Author Don Rittner has performed the service of a lifetime in compiling this book, and when you take a look you'll agree. Our copy's hard cover is much appreciated, too, since anything that gets this much use had better be sturdy! In fact, there is so much information crammed into the well-organized and indexed 374 pages of this volume that we are unilaterally declaring this to be the "Mother of all iMac Reference Books" and urge all of you to add this to your library, for reasons which will soon become apparent.

According to the information on the inside cover, Don Rittner is the sort of Macintosh advocate many of us can only dream of becoming. His biography and credits are those of someone who has so far lived his life by practicing what he preaches: he ordered his first Mac in 1984, started one of the oldest Macintosh User Groups in the country, and edited and wrote for Macazine ("an early national Mac magazine for Apple user groups") and Mac Horizons. He has since written for MacUser, MacWeek, Online Access and others, created the MUG News Service, written more than 12 books about history, science, computers, and the Internet, and now publishes a monthly Internet magazine called The MESH--Inside Cyberspace. But that's not all! He produces and hosts a weekly radio show called "Inside the Net" (which you can also hear on the Internet ) and is president of The Learning Factory, described as "a unique educational learning center in Albany, New York."

We only list these accomplishments to put The iMac Book in perspective and to give you some hint of why Guy Kawasaki agreed to write the foreward. What may surprise you after hearing about the author's solid intellectual and technical background is that this book is specifically targeted at the first-time computer buyer! (Rittner also has in mind Windows converts and Mac users who have never met a PowerPC platform until they bought their iMacs.)

Reviewing this book is like reviewing an encylopedia, only The iMac Book is simple to read and better organized. Rittner begins logically with "The iMac and You," a chapter that introduces users to their iMacs with a thorough look at how it works, what you can attach, how you can upgrade, what kinds of software you can use, and how to take care of your new machine. The second chapter tells you how to connect to the Internet and why you want to (if you don't know already). Most issues connected with modems, ISPs, browsers, file formats, and email are covered, and that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The author is primarily concerned with putting first-timers at ease by providing relevant facts in an understandable and reassuring manner, and we think it works.

The information avalanche thunders on: subsequent chapters cover newsgroups, netiquette, mailing lists, specific iMac resources (he mentions Applelinks.com on page 205!) how to to research with your iMac (very informative), software resources, troubleshooting, and "Having Fun With Your iMac," which is all about games and entertainment links. The worldwide domain appendix and glossary are very useful, too.

Simply put, you can get a lot out of The iMac Book, whether you have an iMac or not. We have been Internet-savvy for quite a while, but all we have to do is open it to any page at random to find something new! The lists of URLs in each chapter may be reason enough to buy the book: we discovered the "Emulation.net" site, for example, which features emulators for everything from old Ataris to Nintendo Gameboys and PalmPilots. The author has made it very easy to access this information by laying it all out in a logical sequence and by leaving out the junk: the book is mostly text, plus a number of valuable images of things like application windows and screen shots. (You won't find space taken up by cute color photos of iMacs in cyber-cafes.) In short, The iMac Book means business!

First-time computer users unpacking their shiny new iMacs definitely need this book, Windows converts can surely use appreciate it, and even longtime Internet-surfing PowerMac users can learn a thing or two. We're buying copies for my mother and a niece, but our own copy is staying right here on the desk next to our PowerMac. (How else would we have learned that the top-level domain "MS" stands for Montserrat instead of -- you know!)

The iMac Book by Don Rittner is published by The Coriolis Group, ISBN: 1-57610-429-X, and lists for U.S. $24.99. Borders has the paperback for $19.99, while Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have the hardcover version for an even cheaper $17.49. {Note: be sure you get the book by Rittner. Another iMac book by Andrew Gore and others (somewhat smaller but with the exact same title) has also recently been published. It may be a fine book too, but it's not the one reviewed here! -- JHF].

John H. Farr also edits the daily Apple Computer News here at Applelinks

and writes a weekly column (FARR SITE).

 

 

 

August 29, 2008