Apple Mac HQ

I haven’t done a review in quite some time here at Apple Mac HQ. Instead of doing a software review, as most of the previous reviews have covered, I’m doing a book review. Specifically My New Mac Lion Edition – Simple Projects to Get You Started by Wallace Wang.

Most of the books I read tend to fall in the biography, adventure (think “Into Thin Air”), and programming categories. My New Mac Lion Edition doesn’t fall into any of these categories, but will draw some similarities with a programming book in that the goal of the book is to get you to learn. If you’re a new Mac user or new computer user in general, this book will certainly accomplish the goal of learning more about your Mac.

One of the first things that impressed me about this book was contained in the first couple pages, the typically unexciting table of contents. A brief table of contents is followed by an insanely detailed table of contents. The table of contents allows for quick access to any part of the book if you want to skip ahead or reference any part of the book at a later time.

The book begins by offering a brief introduction suitable for anyone who has never used a computer before. Topics covered include introduction to terminology and actions like clicking, dragging, double-clicking, etc. Obviously if you’ve used a computer before, you can skip right past this introduction.

The 56 chapters in the book are organized into seven different parts. You can see a list of all the parts and their accompanying chapters here (halfway down the page). The intended audience for this book is new Mac users and I think the author, Wallace Wang, did a good job of covering topics for the core audience.

Part 1: Basic Training – Covers basics like using mouse controls and gestures to navigate within the Mac operating system. This part includes a very nice chart with common trackpad gestures (page 24). It goes into detail about using and customizing the Menu Bar and Dock. Chapters also cover new Lion specific features like Full Screen viewing, Mission Control, and Lauchpad.

Part 2: Wrangling Files and Folders – Covers the basics of file management using the Finder. To my surprise, it also instructs users on how to use one of my favorite OS X features, Quick Look. Quick Look is such an enormous time saving feature, I pray Microsoft copies it so that I can have it on my work computer running Windows 7. Part 2 covers more Lion specific features like AirDrop, Resume, Auto Save, and Versions. There is an entire chapter devoted to the life saving feature Time Machine too.

Part 3: Making Life Easier – Covers a lot of the items located in System Preferences like Hot Corners, User Accounts, Parental Controls, Universal Access, and more. Chapter 22 and 23 cover the Mac App Store and how to install, update, and remove software not purchased on the Mac App Store. I’ve heard stories about friends parents running Applications from disk images (dmg files) because they never knew you had to copy the application to the Applications folder. This part also covers the use of several built in Mac Applications like iCal and Address Book.

Part 4: Playing Music and Movies and Part 5: The Digital Shutterbug – If movies, pictures, and music are your reasons for owning a Mac, these two chapters have you covered. It includes the basics like playing music in iTunes and importing pictures to iPhoto. It also covers importing CDs into iTunes, playing DVDs, downloading podcasts and iTunes U content, and so much more. It was great to see a note about Podcasts in the book as I think it’s something most iTunes users don’t even know exist.

Part 6: Surfing and Sharing on the Internet – Safari is covered in detail in this part, including using the new Safari feature Reading List. Other topics include Mail, Face Time, and iChat.

Part 7: Maintaining Your Mac – Fittingly, the shortest part of the book is titled Maintaing Your Mac. Some good tips are included in this part however. Often overlook, but even gathering basic system information about your Mac is covered here. Page 444 includes information about disabling the Automatic Login feature, something I tell every Mac user to do. Instructions for encrypting your Mac HDD begin on page 448.

That’s a brief overview of the contents of My New Mac Lion Edition. I tried to include a mention of some of the more important parts of the book, but by no means did I mention everything. Some of the nice touches contained in parts of the book include several ways to perform the same action. At times where a menu action is shown, a keyboard shortcut is shown right below it. Each chapter ends with an “Additional Ideas” section which offer up the opportunity to learn more about a section or include alternative programs to perform similar tasks. For instance, the section on Face Time ended with a mention about Skype.  The book is filled with screenshots, you can hardly turn a page without seeing one, great for visual learners.

My New Mac Lion Edition would make a great gift for anyone who recently received his/her first Mac or for Windows switchers. It would also be beneficial for anyone upgrading from a much older version of OS X as many new Lion and iLife features are covered. If you are the computer support person in your family, My New Mac Lion Edition might be a cheap alternative to hours on the phone if someone in your family just purchased a Mac. You can pick up a copy for just shy of $19 on Amazon.

Full Disclosure: I was provided a review copy of this book.  If the publisher approves, I’ll be giving it away on this site.  Stay tuned.