Mastering Mac OS X, Third Edition

Todd Stauffer | Kirk McElhearn

1 Comprehensive and thorough
I have to confess that I approached the nearly 900 pages of Todd and Kirk's book with a feeling of 'Oh no, not another Mac operating system book - I'll leave that until I have time for it... maybe when I retire'. My shelves contain many such books, dating back to MacOS 7. Most are unthumbed.

However, I was wrong: this book stands out by its thoroughness, and the fact that, while thoughtfully catering for OS 8/9 migrants, it also goes well beyond the basics of OS X. Now that MacOS has 'come of age' with the Panther release, this book is appropriate.

'Mastering Mac OS X' covers just about everything you could need to know about OS X and its bundled applications, with welcome mentions of shareware and commercial software where this appropriate. It starts gently for those unfamiliar with OS X, but - and this is where it differs from a lot of its competition - goes well beyond into heavyweight stuff like AppleScript, X Windows, Darwin, using OS X as a web and ftp server, the command line, shell scripts, and even 'secret' features such as Inkwell.

I found it hard to criticise anything about this book. There are one or two omissions: AppleScript Studio is mentioned only in passing, and iDVD not at all - but to be fair, AppleScript Studio is the subject of a book in its own right. There are also places where the extra warning or two might not be inappropriate, such as when wildcards are introduced immediately after the 'rm' command, but my only main gripe is nothing to do with the authors at all - I found the italicized paragraphs a bit hard on the eyes.

The sections on AppleScript, networking, security and troubleshooting are probably worth the price of the book alone. If you only buy one OS X book, this should be a strong candidate. Recommended.

2 This suited my specific needs
I didn't want to buy a book where a significant portion is devoted to introductory comments for beginners. When I bought David Pogue's Jaguar Edition of the OSX Missing Manual, I was new to OSX and it suited my needs perfectly (Pogue is a great writer). However, I've moved on a bit and Pogue's Panther Edition covers too much of the same ground for me.

Stauffer and McElhearn's book gets straight to the point and gives me enough details for the tips to be useful. I found the sections on networking especially useful, and liked how many of my questions were anticipated by the authors. I also found the book well-organized and getting to the sections I needed wasn't a problem. If you're an intermediate-to-advanced user, this is probably for you.

3 Excellent, comprehensive reference, perfectly written
Todd Stauffer has done it again -- this version of his book doesn't disappoint. I bought David Pogue's book for the Jaguar edition and couldn't figure out what the fuss was about it. Pogue's book pales in comparison when it comes to meat and detail, Mastering Mac OS X covers everything I wanted and needed. Sure, Pogue's book is smaller and lighter and so maybe more convenient in that sense, but Stauffer's book really helps you learn Mac OS X inside and out.

A lot of books on Mac OS X seem rushed, but not this one. Stauffer probably brought on Kirk McElhearn to help get this book out on time and it shows in quality and quantity. Good work, guys! I wish there were more authors like Stauffer and McElhearn.