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y2kerr · Aug 31, 2003, 10:47 AM

Not sure if this belongs in this forum, but here it is anyway

My TiBook should arrive in a few days, and I'm looking forward to diving into OS X (I'm coming from Windows XP). I've never had much experience with a Mac, though I'm pretty familiar with Windows and would consider myself somewhere in between an intermediate and advanced user. I'd like to get a decent grasp of the underlying Unix basis of OS X, but not at the expense of learning about the higher level stuff (ie. I don't want to focus mainly on Unix). What book would you guys recommend I buy in order to learn the most and get the most out of OS X? I plan on only buying one book, so what's the single best book to get?

TIA,
Mike

Ganesha · Aug 31, 2003, 01:54 PM

I suggest

Mac OS X Unleashed, by Ray, Ray and Ray.

Keep in mind version 3 of this book (with Panther information) is about to come out (12/3/03). Depending on when Panther ships, you might want to wait until it does.

alien · Aug 31, 2003, 05:09 PM

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual (2nd ed.) by David Pogue should be worth a look. Read the comments at amazon.com

esc · Aug 31, 2003, 05:41 PM

Pogue's book is great - I highly recommend it.

malvolio · Sep 1, 2003, 03:48 PM

Another vote for David Pogue's Missing Manual.

khufuu · Sep 1, 2003, 07:09 PM

Originally posted by y2kerr:
Not sure if this belongs in this forum, but here it is anyway

My TiBook should arrive in a few days, and I'm looking forward to diving into OS X (I'm coming from Windows XP). I've never had much experience with a Mac, though I'm pretty familiar with Windows and would consider myself somewhere in between an intermediate and advanced user. I'd like to get a decent grasp of the underlying Unix basis of OS X, but not at the expense of learning about the higher level stuff (ie. I don't want to focus mainly on Unix). What book would you guys recommend I buy in order to learn the most and get the most out of OS X? I plan on only buying one book, so what's the single best book to get?

TIA,
Mike

Welcome to the mac world. Congrats on getting a new PB!

I got the Pogue book myself. It's quite good. You seem to have gotten two book recommendations so far. Compare both. Make sure to read the 'About this book' section which many tech books have nowadays. This should give you a pretty good idea on the books' target audience. Go from there.

Good luck.

bbales · Sep 2, 2003, 12:26 PM

also ditto the recommendation for David Pogue's book. It is excellent.

I practically had it memorized before upgrading to X 18-plus months ago.

gorickey · Sep 2, 2003, 12:29 PM

Originally posted by Ganesha:
I suggest

Mac OS X Unleashed, by Ray, Ray and Ray.

Keep in mind version 3 of this book (with Panther information) is about to come out (12/3/03). Depending on when Panther ships, you might want to wait until it does.

I couldn't agree more, this book is very good and detailed. If you are looking for it, the cover of the book is practically all orange...stands out pretty good.

Macpilot · Sep 3, 2003, 01:10 AM

Missing Manual.....I am always finding neat stuff in it....

wulf · Sep 3, 2003, 07:58 AM

These were the two I had to choose between in the book shop. Eventually I went with Unleashed as it seemed to have more extensive coverage of unix stuff (particularly Sendmail).

They both looked good though. Check 'em out and see which one suits you best..

Boondoggle · Sep 5, 2003, 06:31 AM

Except for the part where Pogue says that we don't need file encryption anymore because we now have permissions, his book is quite good. That might have been a few versions ago, but it was really an incredibly stupid thing for a smartish guy to say.

I wanted to send him a slap-a-gram.