Others say...

"Cool Mac Apps"
Book is very informative, easy to understand and use. I bought this book for school (I don't own a mac), but there were many things I learned about iTunes (only non Mac program I use) I wouldn't have known without reading this book. Definitely would recommend for anyone wanting to get the most out of their Mac.

"Offers some nifty short-cuts, tricks, and customized set-ups"
John Tollett and Robin Williams' Cool Mac APPs: A Guide To iLife 05, .Mac And More may sound familiar: it's in its second edition now, and continues to back Williams' Little Mac Book by offering detailed explanations and tutorials of the main applications Mac OS X installs on your computer. From iLife applications to setting up files for Internet storage and sharing or synchronizing calendars and contact info with a PDA, COOL MAC APPS offers some nifty short-cuts, tricks, and customized set-ups.


"Cool Mac Apps"
These authors provide us with an astonishing range of moves to make the best use of new platforms and software. Their books are clear and direct, and this one is no exception.

"You'll love this book"
Reviewed by club member, Lola.

The day I bought my first Macintosh-many years ago-I asked the salesman to recommend a book to get me started. Without hesitation, he handed me Robin William's "Little Mac Book," saying it probably was all I'd need, and he was right. After verifying that the author was not, in fact, the famous actor (indeed, is the other gender), I went on to fall in love with Robin William's easy to understand style and thoroughness, which has now put many of her books on best-selling and award-winning lists.

After writing several paragraphs of this review, I realized I can't say it much better than the back cover of the book itself. Robin Williams Cool Mac Apps is a companion volume to Robin Williams Mac OS X Book, Panther Edition (a title that is almost longer than the very first Little Mac Book, which was 8 pages). Basically, the Mac now comes with so many useful applications that it needs 2 volumes to cover it all now.

It maintains the clear writing style that Robin Williams and John Tollett are known for. Although it is assumed that the reader has read the Mac OS X and can navigate around the Mac interface, nothing else is taken for granted. Everything in each window of the 17 apps is explained, usually with several illustrations showing the progression of steps.

I am not a novice Mac user, but neither am I a geek or power user. I haven't bought the OS X volume because I could figure most of it out by myself (chorus: that's because the Mac is so intuitive...) But there are always tips and tricks to learn, and so Cool Mac Apps is good reference for the intermediate user, and well as an introduction for the novice.

It covers 17 applications that come on most (all) current Macs, covered in three categories: the iLife suite, the .Mac apps, and OS X apps.

Cash, as my musician friends inform me, is the sincerest form of applause. In the same vein, I think the highest praise a review can offer is this: I bought the book before I had to return it to the library. Which I did.

"A Lot in One Book"
Billed as 17 manuals in one book, this book contains what are effectively stant alone manuals for:

iLife: iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, and iDVDOS X: Mail, Address Book, iCal, iChat and Rendezvous, and Safari
Mac: iDisk, HomePage, WebMail, Backup, iSync, Slides Publisher, and Virex
More: AppleWorks Word Processing, Database, Spreadsheet, Painting, Drawing, and Presentation, plus OmiGraffle, FAXstf, and Inkwell.

The nice thing about an overall book like this one is that you get a quick overview, enough to get started on any of these applications. It may turn out that you want individual books on some of them, but if you don't know what they do you won't know if you need that application or not.

The book is written with a nice mix of technical with commentary that explains what that particular application is trying to do. Highly recommended.