Mac OS X: The Missing Manual: The Book That Should Have Been in the Box

Missing Manuals

by David Pogue

For personal computer users of every stripe, Mac OS X is a whole new ballgame. It combines Apple's trademark visual elegance with the underlying stability of UNIX, which adds up to a rock-solid, gorgeous operating system.Unfortunately, learning Mac OS X is also whole new ballgame. As author David Pogue notes in his introduction, "Mac OS X" is a misnomer--it isn't really the Mac OS at all; there's scarcely a single line of code in common with the tangled, ancient code of the older Mac OS. Hundreds of features have been removed, added, or moved around.Few in the world are more qualified to guide Mac users through the undocumented jungle of Mac OS X than David Pogue, triple-award-winning former Macworld columnist and author of the best-selling Mac OS 9: The Missing Manual . His new book shines light on both the broad strokes and the fine points of Mac OS X version 10.1, including understanding its UNIX-like folder structure, setting up an office network, capitalizing on its rich Internet features, and even hacking the real power of the UNIX underbelly by summoning the command-line interface. Mac OS The Missing Manual also covers each of the control panels and bonus programs that comes with Mac OS X, including iTunes, Mail, Sherlock, and Apache, the built-in Web-server.For Mac users who have become accustomed to the older Mac OS, Appendix A, the "Where'd It Go?" dictionary, may be worth the price of the book all by itself. It's an alphabetical listing of every feature that was once in Mac OS 9, complete with an explanation of what became of it in Mac OS X.Through it all, Pogue shows off the refreshing humor, technical insight, and crystal-clear, plain-English prose that made number one best-sellers out of his other books in the Missing Manual series, including Mac OS 9, Windows Me, and iMovie 2.

Genres: Reference, Computers, Technology, Nonfiction

600 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

David Pogue, Yale '85, is the weekly personal-technology columnist for the New York Times and an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News. His funny tech videos appear weekly on CNBC. And with 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how- to authors. He wrote or co-wrote seven books in the "For Dummies" series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music). In 1999, he launched his own series of amusing, practical, and user-friendly computer books called Missing Manuals, which now includes 100 titles.

David and his wife, Jennifer Pogue, MD, live in Connecticut with their three young children.

Reviews

[Laura Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic resource for anyone diving into macOS, especially if you're transitioning from Windows or just want to master the system’s nuances. I found the section on troubleshooting particularly helpful—it's where I learned how to Factory Reset Mac safely without losing important backups. Definitely worth keeping on your shelf for reference.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually almost started reading this like a novel. Everything about my new Mac is so pretty, it's really interesting to see what all it can do. And the prose of this is very accessible.

Basically, if you're new to the Mac and you want to know all of its hidden capabilities, this is a good place to start. Just beware because there is a lot of discussion about the differences between this version and the older version (Mac OS 9). Simply gloss over these parts.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a long-time PC user and relatively new Mac convert, I found this book to be invaluable. David Pogue writes an instruction manual that is fun to read. I keep it on my desk to help me learn more about my MacBook Pro, and the Mac OS X.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Not dry. The author had a great sense of humor about everything computers. Very nearly as entertaining as it is informative.

[Foxthyme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has kept me sane while I transitioned from PC to Apple. Now I love my iMac instead of wanting to throw it out the window!

[rma · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion this book is the best of the missing manual series. Everything the average mac user and even the beginner would like to know about using their computer.