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I’ve reviewed a number of the books in O’Reilly’s “Missing Manual” series, as well as in the companion “In A Nutshell” series, and none of them has ever disappointed, but my favorites are the ones authored by Missing Manual creator David Pogue (who is also a tech columnist for the New York Times, and a former MacWorld columnist), so I had very high expectations for Mac 0S X: The Missing Manual. 
I hope that I won’t ruin the suspense for anyone by saying flat out that Pogue has come through with flying colors. This book is a superb example of what it purports to be -- “the book that should have been in the box.” Back in the good ol’ days, that is: the early ‘90s; when you bought a new piece of software you could depend upon getting a real, printed, bound, user manual -- often several manuals. I remember unpacking my brand new copy of Microsoft Word 5.1, along with its seven or eight bundled print manuals, including a 1,000 plus page main tome that soon became dog-eared with use.I fondly remember the great manuals that came with my old Mac Plus, including an excellent one for the bundled HyperCard application, which got me started with computer graphics. However, like most software these days, as the author puts it:
Unlike many computer books that are written with a particular segment of the user community in mind, Mac OS X-the missing manual is designed to address readers at any technical level from first-time beginners to power users. Pogue writes:
A lesser talent might not have been able to pull this off successfully, but Pogue has done it in his usual, inimitable way. I’m a sort of a low-end Power user, and I find the information presented interesting and not at all too elementary. However, as Pogue noted above, through employment of the Missing Manual series signature sidebars and interrelated tips, specific nuances are expanded upon while leaving the main text more general generally oriented. Besides Up to Speed and Power User’s Clinic, sidebar topics are dealt with under the heading categories of Frequently Asked Question Liberally interpolated throughout the main text are short parenthetical explanations of particular points under the headings “tips” and “ notes” to tell you “why” in addition to “what” and how.” The book is also of course liberally illustrated with screen shots, which even in grayscale give you an appreciation of just how attractive OS X’s Aqua/Quartz interface design is. I was pleased to note that Mr. Pogue acknowledges off the bat that Mac 0S X “is not, in fact, the Mac OS,” and that “under the hood, it has no resemblance whatsoever to the traditional Mac operating system... There’s scarcely a single line of code in common with the tangled, ancient code of the older Mac OS.” he says. “Hundreds of features have been removed, added, or moved around.... It is not so much Mac’s 0S X, in other words, as Steve Jobs 1.0.” Thus, as I have personally discovered on my own OS X Odyssey, involves serious culture shock for a 10 year Mac OS user like me, and other Mac veterans as well. Pogue says that “most people will eventually conclude that the trade-off is well worth making, but in fact you have little choice. Apple is switching to Mac OS X, and if you expect to remain a Mac user, sooner or later you will too.” This book is designed to aid the transition. Mac OS X: The Missing Manual is divided into six parts: Part 1, The Mac 0S X Desktop, covers everything that appears on the screen when you turn on a Mac OS X computer: the Dock, icons, Windows, menus, scroll bars, the Trash, aliases, the Apple Menu, and so on. Part 2, Applications In MAC 0S X, is dedicated to the proposition that an operating system is little more than a launch pad for programs--the actual applications you use in your everyday work, such as email programs, Web browsers, word processors, graphics suites, and so on. These chapters describe how to work with applications in Mac OS X. This is also where you can find out about using your old Mac OS programs which you can still run in OS X’s Classic emulation mode. Part 3, The Components Of Mac OS X, is an item-by-item discussion of the individual software bits and make up this operating system. These chapters include a guided tour of the hundreds of icons in the system and applications folders on your hard drive. Part 4, The Technologies Of Mac OS X, addresses more advanced topics; networking, dialing into your Mac from the road, and setting up private accounts for people who share a single Mac. Other chapters cover the graphics power of Mac OS X (fonts, printing, and graphics), and multimedia issues (sound, speech, movies), and the Unix core that lies beneath. Part 5, OS X Online, covers the Internet-related features of Mac OS X, including the built in Mail email program, the Sherlock Web-searching program, Web sharing, and Apple’s online iTools services. The book also has five appendices, my favorite being: Appendix A, “The Where’d It Go? Directory,”; which tells you where the good ol’ Mac OS stuff you can’t find went, and where equivalents or substitutes, if available, are located. Read ‘em and weep for what once was. Appendix B, Mac OS X Menu By Menu, walks you through the new system’s menus, and should prove a helpful reference. Appendix C tells you anything you need to know about installing 0S X, including partitioning your hard drive, and even a word about installation of OS X on unsupported Macs. Appendix D covers “Troubleshooting Mac OS X,”; and I expect I’ll be going there a lot, because most of the troubleshooting expertise I’ve developed on the legacy 0S over the past decade is now irrelevant. Appendix E is a list of help resources, including Websites and other books, that you can try in the unlikely event that this book doesn’t contain the answer(s) you need. David Pogue has a unique writing style that is both serious and to the point, as well as being a whimsical and disarmingly light-hearted. Here’s a random example of what I mean from the discussion about OS X’s stay-down menus:
It’s like that all through the book, and indeed through all of David Pogue’s other books; one of the reasons they are so popular. The subtle humor and wit makes learning and looking things up so much more entertaining. One of the most useful chapters of Mac 0S X: The Missing Manual for many users will be a Chapter 19 -- Mail -- which is a tutorial on using, managing, and troubleshooting the built-in Mac OS X email client of that name. I haven’t used Mail a lot, as I need to maintain backward compatibility with OS 9, and there is of course no legacy OS version of Mail, but Mail has some very cool features, including one of those slide-out “drawers” that are appearing in more and more Cocoa-based OS X applications, and this chapter will help you get the best out of the program. There are also a couple of chapters (15 and 16) on using the terminal and introducing you to the scary world of Unix command lines. These are a part of the book I am going to make myself study as time unfolds, not because I like mucking about with command lines, but because I perceive it to be a useful skill to have in OS X, or at least a passing acquaintance with. At $24.95, (or discounted at $17.46 at Amazon.com)Mac OS X: The Missing Manual is relatively inexpensive as computer books of this type go. One reason is that no bundled CD-ROM of already outdated software is included, and it is not missed. A note inside the back cover explains that not including the CD knocked $5 off the price of the book. Instead, every piece of add-on software mentioned in the text is available on the Internet at: Another reason is that the book is printed on relatively low-grade paper rather than glossy stock. I can live with that too, although it does give the book a sort of utilitarian feel. Viewed rationally, however, computer books have a very short shelf life, and it probably makes little sense to jack the price by spending money on deluxe printing materials. It is a marvel how much useful, well-organized and easy to access information David Pogue has succeeded in packing into this relatively compact volume, which is just shy of 600 pages. I have no hesitation in the slightest in giving Mac OS X: The Missing Manual an enthusiastic, full five-smiley Applelinks rating.  Mac OS X: The Missing Manual For more about the Missing Manual Series, see: Appendix 1: A Reader Review Of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual Appendix 2: Mac OS X: The Missing Manual Table of Contents
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