Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual

As usual, David Pogue has done his exemplary job of clearly explaining every aspect of the Leopard OS in user-friendly, non-intimidating prose. The Missing Manual's black and white illustrations show Desktop windows, pop-down menu choices, and other explanatory visual cues to augment the text when needed. New technologies and Leopard-included applications such as Safari, iChat, Mail, etc. are dutifully explained as well.

To borrow a quote from the book's back cover: "This must be the tippiest, trickiest Mac book ever written. Undocumented surprises await on every page - in in every corner of Mac OS X."

Besides covering the most popular features of Leopard, the author also attacks those dark recesses of Security, network, Automator macros, even Terminal. And there is a Windows-to-Mac Dictionary for switchers to find features translated for them from Windows-speak into the language known as Mac.

Pros: I trust the Missing Manual to be my definitive authority on all things Leopard. If I want to figure out, for instance, how to set up my traveling laptop to get info on my office iMac through the Back to My Mac feature, it's the Missing Manual that I consult. Sure, I could go to Apple's Support site and sift through their white papers and forums but, duh, this is so much easier, faster, and most importantly, laid out to be understandable at first read.

Cons: It's a big book. Not very mobile. If you're out in the field and want to configure something in Leopard, the book's not with you. Therefore it's also not with you if you experience unexpected Leopard misbehavior.

Review by NCMUG member John Hershey