Customer Reviews

Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide (Pocket References)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In a little over 200 pages, Chuck Toporek discusses the various applications and features that are a part Mac OS X Tiger. As the author acknowledges in his introduction, this book is a good starting point to explore Tiger, but it cannot provide the deeper level of detail that new users of the operating system will want eventually. I would agree with that statement. It is, after all, a pocket guide, and not an exhaustive manual.

With that in mind, Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide delivers pretty much on its promise. It goes through virtually every feature that Tiger has to offer; some in greater details than others.

Part V of the book, Applications and Utilities, for example, lists all the applications and utilities available, and very superficially describes their purpose. It does not go into any detail on how to use, say, Mail. The book does, however, go into great detail on how to customize your Mac, based on your personal preferences, in order to make using your machine as pleasant and fast as possible.

Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide is terrific for looking up solutions to problems that one may be struggling with. A good chunk of this book consists of FAQ-like steps to follow in order to obtain a certain result. A comprehensive index at the back of the book enables the reader to quickly locate the solution to the problem. In short, as a reference, is excellent.

People who like to work with keyboard shortcuts will find this guide especially useful: if it can be done through a shortcut, it is described in this book

There are screenshots in the book, but they are fairly sparse. Overall, these were well chosen, as the bulk of them illustrate new features, such as Spotlight and Dashboard, though perhaps not necessary.

It should be noted that if you are looking to get familiar with Tiger in the comfort of your couch or on a train or plane, this book is not for you. It is, overall, quite dry, and is not exactly a "fun read," especially compared to, for example, The Missing Manual series of books, wherein the authors go out of their way to make the books pleasant and light to read. Again, Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide is pretty dry. What you do get a book that is more compact and portable - and significantly cheaper - than The Missing Manual books.

The bottom line, then, is that Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide is very informative, but works much better as a reference tool than as a sit-down-and-devour kind of book. Being a relatively new user of Mac OS X, I learned a great deal from this book and I will likely consult it more often than I will my copy of iPod and iTunes: The Missing Manual.

I particularly like the pocket guide because of its compact size. I refer to it as a quick
reference when I need a fast answer. Mac OS X is a complex operating system and a user Cannot know everything. The pocket guide gets you over the hump in helping one
find the basic concepts of a complex system, especially with the new features such as
Dashboard and Spotlight. The guide is stocked with "Tips and Tricks"

The most important thing that stood out for me with this book is that it contains most of information that longer reference books on the same subject have, but without all the fluff. And then when you consider the low cost of this book, you'll certainly feel like you got more than you paid for here.

Part I presents an excellent and compact overview of Tiger's new features, with enough detail to be understandable and to illustrate how something is relevant, or why it's cool, but without so much information that it defeats the point of reading about it later.

The remainder of the book highlights and explains some of the key components of Tiger, such as System Preferences, Apps and Utilities, and UNIX basics, and then finishes off with some configuration-specific tips. The descriptions of the various features are particularly straight-forward and easy to read, as are the tables, which provide a great reference tool for things like keyboard shortcuts.

Parts II through V of the book are perfect for switchers and new users, with good, fundamental information about the operating system. Somewhat more seasoned, but not expert OS X users, will probably find the most value in parts VI and VII (UNIX basics and configuration). If you're not familiar with the UNIX underpinnings of OS X, then Part VI is good way to dip your toes into this ocean and not get soaked. When you're ready you can then move on to more advanced O'Reilly titles, such as "Learning UNIX for MaC OS X" or even "Mac OS X for UNIX Geeks," both of which are excellent.

The only caveat I offer on this Pocket Guide is that it seems more intuitive to swap the order of Parts II and III (Survival Guide and OS X Basics), but given that the book is more of a reference guide than a cover-to-cover read, this isn't a big deal.

The new edition of the Mac X Pocket Guide book is designed as a quick reference to the Mac OS X Tiger operating system with special attention to new features. It is a well organized, pocket book style with easy to read table of contents and quick reference guide. It comes complete with overview of the Mac OS X Tiger System and it's new features. It discusses an array of systems and features such as user account, keyboard shortcuts, security issues, menu bar, window controls, the dock, trash, the finder, creating new folders, dashboard, spotlight, system preferences, applications and utilities, unix basics and configuring your Mac. The book was easy to read and provided screen graphics as illustration and shortcuts. One of the best features was it's easy to use reference style so you could look up and read only the specific topic you have interest in at the time. As one example of its efficiency, I was interested in finding out more about dashboard. I quickly looked up dashboard in the table of contents, turned to the appropriate listed page, was provided an overview of dashboard and all it's specifics and how to use them. I found this to be a great guide and have kept it close to my G 5 for quick reference.

This is not a beginners book. If you are looking for a book that explains how to double click or what an icon is, look elsewhere. The primary audience for this book is someone who is familiar with the Mac and wants to learn all the tips, tricks, and idiosyncricies of Tiger. This is the type of book someone working in a computer lab or at a help desk would turn to when you need a quick answer to a question. Every IT department should have a copy of this book available.

One of the greatest aspects of the book is Toporek's tables of keyboard shortcuts in every section. I generally like keeping my hands on the keyboard and every time I move to the mouse, time is wasted. If there is a way to do something, anything on the keyboard in Tiger, Toporek tells you. I found myself writing little post-it notes of shortcuts I never knew and now can't live without.

The book is extremely comprehensive, not just covering the Finder, but also applications and utilities, Unix, networking, and troubleshooting.

If I had to pick one book to be stranded on a dessert island with (of course that island would need wireless internet and electricity) it would be this book. I can't think of a real world question this book couldn't answer. Many of the sections were in a "How do I " style like "Change password for User Account?" or "Share a USB Printer over an Ethernet Network." Being a real world Tiger user, I can't think of a single question this book doesn't answer. I also found it handy when there were things I heard about in Tiger, but couldn't remember where they were or how to use them. For example, I know there's a program that will take pictures of the screen, but can't remember where it is. I can't search help if I don't know what I'm looking for. A quick flip through the Applications and Utilities section in the book helped me find what I was looking for.

This is not a tutorial book. Toporek states the "how to" do something without actually walking you through it and doesn't explain why he's telling you to do something. I like to think of this as a recipe book for using Tiger. Follow the recipe exactly and you'll be fine, but don't expect to be told why you must preheat the oven or make sure to temper the eggs when making custard.

I highly recommend this book for a intermediate Mac user who would rather look something up in a book then search for the answers in Google or call their tech savvy friends. I went out and bought one personally for myself I liked it so much!

Pros: Efficient and straightforward guide on how to use Tiger efficiently and effectively.
Cons: Not for the intro user, if you are looking for a bunch of pretty pictures and hand-holding--go elsewhere.

The book is a really nice reference and the compact size makes it easy to carry around. OSX is much more than Aqua and there is OS X UNIX under the hood and it is amazingly friendly and accessible. Some people who had never used it before type commands and work with the operating system directly as a "cool guys" in movies! This book is very helpful and well written and it serves as a very nice reference. Also try Linux and UNIX for a beginner complete training suite, 4DVDs + 2CDs ed.2008
The book is very particular about many subjects and very well written.

This is the best and most portable "how-to" guide for OS X "Tiger" that I've seen. The index is most comprehensive. As a new convert from windows based platforms, I have found this guide to be a most reliable companion as I continue to explore the many intuitive features of the iMac computer. The manual covers every critical function of the system and has helped me get up and running with ease. The language is non-technical and easy to comprehend. I'm sure you will find it your most frequently used source of information regarding the Tiger operating system.

This book accomplishes it's task - that is to be a quick guide to the Mac OS X. It has many tips and keyboard shortcuts. It touches on a lot of subjects, but it doesn't go into any detail; for that, you'll have to look elsewhere. I found the book easy to read and helpful. I'm keeping it in my laptop bag, right next to my macBook. But I'm also purchasing an additional book to get a more in-depth understanding of Mac OS X.

Convenient size to hang around for Quick and easy referral. I like it.

Dont be fooled by its size, this book has been a tremoundos help, It is great if you dont know anything on Mac's. I have been able to do and set up thing's on my macbook I could not have done on my own. This is a book that should be in your colection. Go to Barnes and Noble and check it out for yourself, than come back to Amazon and get it way cheaper, you wont be sorry. Again this book is small but packs a punch of info.