Customer Reviews

Mastering Mac OS X

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

 

 

While I agree with MacGizmo's review that this is far from complete or with the depth Mac gurus could wish for, I think it is vastly superior to the other books that are out on OS X as of July 28, 2001.

For the beginner or experienced Mac person it's ideal: clear and readable, much more detail than all the rest, and very well illustrated. It's extremely well organized, and while each chapter logically builds on the others, yet each can be read independently and out of sequence, thanks to an excellent index (which makes looking up a term or concept quick and easy).

My pet peeve with most tech books is sloppy, incomplete indexing. Novels are read start to finish; tech books are primarily for reference. To be genuinely useful, a good index is essential, and Mastering Mac OS X is one of the better tech books at fulfilling this critically important requirement.

Most OS X books currently out are simple re-hashes of what one can find in MacWorld and MacAddict magazines, or from Apple's own official "consumer level" information. One has the feeling when reading them that the author just digested a bunch of articles, tried OS X for a few hours (or few minutes, perhaps) and then rushed into print, in hopes of being devoured by the masses starved for more info about OS X.

Not so this book. One has the sense that the author has actually USED OS X hands-on, in depth and at length for a considerable time. That some of the trickier, deeper areas of OS X are not addressed is not a bad thing for a book whose primary purpose is to introduce us to the new OS. There will be plenty of books along in the coming months and years to address these issues, mostly topics that are of interest only to techies and Mac professionals.

I recommend this book as a starting point for all our clients, at virtually all levels of Mac skills. I wish I had written it. I wish I could write technical stuff this well.

Get aquainted is more like it. This book, like so many others, covers a lot of "basic" things about MacOSX and even "Classic". It explains a lot of 'theory' behind the terminal and how usefull it is - but you will NOT master anything in OSX from reading this book. Not one single reference to NetInfo Manager is in this book (other than an obscure note regarding the database in relation to something else). No extensive FTP or Filesharing info beyond the obvious is stated.

I did find a brief section about file permissions to be quite usefull - so the book wasn't a total loss. For those with a little Unix experience there is a section devoted to Darwin and some advanced shell stuff - however if the rest of the book is any indication, this section will seem amateur to them as well (I dont know anything about Unix - I was hoping I might learn something when I bought the book).

The book is very well written, has lots of tips/notes to break up the thickness - but it falls extremely short of making you a "Master" of OSX. This book is a step above the "Dummies" series, but far below any advanced/power user level.

I give it 2 stars because it does cover a lot of info (even though they are basic topics such as browsers use and mail.app etc...) but only 2 because it doesn't even come close to what the title promises.

If you want to learn about the new OSX operating system and how to use a Macintosh, this is the book for you. It begins with using the interface, such as trashcan, and advances to basic troubleshooting of the OSX and classic operating systems.

On the other hand, if you are familiar with Mac OS pre-X you are already familiar with the majority of this book. Its advanced OSX sections simply give a cursory treatment of the operating system.

In my case I was hoping for much more advanced information about the new operating system. From what I read, either I am far more fluent with OSX and Unix than I thought or this book is intended for a different reader.

Here is a book that is descriptive, comprehensive and in-depth about Apple's newest, UNIX-based operating system. The size of the book may be daunting, but the content is satisfying and explains virtually everything OS X in-depth. Flip to any page, and you will find well-described and illustrative coverage on something related to OS X. Virtually everything that pertains to OS X is clearly explained in-depth. The book doesn't go far beyond the scope of explaning the new OS and - indeed - letting you master it.

It also functions well as an effective troubleshooter. This book's on my shelf next to my Macs all the time. Highly recommended.

I recently purchased my first Mac because OS X intrigued me. I've spent the last 5 years using linux and, occasionally, FreeBSD. I wanted a book that would get me over the hump on becoming familiar with this new operating system. I feel that this book does a good job of making the reader familiar with most aspects of OS X. Good job!

This is a book for absolute beginners. This is not a book for anyone who knows anything at all about Macs. Granted OS X is quite different but I have found very little useful information in this book and some of what I found has not been correct (like how to create an alias in the Terminal - what the book states does not work).

If you are brand new to Macs and are startiing with OS X this book may be right for you.

Other reviews on this book indicated that it was the best book for advanced Unix users. I found it to be the opposite, very little advanced topics, even those that are part of the GUI are covered. OS X for Dummies and Unix for Dummies would be a better choice. I would even venture to say the book is for computer beginners as it actually explains what an icon is. This would be for someone who hasn't used a computer since 1983.

Recently, I decided to broaden my computer knowledge (I am an MCSE,MCT,MCDBA,CCNA,CCAI,A+ - so my PC and networking skills are there, just no Mac). To better understand Apple OSX I looked at the OSX Complete Reference as well as this text.

So far, I am more impressed with this text in terms of sheer depth of information. It doesn't have the programming sections that "OSX Complete Reference" does, but I wonder if that is really needed. From the sections I have read, it seems to provide enough depth to get started comfortably and bring myself up to speed.

It is evident that the author understands OSX as the references to third-party tools and references are well placed and valid.

As a "how-to-use-it" book I am enjoying it. Next, I'll have to find a text that gets into the internal workings.

Mastering OS X is a wonderful, thorough book about Apple's newest operating system. I could not have gotten up to speed without it.

The book covers EVERY part of Mac OS X in complete detail. ANY user, new or old, of the Macintosh will learn from this book. I will look forward to buying future books from Mr. Stauffer!