Customer Reviews

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual

5 star:		(88)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you have OSX or are thinking about installing it, this book is a MUST HAVE. OSX is a remarkable operating system, but I felt like I was back in the first grade trying to navigate between the world I was familiar with and this new one. After buying another book (that will go nameless) which offered absolutely no assistance at all, I discovered David Pogue's "Missing Manual." Finally, my computer and I became friends again. It is extremely well written and easy to follow. Every chapter holds countless tidbits of information, tips, and screen shots to guide you through the OSX maze. The "Programs and Documents" and "Back to Mac OS 9" chapters helped me tremendously in understanding how to work effectively with both systems. I've spent hours pouring over the information in this book and have highlighted hundreds of "must knows." I haven't attempted Applescripts yet, but I'm ready to try with this excellent resource in hand. I wish I had bought it months earlier. It would have saved me from some major headaches and the cost of several bottles of aspirin. Thank you, David Pogue!

David Pogue is one of the best technical authors of our time, and once again he hits a homerun!
I've been using Mac OS X as my primary operating system for the last month, and I've had absolutely no trouble learning Mac OS X in record time. It's such a great operating system... so elegant, so user-friendly, so intuitive, so crash-resistant.
And so I wondered, "Okay... do I really need to purchase David Pogue's manual on Mac OS X? I mean, I have a really firm grasp on the OS to begin with!"
And as I started reading the book, the answer became a resounding YES! Before I had even finished the first chapter, I had already learned dozens of new tips, tricks, secrets, explanations, and reasonings that I did not know! Stuff that I didn't REALIZE I wanted to know until I read them in Pogue's book.
And as always, Pogue's breezy, friendly, & cheerful writing style makes this manual read like a gripping novel. You can read this from cover-to-cover without ever losing interest.
This book is a must read. It should come bundled with every copy of Mac OS X.

I purchased "OS X: The Missing Manual" as a Christmas present for my nephew who recently migrated to OS X. I figured the manual would be a helpful "Getting Started" guide to him, and relieve me of a bit of tech support duty. Being a "power user" of OS X meself since the Public Beta days, I dun NEE no steenkin' manual, missing or no.

After spending about 20 minutes with this book, I was back at Amazon ordering a second copy. For <ahem> meself. (Power user or no.)

"OS X: The Missing Manual" was a long-time coming... but it covers Apple's new operating system clearly and comprehensively. The book presents a huge (HUGE) subject with clarity, wit, and delightfully useful tips that any (ANY) user of Mac OS X will find helpful, time-saving, and wicked cool.

David Pogue didn't give us the first manual for OS X... but he has delivered the best.

I wish all technical writing were this good.

Having switched to the superior Macintosh platform a few years ago I was left wondering exactly how to do things. The Macintosh is painfully easy to use but there are times when you need help "thinking differently". As a long time Windows user I had to "re-learn" a few things in order to achieve the objective of a fluid computer-user dynamic. Because of the Macintosh, and this book, using computers is fun again!

This book is simultaneously educational and enjoyable! Imagine that, a *computer book* being enjoyable! This is not your father's Fortran/Cobol, dryly written instructional book, that's for sure.

David Pogue's writing style is both thorough and concise. He writes with a wry and immediately likable levity that simply makes you enjoy reading about Mac OS X. His writing for NYTimes.com, O'Reilly & Associates and various "For Dummies" books has undoubtedly helped hone his technique.

If you're a person switching to Mac OS X from Mac OS 9 you'll find the "Where'd It Go" section immensely helpful. It details the differences between OS 9 and OS X and how to find that certain program or preference you used before. It also has a "Where'd It Go" for Windows users, which shows how to do things "the Mac way" and help ease the migration from Windows to Mac OS X.

Even if you're completely new to computers, this book will undoubtedly alleviate your fears and help you get to working with Macs in a very fast manner. It's a great "In A Nutshell" type book, but unlike some of those books it bridges the gap between complete novice and intermediate user needs.

If you're looking for an advanced/expert book or one covering unix then you'd probably want to look at O'Reilly's "Learning Unix For Mac OS X" or "Mac OS X In A Nutshell". Even though this book is written for novices and intermediate users, it covers some unix/terminal commands. It also covers how to use the web, FTP, SSH/Telnet, VPN, Firewall, networking, burning CD's and DVD's, making mp3's and playing them and so on. But it does so in an easy to understand fashion. The nice thing about this book, besides how easy it is to read and all the things it will help you do, is that it can be read from front to back or can be read by skipping around at your whim.

Once you read this book you'll be able to do nearly anything on your Macintosh. And that's what its all about.

Pros:

1) very intelligently written
2) thorough, without being boring
3) concise and to the point
4) lots of "how to's" with actual screenshots from Mac OS X
5) covers all aspects of using a Macintosh
6) very current (covers the latest version of OS X called "Jaguar" as of 2003)
7) great index

Cons:

None

This book is really worth every penny it costs. It is packed with useful information, well written, intelligent, and fun to read. Just Appendix C (the "Where'd It Go?" Dictionary), merely 20 pages, is worth the whole book: it goes through every function of OS 9, and explains what it is called in OS X, or by which other function it was replaced. Enough to get any user of OS 9 up and running with OS X in a few minutes!! The in-depth coverage of every other subject is as accurate as it gets. I particularly appreciated the chapter about customization. But the book goes as far as covering in perfectly understandable terms the basic Unix knowledge you may want to acquire to better understand your Mac OS X. Not to mention the incredibly accurate chapter about installing Mac OS X 10.2. By the way, contrary to many other publications that claim to be up-to-date with the latest software version, this book was REALLY written about 10.2, and it's not a revised 10.0 manual... The book you may want to have with you if you're ever stranded on a desert island with your Mac and a fresh copy of Jaguar!

I have been using Mac computers since 1986. For the past 8 years, I have been editing films and videos professionally on Apple's top-of-the-line Macs, from System 8 to the current OS 10.1.

David Pogue has written a book that takes the anxiety out of switching to a brand new operating system. I consider myself a professional Mac user, and still this book was not only educational, but extremely informative and pleasing to read. The graphic examples and writing style will make the beginner as well as the advanced user happy they purchased this.

The book never 'talks down; to the reader. Instead, David Pogue brings the reader inside the Mac, showing us how the new OS thinks, and how it is now easier and more fun then ever to work on a Macintosh.

Many people not familiar with OS X do not realize how advanced and how sophisticated an operating system it is. "The Missing Manual" covers OS 10.1 and is an excellent introduction to the new operating system, and an excellent presentation. I love having OS X on my Macintosh....Don't forget to "Think Different" and give this book a well-deserved look. Enjoy!

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual
Paperback, Third Printing, February 2002, 596 pages
By David Pogue
© Copyright 2002 by Pogue Press, LLC
ISBN 0-596-00082-0
Review written June 23, 2002
By Donald W. Larson, OReilly Book Evangelist

In February 2002 I moved over from MacOS 9.1 to the new Apple Operating System MacOS X. Its a major change in usage even with a great user interface like Aqua. Although Im an Apple user since 1981, I knew I would need a great new reference nearby to help me in the transition from old to new. I asked my OReilly contact for the book Ill speak to next.

David Pogues, Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, is a tremendous help for anyone moving to the new Mac OS. Ive met David when he came to a few of my San Diego Macintosh User Group picnics. Hes a great guy and a very talented person. One of his talents is writing and in the titled book, he expresses the new frontier X with clarity.

The book has 21 chapters and six appendices. It covers everything I could think of that a beginner or expert user would love to know about X. David begins the transition to the new OS from the vantage point of the user viewing the Aqua experience the first time. He traverses the topics of folders and the Dock, which presents the most visible changes in how information is organized on the hard drive.

He writes about how the programs are different and how AppleScript is supported in new ways. An entire chapter is devoted to the concept of discrete users and how those spaces are kept distinct from one another. This bears witness to the underlying Unix operating system that governs the new machine.

Because Unix is available underneath, David takes the time to explain the permissions concept and how to use the Terminal program to explore the depths of Unix and lead us easily into that new realm.

I initially started reading this book straight through back in February. I found the writing style was easy to follow but I kept getting sidetracked with Davids suggestions to try his exercises out. Often one thing leads to another and I lost my reading train-of-thought. I enjoyed his style so much I gave up trying to read straight through. I discovered instead his book is a well-written reference book with a story perspective to it.

For the last few months I grabbed for this book every time I needed a fast answer about MacOS X. David maintains a website with up-to-date information and many free or shareware program listings that accompany the book. I now have a pretty good working knowledge of the books material. I attended the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference last May and Im glad I had absorbed much of the book by then. Many of the presentations at that conference were clear because of the foundation I had learned from the book.

Everyone using MacOS X needs this book. Thanks David!

Rating 10 out of 10. This rating is my own personal value system and as such is very subjective. I think a rating of 5 means I would read finish reading a book. A rating of 10 would indicate I had trouble putting a book down and have no complaints at all about it.

Based on my positive experiences with Pogue (and Joseph Schorr's) "Mac Secrets", I preordered this book in September, choosing to wait for it to be published despite a number of Mac OS X books already on the market.

Let me tell you: I'm glad I waited. I solved my three biggest OS X issues within an hour of receiving my copy, and learned a great deal more after reading through more thoroughly.

David Pogue's writing style is clear and detailed without being confusing -- he has a gift for explaining complicated computer issues in a plain, informal style, all the while demonstrating his unique sense of humor.

He also covers the gamut of OS X issues (including the updated version, X version 10.1) from simple to complex, from opening programs to working in the UNIX terminal.

In my opinion, this is the Mac OS X book to buy.

OS X can be puzzling even for experienced Mac users. That's why Mac OS X Missing Manual, Second Edition, by David Pogue is one book you should add to your bookshelf.

If you aren't familiar with any of Pogue's previous books, then you've missed reading one of the most intelligent and easy-to-read Mac writers since Robin Williams. Pogue writes in a clear, easy-to-follow style that makes it simpler to understand the sometimes arcane and relatively new operating system.

Most of Mac OS X Missing Manual concentrates on the non-unix and less geeky parts of OS X. And of course, that makes perfect sense, since venturing into the seemingly dark and obscure world of UNIX is an option in OS X, not a requirement.

But several chapters do delve into this foreign side of the new Mac OS. There's more than enough information to enable the reader to begin using UNIX features like the Terminal, SSH, FTP, VPN, and so on. Of course, this isn't a UNIX book, per se, so if really want to become a bull goose UNIX geek, you'll need another, or probably several, other books.

Since OS X includes some integral applications, like Mail, iPhoto, iChat, iCal, and the rest, so Mac OS X Missing manual also includes plenty of information to help you get the most of these free programs. The new OS X utilities are also covered in some detail, and since many of them are completely new to users of previous Mac operating systems, that's a very good thing.

This thick tome lists for $29.95, which isn't bad for a book of so much weight. One of the cost-cutting measures employed by O'Reilly Press in the Missing Manual series is to not stuff a CD full of questionably worthwhile, and most likely out-of-date (by the time you get them) utilities and applications in the back. However, every piece of shareware and freeware mentioned in the book is available for download from www.missingmanuals.com/cds/.

I like Pogues books, they have earned prominent places on my bookshelf, so I have no hesitation strongly suggesting that if you use OS X, you pick up a copy of Mac OS X Missing Manual.

David Pogue, the author of Mac OS X, The Missing Manual, REALLY knows the Mac! He's been using and writing about Macs for years and years - and is the best Mac author out there - I've read them all. His number one strength is his ability to explain things in a 'plain English' manner. He uses real-world analogies, avoids acronyms and is truly clear! This makes a huge difference. Other authors think that they're clear, but Pogue pays attention to the smallest details, making it as easy as possible - while still imparting advanced information. Pogue's latest book offers detailed info about the strengths of OS X, the weaknesses of the Classic mode, as well as making the transition from OS 9.x, and superb advice on how to optimize your machine to work with both operating systems if need be. Whether you would like to *really* learn OS 10, or merely stay familiar with Apple's operating system, this is the only Mac book you'll need. Pogue covers everything - and very well. I highly recommend it! Pogue's iMovie 2 and Mac OS 9 Missing Manuals are also excellent. And, don't miss Pogue's column in the Technology section of the New York Times; like his books, they're informative, humorous - and hard to put down.