BKMOSXJE.RVW   20031220

"Mac OS X Bible", Lon Poole/Dennis R. Cohen/Steve Burnett, 2003,
0-7645-3731-8, U$39.99/C$59.99/UK#27.95
%A   Lon Poole
%A   Dennis R. Cohen
%A   Steve Burnett
%C   5353 Dundas Street West, 4th Floor, Etobicoke, ON   M9B 6H8
%D   2003
%G   0-7645-3731-8
%I   John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
%O   U$39.99/C$59.99/UK#27.95 416-236-4433 fax: 416-236-4448
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764537318/robsladesinterne
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764537318/robsladesinte-21
%O   http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764537318/robsladesin03-20
%P   895 p.
%T   "Mac OS X Bible: Jaguar Edition"

This is a huge, fat, book, and one would think that somewhere in it
there must be useful information.  One would be wrong.

Part one is about getting to know Mac OS X.  Chapter one outlines the
visible changes to the interface.  Basic functions (starting up,
shutting down, and invoking programs) are in chapter two.  The Finder
and basic objects (programs, files, directories and so forth) are
reviewed in chapter three.  Chapter four outlines interface settings
and preferences.  Chapter five discusses some basic operations with
respect to files and applications.  Too little information on Internet
connections, the Web, and email, is given in chapter six.  Chapter
seven does not really make clear that Find is for local files, and
Sherlock is an Internet application.  Chapter eight describes the
interface for the help system.

Part two deals with basic operations.  Chapter nine lists printer and
queue management screens.  There is a confused amalgam of local and
Internet networking and file transfer in chapter ten.  Chapter eleven
lists some programs that come with the system.  A little information
about fonts is in chapter twelve.  Dialogue boxes for video
applications are printed in chapter thirteen and the same for audio is
in fourteen.  Chapter fifteen notes a number of preferences that can
be set.

Part three is supposed to cover more advanced topics.  Chapter sixteen
outlines user account information, but does not deal with the
underlying structures or command line utilities.  Chapter seventeen
talks about speech applications.  (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)  Both
ethernet and wireless networking are assumed to work properly without
any trouble in chapter eighteen.  (How likely this is to happen is
left as an exercise to the reader.)  Chapter nineteen tells you how to
run on file sharing.  Chapter twenty tells you how to enable even more
dangerous network services.  An introduction to AppleScript is given
in chapter twenty one.

Part four is *also* supposed to cover more advanced topics.  Chapter
twenty two lists more programs included with the system.  Chapter
twenty three lists some shareware.  Miscellaneous tips are in chapter
twenty four.  Chapter twenty five gives you enough information about
the underlying system to be dangerous, and recommends that you keep
your system clean and backed up.  Too little information about UNIX,
in too much bloated verbiage, is provided in chapter twenty six.

The advice is banal, the text runs in circles and repeats itself, and,
overall, this book does not provide much help or assistance to any
level of user.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2003   BKMOSXJE.RVW   20031220