Title: My New Mac – Lion Edition
Author: Wallace Wang
Date of Publication: October 2011
Publisher: No Starch Press
Soft Cover Print: US$29.99, includes free ebook when ordered from company website
Ebook US$23.95 when ordered singly from company website
Soft Cover Print US$18.70, Kindle edition US$9.99 at Amazon
472 pages
This past June, I reviewed an iPad 2 book by Wallace Wang, and I was very pleased with it. So I looked forward to reading his latest book, My New Mac – Lion Edition. As soon as I got into it, I realized that this book is written for beginners, those who are not just new to Lion, but also new to Macs.
At this point the review takes on a whole new level of serious for me because we are talking about the Mac users who mean the most to me — the ones for whom I write my column and the ones I teach. It also means that I put on my critical hat to make sure all the basics are really covered. In other words, what assumptions are made that are going to stonewall a naive user.
I’m happy to say that no stonewalls were found. There are a lot of chapters because each chapter focuses on a single skill. The introduction to each chapter describes what it is about, defines a goal to be achieved, and identifies what the reader will be using.
Here is the introduction for Chapter 1: Learning to Use the Mouse and Trackpad.
To control your Macintosh, you use the mouse (or trackpad if you have a laptop or optional Magic Trackpad). Both the mouse and the track- pad control an arrow on your screen called a pointer. When you move the mouse or slide a fingertip across the trackpad, you move the pointer on the screen. The pointer lets you choose commands on menus, items in folders, the point where you want to start typing text in a document, and more. Think of the pointer as a virtual finger that tells your Macintosh what to select.
Project goal: Learn how to use your mouse or trackpad to control your Macintosh.
What You’ll Be Using
To learn how to use the mouse and trackpad, you’ll use the following:
- The mouse (or trackpad)
- The Finder program
- The Dock”
To a great extent an individual could work their way through this book and teach themselves how to operate their Mac loaded with Lion. Certainly this is not the best way to learn, but it could be done.
The images in the eBook version are in color, but this version does not contain automatic links from the Table of Contents. The images in the paper version are in black and white, but are crisp and easy to view. Both versions include an extensive index.
Following is a copy of the Table of Contents since it is important for a potential purchaser to make sure that the elements they are most interested in are covered.
Part 1: Basic training