Two new library books, at each end of the spectrum

Book reviews by Bob Snow

For the new Mac user Robin Willams’ Snow Leopard Edition of her “The Little Mac Book” is an ideal place to start. It uses a back-to-the-basics approach. This bestselling little Mac classic has been revised and overhauled to introduce users to Snow Leopard, Apple's newest version of its operating system. The author shows readers how to dive in and start working with the Mac and OS X Snow Leopard. The full-color book walks readers through all of the key new features in Snow Leopard. Using straightforward, jargon-free explanations delivered in logical, easy-to-follow sections, Williams coaches and encourages readers as they learn their way around the basics of the Mac. Earlier versions of this best-selling series have by used as a “text book” for PTSLUG’s Introduction to the Mac workshops

Final Cut Express 4 - Visual Quickstart Guide 

by Lisa Brenneis

Review by Gary Estes

Since Apple has changed their editing technique in the newest iMovie 08, it has been suggested by many that an alternative course of action for those who want more out of movie editing is to upgrade to Final Cut Express. I have done some work in FCE, and I was thinking of doing a SIG on Final Cut Express for those interested in upgrading. I was hoping to find a book that would be simple enough to follow that would be a good course text. This was not that book.

As I was reading this book, I kept turning over to recheck the title. “Yup, still says ‘Quickstart Guide’ “. This is a very informative book and a book filled with lots of illustrations that explains the author’s intentions. But it is, in a word, linear. A “Quickstart Guide”, to me, suggests giving you the bare boned tools to get one started quickly working with the program. This book took 118 pages just to explain terms and set preferences. It took another 109 pages to explain how the interface works. Someone trying to upgrade from iMovie would be lost and overwhelmed by the time they got to the basic editing portion in Chapter Nine. It goes from Point A to Point Z very methodically and seems to exclude nothing.

However, having said all that, I think this book would make an excellent reference guide to have by your computer after you have learned enough about FCE to really start working in it. Because it is linear and methodical, it should be easy to look up some procedure or trick you might want to use as you explore the program and want to learn it’s finer points and shortcuts.

Other than the book not being what I expected, I think that the only real criticism I have is that the illustrations could have used a little journey through a photo editing program before being published. Since these are black & white photos of color screenshots, they tend to be very low contrast and a bit dark. I found myself having to take extra time to really stare at a lot of the illustrations to discern what was being represented.

Final advice: I would buy this book as quite good reference material after I found a really good starter book.

Review of Automator for Mac OS X.5 Leopard: Learn Automator the Quick and Easy Way, A Visual Quickstart Guide

by Ben Waldie.

Computers are supposed to make things easier, right? Well that's the theory anyway. But how often do we end up performing repetitive tasks, boring repetitive tasks like renaming your new photos with something meaningful rather than DSCN0121.JPG? There is a better way.

Enter Automator, Apple's automation tool for the rest of us. We got a tease of what Automator could do with OS X.4. With the release of OS X.5 or Leopard, Automator has matured into a useful and pretty flexible tool. What's Automator, you ask? And, isn't it hard to use?

Ben Waldie has your answer in his new book, Automator for Mac OS X. 5 Leopard: Learn Automator the Quick and Easy Way! a Visual Quickstart Guide from Peachpit Press.