I have completed this wonderful book, "Mac At Work" by David Sparks. This book is a must read for any Mac user, new or experienced, or for anyone who is contemplating buying a new personal computer. This book is first of all practically written, in non-technical terms, that any lay reader can understand. David explains clearly, the various features of the Apple OX10.6 operating system, and even more importantly he sifts though the many software options available for accomplishing the end objectives, the work product that is the real reason we use our computers. Even though this book is titled "Mac At Work" is is just as useful for the casual computer user.
Mr. Sparks overview of available software is comprehensive, to say the least. He covers, the various softwares with detailed instructions and tips. I am a Mac geek, my Mac owning friends come to me for questions all the time. With this said I have learned a tremendous amount of information from this book which will improve my work flow as a college professor. I am already uing many tips from this book and as a result I have acquired a number of new software titles, the most exceptional being DEVONthink Pro Office. This book provides a comprehensive framework for establishing a personal workflow using best practices on the Mac. From now on I will recommend this book to any Mac user who comes to me with a Mac related question. It is such a wonderful, Mac reference source and users guide. It is unique in that it is not biased towards any particular software companies. Mr. Sparks provides the reader with a number of software options for each workflow objective, letting the reader choose the one which best suits the readers workflow and budget. This, in itself, will save you many times the price of this book. He provides the reader with a degree of familiarity with software choices that choosing the best option is much less confusing and as a result the reader will be saved from purchasing software which is not suitable for their particular needs. A case in point is his comparison of task managers for the Mac. The two main contenders are Things and OmniFocus. Mr. Sparks clearly prefers OmniFocus but he explains why and why Things might be a better option for readers who are not managing the literally thousands of tasks managed by Mr. Sparks. I have tried both softwares and I chose to use Things. Mr. Sparks' advice directly parallelled my experience using both softwares. This type of advice, for a perspective purchaser of software, is invaluable.
I want to close by saying that this book is an easy, enjoyable read. The writers, at the major websites devoted to personal computing, could learn a lot from Mr.Sparks' clear, detailed but not overwhelming explanations of the advantages and disadvantages of various programs, and more importantly, the step by step instructions, for the use of the programs he recommends. This book was obviously a work born of a love and a passion for the Mac. This book is a must read for anyone who owns, or is contemplating buying a Mac. I was disappointed when the book ended. Like a great performer Mr. Sparks' left me wanting more. My one small criticism is that Mr.Sparks did not discuss some of the really good software available to convert PDF files to either the Pages or Word formats. Solid PDF to Word is a useful tool I use for this purpose. I store everything in PDF files, organizing them in the software programs Paperless for personal documents and Paper for my academic work. The ability to transfer these PDF files to Pages or Word documents, with the formatting and fonts intact, is an important part of my workflow.
I read this book on my early 2009 MacBook using the Kindle Mac App, from the new Mac App store. This App makes reading on a Macbook a pleasure.
