Rating: 
Summary: I found my cheese!
Review: "They moved my cheese!!!" I said, after a rather anxiety-riddled move to OS X. After years of productive computing at warp speed in OS 9 and it's predecessors, I found myself suddenly slowed to impulse against my will. That is, until OS X Killer Tips. This book quickly and logically showed me the new way and put my frustrations at ease with little things like how to get my trash back on my desktop where it clearly ought to be, along with tons of other useful tidbits. I'm a very busy person and didn't want to spend the time reading other OS X books that are twice the weight of this little jewel. The unique layout along with great graphic examples got me up to speed in no time. Thanks for helping me find my cheese Scott!
Rating: 
Summary: Good to have but annoying
Review: Being new to OS 10 I find this a useful resource. The book contains many tips and tricks that would have taken months to uncover on my own. I give this book 3 stars rather than 4 or 5 because of the annoying, chatty, writing style. Much like The Idiots Guide To... series at least 50% of the text is wasted "clever" chitchat. I recommend getting it, but would much prefer a straight forward tips guide.
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Summary: Tim Robertson MyMac.com Book Review
Review: Book Review - Mac OS X Killer Tips (10.2)
Tim Robertson
Publisher/Owner, Columnist, MacRelevant
Monday, 10/28/02------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mac OS X Killer Tips (10.2)
Author: Scott Kelby
Publisher: New Riders
Hi, my name is Tim Robertson, and somehow I seem to have become the official reviewer of all books Kelby. Scott Kelby that is, author maniac who seems to have a new book published every other month over there at New Rider Publishing. I mean, a Photoshop 7 Killer Tips book, The Naked Truth book, Photo-Retouching book, a Down and Dirty Tricks Photoshop book, and now a Mac OS X Killer Tips book. (I just noticed something. Dirty, Secret, Naked...is Scott Kelby writing for Penthouse on the side as well?) I think there is something strange going on here. No one can write this many books! I think he has some sort of Evil Word Marco thingie running, churning out these books for him. He simply feeds in the type of book he wants to publish, and the Evil Word Macro does the rest. Screen grabs, paragraphs, you name it. Takes about a week and a half. He then goes through and makes some very minor adjustments, adds a few jokes (an Evil Word Macro has no sense of humor, as we all know) and calls it good. But here's the thing. Each and every one of his books are really, really good. The Naked Truth was fantastic. His Down and Dirty Photoshop 7 book is a must have for users of that program. And his latest, the focus of this review, is Mac OS X Killer Tips, seems to be on par or above all his others. Laden with humor and (for the most part) worthwhile tips, Mac OS X Killer Tips is a great addition to any Mac OS X users library of titles. This edition covers OS X 10.2 (Jaguar for those in the know) very well. It includes a screen capture image of what Scott is describing in almost every instance. The book is full color, with razor-sharp imagery. Coming in at 267 pages, it may seem a small book, but it is packed with enough relevant information to satisfy almost anyone using Apple's latest operating system. I very much enjoyed reading this book. I liked the layout a great deal, as well as the words on the page. Scott Kelby is quickly becoming an author in whom I find the need to get his latest book, a position for a computer and technology writer reserved only for David Pogue on my desk up to now. Scott writes with a sense of humor I find very appealing, as well as a great technical grasp of his subject material. He really seems to put a lot of himself in the books he writers, and makes no apologies for being a die-hard Mac head. Mac OS X Killer Tips is thirteen chapters long. It covers everything from iDVD tips to troubleshooting. From Stickies tricks to annoying pranks you can play on another Mac user. (If you can get your hands on their computer while they are away.) Sherlock 3 is covered here, as is Mail, all the "i" applications, Address Book, and much more. I found the Finder tips to be the most fun, though, and took quite a few ideas away from this book that I have instituted in my own daily computer life. (No small feat there, as I am a Power User to the bone.) A really, really good read. Well worth the asking price. You will find yourself going back to it often to learn or refresh yourself on some of the tips you will learn in its pages. MacMice Rating: 5 out of 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tim Robertson
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Summary: If You're a Beginner, It May Help...
Review: but if you know what you're doing, there is not much that you haven't figured out. As a long time mac user and someone who has read considerably in the mags and online, there was very little of interest. But if I was clueless, this book might be handy. Pretty pictures, tho.
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Summary: Now in color!!!
Review: I actually haven't gotten my jaguar in the mail yet- so i have yet to actually use the tips in this book. I've read reviews on the "other" site- and decided to buy the book. I was surprised when I opened the book- it's in COLOR! Every single page in color! The layout of the book is great and easy to understand writing. I've bought hundreds of dollars worth of computer books in the past couple of years and i would just like to say... this is the most visually impressive book i've seen! There's no excess in text- just short concise tips! (duh! It's called killer tips!).
sure it might be lame to give 5 stars to a book that hasn't been tested- but it all seems to be right from my os x usage. Thanks scott! Too bad mac design didn't give any additional discounts for their subscribers!
Rating: 
Summary: Disapointment
Review: I bought the "Killer Tips" in the hope that it would help me acquaint myself with differences between Mac OS X and the previous Mac operating systems with which I consider myself reasonably familiar since I am a Mac user of moderate competence. The book did not fulfill this expectation largely because the lack of a reasonable index which has only about 500 entries, far to few to find answers quickly to the questions that arise inevitably in the process of one's switch from previous to the latest operating system, a Jaguar of spots distinctly different than its ancestors.
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Summary: A Book You'll Love to Hate
Review: I decided I had to speak out against this book before other unsuspecting geeks were barraged with Scott Kelby's patronizing platitudes. This book *does* have some useful tips -- I will begrudgingly give it that. But at what price! Outside of the very occasional, tiny pearl, this book has little to recommend itself. The author's style is pedantic at best. It would appear that Mr. Kelby wrote the entire book to comment on how clever he is and how useless Apple's Human Interface folks are. All this would certainly be forgiveable, or at least bearable, if only there were sufficient, useful information contained herein. It couldn't be farther from the reality of the situation! Not only is there little in the book that isn't solved by looking at the interface (e.g. using the Dock preference pane to change dock behavior, using the red/x button to close non-active windows, getting "More Info" from the System Profiler by using the "About This Mac..." dialog box), the author will deliberately avoid giving useful information to the reader to impress on us the value of his solution. Take for instance the "problem" addressed at the bottom of page 87, command (apple) + n does not create a new folder (as it did in Mac OS 9). Mr. Kelby does not point out that you now just need to become accustomed to using another finger to hold down the shift key in addition to "command" and "n". No! He suggests instead that you control click in the appropriate place and select "New Folder" from the pop-up contextual menu! I plan to keep this book for reference now that I own it for the occasional interesting tidbit, but unless you enjoy being talked down to as a reader and letting a book get away with assuming it's preaching to an appreciative choir all the while, do not buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, well I'll know better next time.
Review: I purchased the book looking for killer tips. Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the book I hadn't figured out already. By the way, I just got an apple with OS X. Before, that I was a PC guy. In the week before I got this book I had pretty much figured out this stuff. Don't waste the money.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, well I'll know better next time.
Review: I purchased the book looking for killer tips. Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the book I hadn't figured out already. By the way, I just got an apple with OS X. Before, that I was a PC guy. In the week before I got this book I had pretty much figured out this stuff. Don't waste the money.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother with this one.
Review: I purchased this book a while ago, and was disappointed with it ever since. Regardless of what Amazon's Editorial says; it is a NEWBIE book. All of the tips and tricks in this book are common knowledge among the Mac community. I'd say out of the entire book only 5 of the tips are useful. The book uses its design and layout to padd out the size so that it looks worth it. Its not. If you want more knowledge help books look else where. If you need help with Jaguar or Panther check out sites like <http://www.macosxhints.com> or the others. I'm sorry but this book left me disappointed and wanting my money back.
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