Customer Reviews

The Little Mac Book, Snow Leopard Edition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I took my first commercial art course I had to learn how to use a Mac instead of a PC. I discovered that the commercial art department always used the newest edition of this book to get their students up and running on a Mac. As the head of the department told us, "you will be working on your first art projects in Photoshop on a Mac in two days." He was right. He gave us a test to show we'd all read the book and then we all opened Photoshop on the lab Macs and we were off and running. Not a single student had a problem. There are more complicated books about Macs. There are books with more tricks to use on Macs. But there is no other book which can get you up and running a Mac and creating projects on software running on a Mac this fast. My sister just took a new job and the first day the company handed her a Mac. I told her to get this book and she was up and running fast too. To this day the commercial art department where I learned still starts every new student off with this book.

This is a well designed easy to read book about the very basic things you should know to use a Macintosh computer. It begins by covering things like icons and the visual clues they provide to their meanings. It goes on to the other basics like files, the desktop, the finder window and application windows. If you are new to computers and the Mac, you will learn much faster if this is the first book you read.

If you are not new, and you think you know all this basic stuff, this is still a fun book to read. If you are like me, you will be surprised by how many basic things you do not know, and how many things would improve your work if you practiced them.

I did not know that the fastest way to jump to the Location Box to enter an address in Safari is to type '-L (command-L). I was aware that we do not have to type "http://" in the address. I even knew that to go to [...] all you have to type is "apple" without the quotes. However, do you know in which part of the address you do not have to key in the capital letters, and in which part you do?

Now, try this in Safari. Type "'-L" then "google" without the quotes. Click on Images in the upper left corner, and in the search field key "leopard" and Return. Go ahead, explore, and remember you got the idea from The Little Mac Book: Snow Leopard Edition.

I agree with the back cover which says: "Follow Robin's step-by-step directions, and you will soon feel comfortable, confident, and to do just about anything you want to do on your Mac."

I would add: "if you are already a confident user of your Mac, read The Little Mac Book: Snow Leopard Edition to enjoy the magical little things there that you may have already known but would like to be using."

I bought this book because I am a new Mac owner and wanted to learn how to use it, after being a PC user for many years. At the same time, I bought a couple other books, which turned out to be much better learning sources. I probably misjudged this book. It turned out to be a very basic computing book and most of the information in it I had known for years. It seemed to me that it was better suited for someone who was altogether new to computers. It was not of much use for me. I think it probably is a good and easy book for beginners, but does not address the overall issues in learning to use the Mac.

This is only my second computer after 8 years with a Gateway that I struggled with. So I got this book to make a better start with the new iMac 27 that I've had for a month. It has been very helpful. I would have been lost without it. The owner's manual from Apple was nearly worthless. Her explanations are usually adequate, but can leave out steps you need to know. Don't start with a Mac without this book or some other book like it.

This has been a very helpful book with lots of hints on the best way to do things. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a quick start to using a mac.

All beginning Mac users should start with this book. It's written in real English, not computerese. When you finish "The Little Mac Book" you know what all those terms and icons mean -- and you have had practice in the basics of surfing the web, word processing, and doing e-mail. I can't say enough good things about this book!

The Computer Club that I belong is using this text book to teach beginners on the Mac. An excellent resource.

The Little Mac Book Snow Leopard Edition is an impeccable book. The book is full of very clear screenshots, very informative and a book that is valuable for anyone whether you are a beginner or not. I liked this book so much that I purchased another copy for a neighbor who has just purchased her first Macintosh. This book covers many, many things and is not boring or even close to it. The author, Robin Williams, has been constantly updating her Little Mac Books for years as the various operating systems change. When I was new to the Mac way back in 1993, my brother gave me a copy and I enjoyed it so much that I just about stayed up all night the first night I got the book, just absorbing all the neat stuff that the author pointed out. In my opinion, this book is a must have!!!

I have plenty of experience using Windows-based PCs and I wanted a book that would get me into the basics of a Mac quickly and painlessly. This did it. It does not contain information on how to use the applications that come with the Mac, like iMovie and Garageband, rather it tells you how to move around the operating system. There were short sections intended for people with no computer experience at all, like information for those who have never used a mouse before, but they were brief and easy to skip. There was enough information and quick tips to make this book worthwhile. Although there are sections seemingly intended for complete novices, I'm not sure if there is enough of that material to make this book useful for a beginner. But the book was a quick, easy read and saved me a lot of time fumbling around on my own. I would recommend it to anyone in my position who is looking for more of a "quick start guide" rather than an exhaustive, encyclopedic reference. I have to give it 5 stars because it seemed to accomplish what it intended.

Macs are wonderful machines, and more and more people are switching to them as their primary computing platform. Macs are designed from the ground up with the ease of use in mind, and they pride themselves on an intuitive and accessible functionality and user interface. Nonetheless, if you are new to Mac or computers in general getting around may be a bit of a challenge in the beginning. "The Little Mac Book" is an ideal short introduction to Mac for all the newbies out there, and a useful quick reference for experienced users as well. The book is divided into sections that cover all the basic aspects of the Mac user interface - the mouse, the dock, menus and shortcuts, save and print, surfing the web, etc. Each section contains several short subsections that aim to explain and guide you in a step-by-step manner through all the actions that you may want to do on your Mac. The explanations are lucid, informative, and easy to follow. As you may infer from the list of sections many of the explanations are for the most basic tasks imaginable, but there are a few that even the experienced Mac users may not have been familiar with. The book is printed in a large format - a bit larger than most such books. This can be useful as it helps cover most explanations in just a couple of pages and you don't have to leaf a lot in order to learn about the information that you need. The book is really nicely illustrated, with large color photographs, which can greatly facilitate the learning experience. Overall, this is a very well written and useful basic introductory book for new Mac users.