Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard – Peachpit Learning Series
Part One of a Two-Part Review
Reviewed by Wayne LeFevre
Author: Robin
Williams
Publisher:
Peachpit Press
http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321502639
Released:
November, 2007
Pages: 480
$29.99 USD, $28 CND, £14 UK (UK Based on exchange rates)
ISBN-10: 0321502639
ISBN-13: 978-0321502636
Audience: Beginner
Note: Part II of macC’s review of Robin Williams book
by Harry {doc} Babad follows.
Strengths: Step by
step introduction and tutorial to Leopard with lots of examples and photos.
Weaknesses:
Specific information can be hard to find at times, definitely not a “manual”
type of book, (Which can be helpful when first learning about the system.) |
|
Introduction
If you are new to Mac OS X, you'll learn to use your Mac
with help from a world-renowned teacher, Robin Williams. She has created many,
many books on the Mac. From there, you can move on to customize it to suit the
way you work. And if you've been using Mac OS X already, you'll learn to use
the new features in Leopard, like Spaces, Quick Look, and Time Machine, and
explore a
ll
the enhancements to favorites like Mail and iChat.
In this book…
In true Robin Williams fashion, she guides you step by step
into using Mac OS X 1.5 Leopard operating system. From upgrading and
installing, to using the applications that are installed with the OS. Note of
forewarning, however, is she does not cover any of the iLife apps, since they
are not part of the operating system.
The book is rationally organized into four main sections
(Mac OS X Basics (Lessons 1 and 2), Mac OS X Applications Basics
(Lessons 3 to 14), Make It Your Own Mac (Lessons 15-20 and Tech Stuff (Lessons
21-24) as well as ”End Matters” such as a glossary and index. However, there is
no need to read your way through the material page-by-page or even
lesson-by-lesson. As Robin makes clear, read only what is useful to you right
now; the rest will be there whenever you need it.
The exact topics covered are:
• Introduction to the Mac OS X Desktop
• A Bit Beyond the Basics – including Finder,
Expose´, etc.
• TextEdit
• Mail
• Address Book
• Safari
• ICal
• iChat
• iTunes
• Preview
• Miscellaneous and other common tools in applications
• Personalize your Mac
• Dashboard
• Printing and Faxing
• Sharing
• Spotlight
• Time Machine
• Upgrading
• Basic Troubleshooting
• Secure you Mac and Files
As you can see, there is a small sampling of most of the
items that beginners will need to figure out the basics of the entire OS.
On the other hand, if you are a seasoned veteran you will
probably want to pass. If you have seen Robin Williams OS X 10.4 Tiger book,
well, it’s very similar to this one. For that matter, there is a lot of the
Leopard book that is taken word for word from the Tiger book. All of the
pictures and examples are updated for Leopard, and any Leopard specific items
are definitely changed in this book, however.
It would have been nice, if she was going to repeat most of
the information from her previous book, to have a “Leopard Only” feature. Maybe
an entire chapter devoted to those sometimes elusive “300+ New Features.” Of
course with more than 400 pages, that might be asking a bit too much.
Conclusion
This is probably the premier book for a beginner, or even an
intermediate user needing to familiarize themselves with Leopard. It is a very
easy book to follow, and can be read from beginning to end easily. It is less a
manual or reference book, and should probably not be used in that capacity. If
you need to learn Leopard quickly and, for the most part, thoroughly, than it’s
a fine book to get.
