Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual [Paperback]

David Pogue (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0596153287 | ISBN-13: 978-0596153281 | Edition: 1

For a company that promised to "put a pause on new features," Apple sure has been busy-there's barely a feature left untouched in Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard." There's more speed, more polish, more refinement-but still no manual. Fortunately, David Pogue is back, with the humor and expertise that have made this the #1 bestselling Mac book for eight years straight. You get all the answers with jargon-free introductions to:

• Big-ticket changes. A 64-bit overhaul. Faster everything. A rewritten Finder. Microsoft Exchange compatibility. All-new QuickTime Player. If Apple wrote it, this book covers it.
• Snow Leopard Spots. This book demystifies the hundreds of smaller enhancements, too, in all 50 programs that come with the Mac: Safari, Mail, iChat, Preview, Time Machine.
• Shortcuts. This must be the tippiest, trickiest Mac book ever written. Undocumented surprises await on every page.
• Power usage. Security, networking, build-your-own Services, file sharing with Windows, even Mac OS X's Unix chassis-this one witty, expert guide makes it all crystal clear.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Pogue, Yale '85, is the weekly personal-technology columnist for the New York Times and an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News. His funny tech videos appear weekly on CNBC. And with 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how- to authors. He wrote or co-wrote seven books in the "For Dummies" series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music). In 1999, he launched his own series of amusing, practical, and user-friendly computer books called Missing Manuals, which now includes 100 titles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 906 pages
• Publisher: Pogue Press; 1 edition (October 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596153287
• ISBN-13: 978-0596153281
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Computers & Technology > Hardware > Design & Architecture
  • #78 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Home Computing & How-to > OS X

More About the Author

David Pogue is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. Each week, he contributes a print column, an online column and an online video. His daily blog, "Pogue's Posts," is the Times's most popular blog. David is also an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News and a frequent guest on NPR's "Morning Edition." His trademark comic tech videos appear each Thursday morning on CNBC. With over 3 million books in print, David is one of the world's bestselling how-to authors. He launched his own series of complete, funny computer books called the Missing Manual series, which now includes 60 titles. David graduated summa cum laude from Yale in 1985, with distinction in Music, and he spent ten years conducting and arranging Broadway musicals in New York. He's been profiled on both "48 Hours" and "60 Minutes."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

126 of 129 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic Snow Leopard Resource October 18, 2009

By Diana De Avila TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love the Missing Manual series by David Pogue and have been waiting for the release of this version.

As with all of the Missing Manuals, this book is very well arranged and readable. You needn't be a complete techie to enjoy Pogue's writing style and the index and appendices are very helpful in locating exactly what you need.

Snow Leopard brings about little tweaks in Apple's newest OS and this Missing Manual explores them. The changes are not large changes, but they are there. I sold my Leopard copy and upgraded my Mac and book to Snow Leopard. Do you need this copy of the missing manual if you already own David Pogue's Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual? Probably not unless you really like to get underneath the hood. If you are starting afresh with the new OS version, this new copy is the way to go. If you own the Leopard version of Pogue's book already and you only use it for an occasional reference here and there, you will probably do just fine. All in all, dollars very well spent.

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Kindle Version a Circus of Confusion July 25, 2010

By T. Stepp

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Looked at the contents book was well written, then purchased the kindle version. Kindle version doesn't really include a table of contents, for whatever reason they rewrote the contents pages and now looks like it was written by a 5 year old.

I contacted David Pogue, he wasn't aware of this, and submitted it to his publisher, who states that Kindle can make some changes, but why they would change the contents page which is the most important part of the book, is beyond me.
So I just have to meander around to find things.

David's great, his publisher was very nice to take the time to answer my e-mail. I just don't recommend the Kindle version right now, buy the full book, which is worth 5 stars, just not the Kindle Version, which was hacked together poorly.

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Got-it-all followup to the Leopard book; fresh material added as needed October 26, 2009

By Rudy

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a VISTA-phobe Mac switcher, no one did a better job than Pogue at making me feel at home with Leopard. He's done it again for Snow Leopard -- where eye candy was sparse, but getting the OS ready for the future was the driving force, as well as much needed updates of the standard apps to enhance performance. Outwardly, Snow Leopard is no avalanche, hence much of the book is an updated quality rewrite of the Leopard book; but where it counts -- as in describing the newly streamlined Automator -- the author maintains his outstanding track record of clarity and humor.

Thinking it was little more than a cleverly promoted Leopard version update, I installed Snopard upon release ... what a mistake! Frequent failures in opening or closing files, inability to send mail and constant crash reports made me hold on to a reserve Leopard drive - if only to get the email out. Many (but hardly all) of these glitches were corrected by the 10.6.1 release; although importing and saving files with Adobe products remain daily crash report events [feels like a beta tester!]. No way was I going to let Snopard take over until I had it checked out by Pogue. As a measure of my confidence, Pogue gave me the lowdown (and the courage) to do a surprisingly simple 'Clean Install' of Snow Leopard after a 2-month wait, letting go of Leopard's security blanket, and allowing the (yet imperfect) beast to take over as the OS for my computer.

The dauntingly-sized book may seem overwhelming at first, but the author has that rare gift of simplifying daily operations, yet provide all the detail that more advanced users demand.... The chapter on Automation alone is worth the price of admission; with the drastic makeover of "ImageCapture", now serving as a frontend image collector within Automator, I would have been lost. Also, I feel reassured that some of the 'bugs' aren't Apple's so much as third party providers', and that Apple will address remaining incompatibilities with the Finder; moreover, as recommended, even with 8MB of RAM, the 32-bit kernel mode seems more stable than the 64-bit mode - at least for using non-Apple software.

Overall, this book comes as close to being the definitve guide to Snow Leopard as can be -- both for newcomers and for oldtimers. Highly recommended! Read more ›

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Mac OS Manual October 22, 2009

By Hartley J. Jackson

Format:Paperback

This is the best Mac OS X Missing Manual ever because it has Snow Leopard Spots that describe new Snow Leopard features where they are appropriate throughout the book. They add new information and interest, increasing the appeal of the book.

How quickly you can find the information you need, assuming you can find it, is an important criteria for a good manual. Mac OS X Snow Leopard The Missing Manual is well organized with an excellent index and appendix. It took almost no time at all to find the answer for one of our user group members who wants to record radio music in iTunes. A highlighted Gem In The Rough about the Internet Radio and Podcasts said, "There is no easy way without add-on software."

The Mac OS Missing Manuals have been best selling Mac books in part because the the illustrations and text work together to help you do things.

For example, in the chapter about the new QuickTime a small paragraph tells you how to record sound through a microphone. Right next to it an illustration shows you the drop down menu used. I had no problem following the instructions to record my voice. However, I could not record the sound of the radio playing in iTunes by placing the speaker in front of the microphone. The horrible sound verified that, "There is no easy way without add-on software."

Mac OS X Snow Leopard has all the Notes, Tips, and humor that we expect in David Pogue's Missing Manuals. It is comprehensive and eminently useful as a reference to find what you need when you need it, and for learning how to do things in Snow Leopard. It is so well written that, unlike most manuals, you will look forward to reading more.

Some of you may also want tutorials with step by step instructions to create specific products.... Others may want books on special topics with more illustrations.

For example, this book provides all the information I needed to make a movie of my MacBook screen complete with my vocal narrative. It even advised me to use my earphones to adjust my voice level. However, a special lesson could reduce the amount of experimentation and practice it will take to really do it right.

However, tutorials and collections of special lessons cannot provide all the information we need and that can be found here. We need a manual.

Thankfully, the manual was not in the box because we have Mac OS X Snow Leopard The Missing Manual by David Pogue instead. Read more ›