreciation for an ease of use. David - thank you for valuing MY TIME!
3. It is funny in many places! What a relief!! Entertaining and useful at the same time.
4. It explains everything! C'mon! I was reading some picture manual recently and it was really hard! I got lost after Chapter 1 (with all cool looking pictures around)...
5. Just buy it - trust me, it's worth every dollar you invest.
And finally....
Mac Rules!!!
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