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| Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual | 
 enlarge | Author: David Pogue
Publisher: Pogue Press
Category: Book
List Price: $34.99
Buy New: $20.47
You Save: $14.52 (41%)
New (51) Used (8) from $20.46
Avg. Customer Rating:  138 reviews
Sales Rank: 443
Format: Illustrated
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 912
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7 x 1.9
ISBN: 059652952X
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.4465
EAN: 9780596529529
ASIN: 059652952X
Publication Date: December 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081121221340T
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| Customer Reviews:
 Russ Walkowich's mymac.com Review February 3, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
David Pogue's latest endeavor, Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual has built upon all of his previous versions and his experience in working with Macs. This is what should come in the box with your Mac. Everything you need to know or would like to know about Leopard is in this book.
Mr. Pogue has broken this manual down into six basic sections; The Mac OS X Desktop, Programs in Mac OS X, Components of Mac OS X, The Technologies of Mac OS X, Mac OS Online and the final section, the Appendixes, four of them, plus he even throws in a Master Mac OS X keystroke list. To give you an idea of just what he covers in the book, here is a quick breakdown.
Part One (The Mac OS X Desktop) covers Folders, Organizing, Spotlight, the Dock, Desktop and Toolbars.
Part Two (Programs in Mac OS X) covers Documents, Time Machine, Syncing, Moving Data, Automator and AppleScript and Windows on a Mac.
Part Three (The Components of Mac OS X) covers System Preferences, Free Programs (what programs come standard with all Macs like the Address Book, AppleScript, etc.), CDs, DVDs and iTunes.
Part Four (The Technologies of Mac OS X) deals with Accounts, Parental Controls and Security, Networking, File Sharing, Screen Sharing, Printing, Faxing, Fonts and Graphics, Sound, Movies and Speech, the Unix Crash Course, and Hacking Mac OS X.
Part Five (Mac OS Online) works its way through Internet Setup, Mail and the Address Book, Safari, iChat, SSH, FTP, VPN and Web Sharing.
The final part, the Appendixes, covers Installing Mac OS X 10.5 from getting ready to install to Uninstalling Mac OS X 10.5, then into Troubleshooting, the Windows-to-Mac Dictionary and finally, Where to Go after you've read the manual.
The nice thing about Mr. Pogue's Missing Manuals is that they cover the bases for the beginner-to-advanced Mac user, sometimes with a sense of humor, sometimes just directly with the information that is needed to get things up and running properly. It's not "dumbed-down" nor is it "techo-geek"; instead it just works the way a manual really should. The book provides for first time users by displaying sidebar pieces called "Up To Speed" that give the first time user the basic, introductory information to get started. If you're a veteran Mac user, he still provides for you by sidebars called "Power Users Clinics" with more detailed information. Another thing to notice is that Mr. Pogue starts you off with the information on Mac OS X 10.5, then almost at the end tells you how to install the OS on your Mac. This give you the background and basis for dealing with anything that may pop up when you do so, and give you a head start if you're a new user. He makes good use of screen shots to emphasize points to make things easy to understand if the reader has a problem with a particular tip or section. You'll discover something new every time you pick up the book and it's a great resource to have on hand.
In the previous version of the Missing Manual (Panther), Mr. Pogue briefly covered the UNIX underpinnings of Mac OS X, roughly 20 pages worth. This edition has been expanded to almost 50 pages, including a section covering 20 useful UNIX utilities that can be of use to the Mac user. The book itself is a bit changed from the previous versions in its expanded tips for Power Users.
Now, when you've finished reading the book, and you get to the back cover, there is a drawing of the Missing CD-ROM that didn't come with the book that shaved $[...] off the cost. You'll find instructions to go to [...] and then to click on the Missing CD icon. Once there, you will find links to sites containing additional software that Mr. Pogue covers in the book.
At times, I'm amazed at what Mr. Pogue can come up with in the way of tips for the reader. As an example, if you go here you will discover "5 Tips and Tricks" put forth by Mr. Pogue. Check out the tip on Mosaic, part of the screensaver program for the Mac. I tried it out and was amazed, I know that I hadn't seen or read that before.
As I have before, I really enjoyed reading this book. It's well written and covers what a Mac user needs to know to work with OS X Leopard. As has been stated in the past with Mr. Pogue's other Missing Manual books- this is a definite must-have for Mac OS X users! Check it out online or at your favorite bookstore!
Highly Recommended!
My Mac Rating: 5 out of 5
still the best Mac OS X manual February 1, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is still the best Mac OS X book, both for beginners and experts. Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) is mostly an incremental upgrade over the previous version, and so is this book. Leopard has hundreds of tweaks and this book covers them all.
The premier new feature in Leopard is Time Machine, a simple way to do incremental backups to a second hard drive. The book has 12 pages on Time Machine, explaining backups in general, how to set up Time Machine, and how to find and restore the backups.
Other new features include Screen Sharing (letting other Macs look at your screen and even take control for troubleshooting or demo purposes, something like the Timbuktu product), Spaces (maintain several virtual screens and switch between them - a little reminiscent of the very old program Switcher), and Quick Look (view a preview of a document without actually opening the application). All have good coverage in this book.
The Mac OS X Missing Manual series is very polished, and if you have an earlier edition of this book you won't get (or need) any additional information about older OS versions in this new edition. But you should upgrade if you are running Leopard and are puzzled by some of the features.
Invaluable March 21, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I have been a M/S DOS and Windows user for almost 20 years and very comfortable with how those operating systems function. I purchased this book with the hopes it would help me figure out how the heck to make my new Mac Pro work like putty in my hands and I couldn't have made a better decision. I suggest reading a few chapters before you even switch to a Mac so you will have a basic understanding of how it will function, it is different and there is a learning curve. Make sure you have a bright highlighter pen handy to highlight keyboard shortcuts and key points so it will be easy to look back and make your experience a smooth one. This book is huge (over 800 pages) but the reading is easy and fun. I can't imagine having my computer without it at this point, it's that good.
Here's a tip... if the mouse locks up or some other issue crops up where you can only use the keyboard there is a reference in the back section of the book to navigate by keyboard only to do everything from logging out to shutting down.
Best computer technical manual I have ever purchased April 8, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I am a computer professional and have many different certifications that I have pursued for the pure enjoyment and accomplishment of of learning new things. Over the years I have acquired A+, Network+, MCSE, CNA, and CCA and for all of these certifications I have purchased books for self study.
I don't give you this information to brag, since many people have done far more than I, but to let you know that I have read quite a few technical books. I have probably read 40-50 computer books over the years and this book is the best that I have ever read. The author (David Pogue) is very thorough. He covers the OS in very great detail from What's new in Leopard, Folders and Windows, Unix command line, the iLife apps, and Hacking the Mac, amongst others. Every topic that I needed to learn regarding OS X was readily available and easy to find.
Mr. Pogue has included historical information that provides background about the development of the MAC OS, but it is more than just history, he uses it to explain design choices as well. This really helps know the WHY's as well as the hows. I really appreciate that and it helps to understand the reasoning behind Apple's design choices.
This book is great for new computer users, but also for people that really like to get "under the hood" of the OS and learn the nitty gritty details. I highly recommend this book.
Pogue is a great explainer April 13, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is the fourth OS X Missing Manual that I've read and like OS X itself they seem to get better with each version. David Pogue is one of the top explainers of technical subjects around and he doesn't disappoint with this book. In a past version I complained that the Missing Manual rambled a bit. I'm glad to say that the subject progression seems tighter. It's as good a one volume reference as I've seen on any complex subject, offering a pretty complete foundation, written in an easy to understand style.
As the president of a Mac User Group (MUG) I am often called upon to answer Mac questions. If I don't know the answer off the top of my head I turn first to my copy of the Missing Manual. It covers a wide range of basics from upgrading from earlier systems to moving to Macs from Windows as well as offering a logical progression of OS X instructions.
And it goes beyond the basics to cover, keyboard shortcuts, little known and somewhat hidden features as well as a bit of Unix command line and using Leopard's greatly improved Automator. Obviously, no one book can cover every aspect of something as complex as an operating system and the Apple installed programs, but Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual is a great place to start.
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