If you remember the golden age of Macs, when a IIci was the hottest thing on the planet, you'll undoubtedly remember Robin Williams' early books on Pagemaker and the Mac. They were trend-setting, and best-selling, books with a user-friendly layout and design, written in a conversational tone that made the geekiest topics easily digested and learned.
Happily, Robin is still at it, and this latest effort was worth waiting for -- her (nearly) complete guide to OS 10.3.3 Panther. With her partner, John Tollett, she has delivered more than 700 pages of clean, crisp instruction on this latest Mac OS. As a noted design professional, she brings a practiced eye to the niceties of Panther, and the book is as helpful for an experienced artist like myself as it will be to a newcomer. Much Macintosh water has flowed under the bridge since her early books (my-oh-my just look at how daughter Scarlett and son Ryan have grown up!!), and what used to be a small field of professional computer writers has exploded -- but Robin is still #1 in my book for her book! I highly recommend any and all of her books on design, Macs, fonts, web design, etc. They are the best. This volume should be a freebie with every Panther OS sold -- it's the missing manual we have all longed for (take note Amazon!).
The only shortcoming is that she has apparently fallen victim to the raging disease that nearly every other computer book author has given into -- the "I'm going to leave out some juicy sections of the book and resell them in the guise of a different book -- so run right out and buy my book on ...." disease. Robin leaves out some of the more colorful apps included with Panther with the explanation that "this book is big enough as it is, so I've put together a separate volume on these topics." Sure. At 736 pages, this book could have easily stood a few extra pages to get you into iPhoto, etc. without breaking the bank (or your back). Even though complete coverage of the missing apps does indeed require a full volume, a complete guide should be just that -- complete, even if abreviated.
Seems like every computer author now loads up each of their books and magazine articles with references to his or her other publications currently for sale -- the king of 'em all is Scott Kelby, who has created a virtual empire (pun intended) with the National Association of Photoshop Users and Mac Design Magazine -- both of which contain an overdose of self promotion and advertising for their stable of writers and conference speakers. Enough already. (Despite my reservations about the incessant hypermarketing, all of Kelby's enterprises are always first class efforts and very worthwhile for professionals, although pricey.)
My only other criticism of Robin's book is the Keychain section -- but my critique is probably aimed more at Apple's app than her explanation. Try as I might, I could not totally unravel the depths of all of the mysteries of Keychain by using only her book -- much of it simply gets bogged down in lingo. But that's small potatoes compared to the breadth of the rest of the book.
This is the one book to get with Panther -- the definitive Panther book for a beginner or intermediate Mac user -- it's been well worth the wait and is well worth the money.
Now I can't wait for her tome on OS 10.4 (Aardvark?).
