Macintosh Systems Books

I bought this book for my younger brother, to go with the Mac I refurbished for him (his first, a "Sawtooth"). He was able to figure it out, get on the internet, and do everything he wanted to in a few minutes' time with this book as reference. If you don't know who David Pogue is, he is the geek we all wish we were. If you're considering getting a Mac (you should, you know), get this as a reference. Simple, straightforward, playful, humorous, and helpful.

Macs for dummies.....just what it says on the cover.

Yes good, but could be better.

More pictures....and colour please.

This book is interesting, full of necessary information and written in a easy-to-read style, but it would benefit from having a better presentation, white paper, coloured pictures etc. (You see the difference when comparing it to Mac OS X Tiger Killer Tips.)

David Pogue has a genius for making the seemingly-complex simple enough for the average person to understand. This is the perfect gift for a writer writing about the Macintosh system; once you get over your intimidation about computers by following Pogue's straightforward and sometimes humorous examples, the user-friendliness of the Mac makes itself obvious, and you're on your way. An excellent, useful book for beginner and seasoned user alike!

This is a must-have book for all new Mac users and not only! Don`t waist your time by figuring out everything by yourself or calling up your friend everytime you have a problem - this book will solve most of them and even more. David Pogue is a great, funny writer who helps you make your life easier and love your computer even more !

I have to admit, from the outset, that I am not a Mac person. I am a PC tech trying to service one of the only Mac's I will probably work on this year. I have a copy of the Mac Bible. It is huge! That's not bad if it is useful. The problem I am having is finding what I need while I have to wade through the barrels of verbage that are useless to me. I finally had to resort to scouring the Web to find my answers. I guess I'm used to the more direct, almost cookbook approach to troubleshooting and setup. To be fair, and thats why I gave the book two stars instead of one, I realize that the different chapters are written by different authors, so the content and style will vary. Unfortunately for me the sections I needed were written by authors I would rather not consult in the future.

The strengths of this book are the tips to getting yourself out of trouble. The interesting part of this book are the interviews with the major players in the history of the MAC. Gives a chance to those people to voice their opinion of the state of the MAC.

its a good book, if you are reading this review, skip the first chapter. I wish it had information of the newer OS like OS X. I learn many simple things about Macs I had no idea.
good book!! The is a newer Mac bible, take a look on that one.

I recently had an excellent opportunity to try out this book as I made the switch from the PC to a new 15" PowerBook G4. This is the type of book that very few people probably read from cover to cover. Rather they would read it as a resource book when they are having troubles or questions. As I made the change from one OS to another I found myself going to the book eleven times. Two of those times the book didn't answer my questions. But for the most part I learned what I needed to know each time.

If you are about to make a switch or are having issues with your Mac I would recommend this book to you.

There are four major parts to this book:
. Looking at the Mac, which talks about the Mac in general from an overview of the operating system to storage systems and printing.
. Getting Productive which walks about common business and personal applications like word processing, databases and spreadsheets.
. Getting Creative, all about graphics, web design and HTML, after all, the Mac is reknown for its capabilities in the graphical area.
. Extending your Reach, reaching out for the internet, for networks and even working with Windows machines. This part also has a chapter 'Switching to the Mac from Windows.'

In a bit over a thousand pages the authors have room to cover nearly every aspect of working with a Mac. This book covers the standard everyday tasks that you're likely to do on a Mac. From here, of course you can go on to more specialized programs if that's where your job lies. For instance in the graphics area, iPhoto, which is supplied with all new Macs is covered. But if you're a graphics professional you probably want some more professional. And the book talks about the professional level packages such as Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop, ACD Systems Canvas, Macromedia FreeHand, Corel Painter, and others. It doesn't cover these in detail, but at least talks enough about them to get you started on deciding which is best for your needs.

This book is, as the title says, the Bible of the Mac. It doesn't contain everything there is to know about the Mac (if it did you couldn't lift it) but it certainly contains enough to get you well started.

I enjoyed it, but then of course I don't own an iPod and don't download music, I was simply curious what all the excitement is about. Clearly the product(s) evolve very rapidly, and so MAYBE this book is already out of date, but honestly I don't know.

THIS BOOK TRULY HELPS THE OWNER OF IPODS MANAGE THIS GREAT MP3 PLAYER. IT EXPLAINS THOROUGHLY WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH AN IPOD THAT I NEVER DREAMED OF!!

I had my POD just sitting there. This book is what should have been done. In twenty minutes of reading, I was loading,dropping,syncing....Well written,easy to understand. Now to keep all the other IPODers who want to borrow it! Buy it!

I llike the Missing Manuals because they complement nicely the usually formal apple help style and dry manual style. But here the authors have exaggerated with "funny" sentences which do not add information - thus the otherwise IK book could be shortened by 20%

Not of particular use to a new user of ipods. The author attempted to do two books in one by using a dule discription for each procedure (Mac and PC). In addition, too much history of why such and such was included. I felt this time consuming and unnecessary. The index was sadly lacking and many important topics were not to be found.

The book is quite good and easy to read. It would be nice if it were more comprehensive.

I found the coverage of iWeb to be too brief and didn't answer numerous questions I had in this complicated and important feature of iLife.

This book is well-written, easy to read, with lots of effective illustrations. It is a great purchase for someone who wants to be more efficient in using the new version of iLife, especially iPhoto.

The Macintosh iLife 08

This is THE book to get to work through the learning of iLife 08. Color phots and written in a manner that helps you through the problem you are working on and does not make you go through a lot of other material to get to your issue. Bought the same book for iLife 06, but there are enough new things in iLife 08 that I like having the new book.

With every version of iLife, I have purchased the corresponding version of The Macintosh iLife book by Jim Heid. While I am a big fan of the Missing Manual books, the Heid books actually show you the controls as well as write about them, and there are very useful tips included on every page. Even after learning an iLife application, this book is very valuable to come back to for details when doing later projects.

The '05 book included a tutorial DVD that was useful, and I believe these are still available for viewing on Jim Heid's website. The '06 and this version do not include a DVD, probably to allow the book to be published sooner, which is OK with me. The book does a better job of instruction than the DVD tutorials, because it can provide more detail.

Great program-worth the cost. Transforms lackluster pictures to ones you won't mind spending money to print.

This is a most excellent book for Mac users. It takes the reader through a rather complicated program step by step. I have only two suggestions. First, it would be helpful if the authors would provide more sample pictures on which to practice. Second, it is sometimes difficult when they suggest that you refer to information 100 pages later in the book. I try to use "Missing Manuals" for any new programs I purchase. Trying to get by on the help menu or material that comes with the programs is a waste of time.

This book on Photoshop Elements 6 is very comprehensive and well written. I am totally new to Photoshop and have found it helpful. The amount of material in the book is a bit overwhelming. I am sure that over time as I become more familiar with Photoshop Elements 6 I will be able to make better use of the book.

Strengths: Beautiful layout and in color. There is no hardware CD but there is one through a website that has many files to try the tutorials and more. Helpful insight on Photoshop versus Elements and Mac versus PC for users new to either platform or Operating System/ Computer. Color screenshots are of a good size.

Weaknesses: Real novice users may find the book's tutorials a little daunting but they will learn from this book nevertheless.

Introduction

Photoshop is the premier graphic editing program for most of the Mac and Windows graphic artists. Many of those who don't require all the power of Photoshop but want most of the utilities, use Photoshop Elements which has proved to be popular. Macintosh users however have not had an updated version for two years but that has changes now. Mac users who also want to learn about the applications new features and learn as much as possible quickly look for a book to help them. If you are looking for one Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual is a excellent one.

The author, a musician by trade, , a mac expert and a Photoshop expert is the author of the Photoshop Elements Missing Manual Book. She provides insights into this new two year version of Photoshop Elements for Macintosh

The tutorials and content are provided in the 7 parts and 18 chapters. The book has color and well laid out.I like the little violet tabs on each top page side-tip that show what is on each page. The chapter numbers are on the bottom although I would have liked to have seen them on the top (which is where my eyes and most people normally start looking on each page). Color screenshots are easy to read. In several instances (like P. 302) there are red lines to indicate where in the screenshots the tutorials are relating the information.There are also a myriad of short notes (labeled Power Users Clinic, Workaround Workshop, Troubleshooting Moment, Communication Station help provide solid notes the zone in on helpful assistance.

There is no hardware CD but there is one through a website. Many of the Missing Manual series have a Missing Manual CD which has a lot of extras already available: web addresses, practice files and pieces of downloadable software that are included and mentioned in the books many sections. This not only saved money for the book being lesser in cost but also is more reliable with continual updates.

The appendix has 3 sections with nice layout of elements (menu by menu), installation and troubleshooting problems, and information about Bridge CS3, menu by menu. The index is full of items to help find information where you want in the book.

Conclusion
Beautiful book, thorough and well laid out, this book is easy to read and filled with great tutorials that will get you up and running with this new mac elements version in no time. The step-by-step tutorials are well done and help most users from the beginning to more difficult graphic endeavors. Some users may want an even more visual based clean straight forward set of tutorials.

I am just starting to get into this book and have already obtained solutions to vexing problems that I did not have the patience to run to ground by using on line help and tutorials. The book helps me decide what is and is not important in the use of Elements 6.0 for the Mac - then provides the answers to my questions.

For example, in a matter of minutes, I was able to find out how to "right click" to edit an image in Elements directly from iPhoto and then how to save the changed image back to iPhoto. My Apple iMac software (both iPhoto and Elements 6.0) were on the wrong settings and I was having a terrible time trying to figure out the changes I needed to make in Preferences. Even the Apple in store Rep was not able to explain how to do this basic step. I got my answer in minutes from this book and now am already saving a lot of time.

I expect as I read further and apply the information as I go along that I will finally master Elements 6.0.
I also bought the Missing Manual for iPhoto '08 and the two manuals play very well together. Why oh why doesn't Adobe make it this simple? These books are like having an experienced digital photography friend at your side ready to show and tell.

The simple (now) concept of how iPhoto files work in concert with Elements 6.0 has made me much more confident that I am on the right track to being a better image processor and printer. I look forward to trying the methods detailed in this book and growing in my expertise every day. Took the "chore aspect" right out of my hobby of digital and scanned image photography. And, when you have over 50,000 images in digital and film and print form as I do, and you can gain confidence in managing them, you have to thank a book like this one.

I have always been a PC user, but my wife uses a MAC. She is working on a book using ClarisWorks. She wanted to upgrade and purchased a new Imac with AppleWorks. This book has allowed my to help her with her project. I even bought AppleWorks for my PC.

As usual the 'Missing Manual' folks have done an excellent job on a subject that covers everything for the beginner (me!) to the ol' pro.

So much better than the online Help.

I am a user of all the Missing Manuals. I would not be without them. This one is well laid out, is easily understood and very helpful. It is always nice to have directions in print. Unfortunately in today's world, the producers of the software do not understand such a concept. That is why we are lucky to have folks like Jim Elferdink to take care of us.

As someone who bought his first computer in 1986 it's been a long strange trip from there to here. And things have not exactly been gettin better all the time!

QUE published the first computer manual I ever bought. It cost $29.95, contained over 1,000 pages and covered every conceivable aspect of WordPerfect 5.0. It wasn't always easy to understand (Where do they get the people who write these books? And how many IQ tests are they required to fail to prove themselves worthy of computer manual authorship?) But if you were patient and willing to put in the time you could usually find an answer to your question.

That happy sort of situation ceased to exist some years ago when computer programs began to become as bloated as a dead cow in fly time and things only got worse with the publication of Apple Works 6 the Missing Manual!

"If Only it were missing!" I've found myself thinking to myself time after time after time as I have struggled futilely to find the simplest answer to the simplest question with no luck whatever.

Today, for instance, I crafted a letter to an old friend that was quite long. Though I usually am satisfied with one sided printing, this opus was soooo long that two sided printing was more than clearly called for. Soooo, fear rising like the Red Sea in my throat I grit my teeth and plunged headfirst into yet another frustratingly complex search for the infamous "simple answer" to the question:

"How do you print on both sides of the page?"

First, I turned to the almost nonexistent index in hopes that some mention might be made there of printing. Although printing problems are legendary in the world of computing there was a mere 10 items listed under the heading of Printing in the index. And, you guessed it, none of them seemed to point in the direction of two-sided printing.

Oh, I gave it a try. In fact I flipped through page after page of indexed references, but I came up empty handed.

So next, off to the Table of Contents. Where, under Advanced Word Processing I found - can you believe this - not a single mention of printing, let alone two-sided printing.

I would continue but I fear that what tottering remains of sanity I still manage to cling to with desperation might not survive the test so I will bring this rambling and time wasting rant to a close with three suggestions for O'Reilly Publishing:

1) Burn this book before the word gets out that you published it. Failure to do so might mark the beginning of the end for your company.

2) Raise the failing score of the IQ exam your computer manual authors must fail to get the job by at least 60 points! Perhaps then the candidates will at least have to be able to read before being allowed to write.

3) See what you can do to arrange a long relaxing trip to some Gulag for Elferdink and Reynolds. Believe me, they need a vacation and so do WE!

Just Switched from MSFT. Not as good as Apple Works For Dummies.

The title for this is very accurate - the Missing Manual. If you are missing your iPod manual and for some reason unable to download a free one, then go ahead. This book is pretty much exactly the same, usually word for word, of the pdf file that I downloaded. It does not offer any other helpful tips, shortcuts, etc. other than what Apple already tells you about. It does not explain in any more detail. I was very disappointed.

I am so pleased with this book. My son bought it from my wish list and it is great. Is shows what a person can do with an Ipod. Very easy to use and seems to cover everything that can be done with an Ipod. I wondered how to put pictures and video on the Ipod and this explains how to accomplish those tasks.

Are you getting the most out of your iPod? If you're not, then this book is for you. Author J D Biersdorfer, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that has easy to follow graphics, crystal-clear explanations, and guidance of the most useful things your iPod can do.

Biersdorfer, begins by showing you what lies underneath all of the menus on your iPod or iPod Nanao and what each item does. Then, the author focuses on introducing you to iTunes most basic and useful tools. Next, she shows you how to make playlists of songs you've added to iTunes. She also looks at how much you will spend in the iTunes store. The author then spotlights the video side of iTunes. Then, she shows you even more ways to use your iPod. The author continues by explaining the simple procedures for playing your iPod songs through the woofers and tweeters in your life. Then, she explains what to do if your iPod's acting weird. Finally, the author kicks it up a notch and gives you some ideas of what else you can do with iTunes and the iPod besides just watching and listening.

In this most excellent book, you'll learn how to install iTunes. Perhaps more importantly, this book will show you everything from turning your iPod on, to charging your iPod without a computer.

Great book! I never knew the iPod was so versatile. A must read.

'iPod: The Missing Manual' by Jude Biersdorfer is the perfect reference for all iPod fans, users, and geeks alike. With 200+ pages of material spread out over 11 chapters, you will learn all the ins and outs of your iPod and iTunes better than ever before!! From the basics like general usage of your iPod to learning how to use iTunes to import music and add to your library to creating playlists and working with photos and videos, this truly is a gem. Unlike other 'Missing Manual' books, this one is a smaller format and is presented in a glossy, stylish package that meshes perfectly with your 'i' collection!!

If you want to get the most out of you iPod and/or iTunes and want to have fun doing so, pick up this wonderful sidekick to your Apple world and enjoy!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

A few months ago when my brother presented me with a Mac G4 as a birthday present, he told me the best Mac book writers he'd come across were Robin Williams and David Poath (with which I now heartily concur).
Now I can add Jim Heid to that list.I found his book and dvd very helpful, and I can't thank him enough for taking the time to write such an informative and easy to follow book.
I look forward to the next one Mr Heid, as I'm about to purchase a Classic ipod.....
The book is well illustrated, and thorough in detail - I'd recommend it to anyone.

In reviewing iLife '05, I must say I've never seen a more thorough presentation. I would recommend this book to any Mac user. The included 90 minute CD is reason enough to purchase this great CD. What you read is supplemented by pictures to further explain each topic. A valuable investment.

I am a new Mac user and this book is a great introduction and tutorial to the iLife 05 programs. The book is well written, easy to read and has lots of helpful photos and graphics. THe DVD is a great supplement as well. I would recommend this book to anyone new to Mac or iLife 05.

Very user friendly, covering all the basics and some advanced technics.

This book is incredibly helpful for people just beginning on the Mac. It sets up each program seperately and also shows you how to get the best use of all of them together. The DVD is also a wonderful suppliment to the book, they follow along with each other.

I purchased this used for a buck. It's of course, for an older version of the program that is Final Cut Pro, now in version 6. From the Black and White cover to the dull interior, It's not even worth keeping around for reference sake.

Indeed this book gives tons of small tips and I saw many tricks. It is fun, fast and easy to read. However, this book is a list of tricks in alphabetical order and it does not help me to learn how to use Final Cut Pro. I'm at the beginner stage and this book is not appropriate for my needs. When I will be able to use the program, I may come back to this book.
Laurent - Switzerland

Even the authors are quick to say in the Introduction of this book, that it is not intended for the beginner user of Final Cut Pro, but for the one who is already comfortable with non-linear editing... the intermediate or veteran editor. Harrington and Shapiro have 20+ years of combined editing experience, 40 years of combined Apple usage, have read every tech document on the Web, every version of the program's manuals from start to finish, attended all Apple FCP certification courses, hung out with all the usual Final Cut Pro geeks, as well has have made friends with Apple's own Final Cut Pro Team. Along the way, they have picked up a gazillion handy tips and shortcuts that save editors time and hassle. They know that the average user is too busy working or living their daily lives, to uncover all of these gems, and so they have combined the cream of the crop, the best of the best into this book, for reference on the fly. It is designed to help "unlearn" the bad habits most users have picked up through experience. You know how some programs have a "Tip of The Day" that pops up, every time you launch the program or their website? Well, this book is akin to a mini bible of Final Cut Pro "Tips of The Day." And it's small and light enough to be carted around by the person with the mobile setup, keep it handy but out of the way in your normal setup, or who otherwise wants to carry it around for mini tip lessons in your spare time. 350 tips, to be exact. It's like having someone from Apple's Final Cut Pro department come to your house/facility, being available for personal house calls for specific tasks.

I myself, am a beginner with Final Cut. I'm primarily a musician (former film student with 8mm and 16mm experience, but have never edited on a digital system), seeking to create my own music videos, short films, and other content, and that's pretty much the extent of my plans for Final Cut Pro. I bought the book anyway, because I also have supplemental materials specifically designed for beginners, such as the wonderful "Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro 4" by Diana Weynand (also avaialble for other versions of FCP, and released as a handy beginners tutorial, by Apple). Weynand's book is what I consider the Beginner's Steak, with everything one needs in order to start making sense of the program and editing right away, plus get a well-rounded level of experience with more detailed tasks... where "Final Cut Pro 4 on the Spot" is what I consider the Steak Sauce for ALL users... enhancing the experience, whenever you need it. Whether you want your steak well done or medium rare, before putting the sauce on, is entirely up to you, how fast you learn, or what your personal needs are. You may only like a little sauce on your steak, or a heaping river of sauces, but the point is, that the sauce is available. In more plain terms, everyone goes at a different pace in learning programs such as this, and even some people who can cut together something in Final Cut, may have missed or forgotten little bits of details along the way. However, this book is written and constructed in such a way that it can be used however YOU want it to be used, and as little or often as you need it. It makes no sense to try and read it start to finish, as it's not so much of a book that needs to be read, but instead *referred* to. You thumb through it for new ideas to spice up your productions, or go directly to specific chapters or tips when you come to a specific "stumper" while editing. There's plenty of troubleshooting tips and fixes here, along with the plentiful "Hey, this is a neat trick to speed things up/make it look better" sort of tip.

Hammond and Shapiro's book, at least to me, is a great tool to have around in the beginners stage as a "just in case," because it clearly has answers to questions I already know I'm going to need to do, such as working with audio quickly, color correction, better transitions, and I'm very big on using shortcut keys, instead of moving the mouse around to click every menu option. Depending on the project, I may need more or less information about how to do certain tasks more efficiently... why not already have the information accessible on my bookshelf? I plan to share this with friends who have editing experience already (but unfortunately have been too busy to show me anything). I hear them run across little roadblocks all the time, but even though they either figure them out or find another way around them, I've spotted things in this book, that would have saved them much time.

The book consists of 15 chapters, and within each are a collection of tips, in alphabetical order, pertaining to that chapter. It is written in such a way that you can easily hop around, as you need to and when you want to. There's plenty of both black and white as well as color photographs FOR EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE/TIP (!), and probably 99% of the book is written in casual verbiage, easy to understand. Some tips are only brief paragraphs with pictures or even just a sentence or two, and the more involved ones are written out step-by-step. You can't go wrong with this thing. Only on occasion, does some terminology pop up that I'm not yet familiar with, but again, I imagine I'll either learn what those things are from a beginner book, or will eventually figure it out in context - and may only need to know - after I've already had a little bit of experience. And still, even that's not a big deal... the authors are showing you visually and telling you what you need to do, and what the end result will be. And that's the most important thing... so you can take it or leave it. As I've learned from using various audio programs, I don't always have to know what the terminology means, but just like that I get the results I want.

Anyway, if you already use or plan on using Final Cut Pro with any frequency at all, even if just occasionally, you would be wise to have this book in your library. Experienced users will certainly enjoy all the handy tips from people who know the program inside and out. Beginners, on the other hand, can keep it handy for when you either feel more comfortable with the program, find yourselves stumped on specific tasks or during the process of learning how to the use the program, want to see if there's a way you can cut down on some of the tasks that have way more steps involved.

Everyone wants speed, efficiency and tricks, but a program with as much to offer as Final Cut Pro... there are simply no "Instant Final Cut Pro!" resources that are going to tell you every single thing you will ever need to know to do every single thing you will ever need or want to know, without an investment of time. It's not like having a new DVD player or MP3 player, where you've mastered most of the functions in 5 minutes. Those looking for The Miracle, to learn Final Cut in a day and who expects to make top-notch quality videos in 48 hours, are only deluding themselves, with this or any other book. Editing, unto itself, is an artform. However, after you've at least used a beginners book to show basics, or something more advanced such as having taken classes, or learned all you can through experience and trial and error, this book is the icing on top of the cake.

In response to H. Laurent's review... correct this is NOT a book for begineers. There's a whole bunch on the market, so we wanted to be different. If you click on the Look Inside feature, you can read sample pages, an index, and most importantly the back cover. We wrote this book for frustrated pros, and its labeled User Level: Intermediate - Advanced.

The book was written for expereinced editors who have hit the wall and want to know high end information fast. For those pros who have clients breathign down their neck, we wanted a fast solution. Hopefully H. Laurent will find the book useful as his expereicne grows.

If you are brand new, I suggest you start with the excellent hands on books from Apple or the Editing Essentials by the wise Tom Wolsky. FCP On th Spots will then fill you in on much more when you are ready for it.

Good luck and have fun with FCP....

Wow! I've been working on FCP for over three years and thought I had a pretty good handle on it, but I learned so much from this book. Every other editing book I've bought feels like a basic intro to editing. This book actually gives more advanced tips and some great ideas for working with effects. And the presentation is lighthearted and easy to read through. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who already has experience with Final Cut Pro.

This is a book that should be read only by seasoned IT professionals. As the director of a small academic lab I don't have the luxury of having adequate IT support, so I, like many others, have to wing it. With its rave reviews I thought this book would help, but it didn't. Another 50-100 pages (a relatively small increment in this tome) to compactly introduce and define some of the jargon would have helped immensely and expanded the intended audience to those familiar with IT, but as a sideline, not a career. That being said, I appreciated the author's candor and attention to "gotchas" that official documentation doesn't mention.

Even with 10.4 out this is still the number one book on Mac OS X server there is. Period. Bartosh goes deep in to all areas of OS X server and provides excellent examples for you to follow. This book has saved my hide on a number of occasions and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. If you only buy one OS X server book this is it.

This book is organized into seven parts and one appendix: from new system installation to remote management and different kind of clients supported.

Inside the first part, there is a chapter about planning system deployment reviewing different scenarios as first task to take care of. The author exposes some basic ideas about system administration as well as strategies and tools to resolve a large number of common problems.

One of the key points of this book is its better organization centered around system deployment phases than Apple documentation. Continuous explanations and small tricks to monitor and tune the system are made across the entire book sections. There is exhaustive information about installation with graphical tools, command line and network setup. The most appreciated resource can be screenshots: it allows to follow all the explanations without any problem to new Apple system administrator.

Authors, as advanced users, describe in an easy but deeply enough way all management tools of all system services either graphical or command line versions. Some other Open Source or even propietary tools are described when they are good alternatives to Apple ones.

All the chapters contain "best practices" sections and background knowledge to really understand their functions.

This is a "must-have" book for all level users related to Apple systems administration. I'm really impatient waiting for Tiger revision.

For those who are familiar with MacOS X and would like to learn the server-side of the equation, this book is it. Apple's documentation has been sparse and this book covers that deficiency with great aplomb. This is the best Mac OS X Server book on the market right now. Too bad O'Reilly just cancelled the Tiger version because I would have first in line for the next edition.
http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=20051221121321676
I hope they change their minds because it will certainly leave a big void in future MacOS X Server documentation.

If you are looking for OS X web server inside information, this is not it. Only about 15 pages, out of 800, discuss the web server. And the information on those pages mostly just covers the already intuitive interface. It would not be fair for me to dis the whole book based on this one gaping whole - but since that was the information I was looking for more information on, I was sorely tempted.