The Mac OS X Pocket Reference introduces Mac, Windows, and Unix users to the fundamental concepts of Mac OS X. The book will show you how to use the Finder and the Dock, as well as how to configure your system using the System Preferences. Because Mac OS X is Unix-based, the Mac OS X Pocket Reference shows you how to issue basic Unix commands using the Terminal application. Topics covered in this book include:

• How to configure your Mac OS X system
• How to use the Finder and the Dock
• An overview of keyboard shortcuts for use with the GUI and the Terminal
• How to create special characters and symbols

The book starts out with a "Mac OS X Survival Guide," which shows Mac users what's changed from Mac OS 9, and also helps Windows and Unix converts get acclimated with their new OS. The Mac OS X Pocket Reference concludes with a 30+-page "Task and Setting" index, which answers questions that users might have when trying to configure their system.

This handy pocket reference is the ultimate guide for newcomers to Mac OS X, and is a great companion for use with David Pogue's Mac OS X: The Missing Manual.

Part II covers the basics of Mac OS X including window usage and keyboard shortcuts, the Finder and Dock, the Classic environment, and managing user accounts and logging in. The "Basic Keyboard Shortcuts" chart is especially handy.

Part III discusses system preferences and the applications and utilities that come with OS X. A future edition of this book would be much more useful if it provided information on the various "iApplications" (e.g., iPhoto, iMovie, and iTunes) and the other applications that come bundled with OS X. The book currently provides a one-paragraph description of the various applications but nothing on how to use them. The section on Developer Tools is so brief as to be almost useless.

Part IV covers the Unix interface to OS X, focusing on using the Terminal application and basic Unix commands. This section seems to be confused about its target audience. Some things are discussed at a very basic level, but at the same time it assumes the reader knows why they want to work with the Unix interface in the first place.

Part V is called "Task and Setting Index" and tells how to accomplish various tasks and configure the system.

Any book about a specific computer technology will become dated. This book was published in May 2002, and at the time of this writing (November 2002), some items discussed in the book are already out of date with the release of Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar). For example, iTools is now .Mac, and Sherlock is no longer used to find files (that function has been moved to the Finder).

Why do I give this book four stars? Much of the information is so abbreviated that it is not helpful, for example, the coverage of the applications and utilities. There just isn't enough content to justify the book's billing as a "pocket reference". On the other hand, it does provide a good overview of Mac OS X.

Yes, Missing Manuals are good. As are Little Books, Bibles and Inside books. However few of those tomes fit your pocket, purse or brief case as beautifully as this little gem does! It's an essential quick-reference on OS X that all new users will use at least several times on the very first day it arrives.

Not only does it contain all the really essential commands and keys, it includes basic UNIX command info, printer, modem configurations, and a host of other important help one may need while at the desk or on the road. Add a user, remove a user, tune the dock, correct OS preferences, log in, log out, change passwords, and do just about anything the unfriendly new OS requires you to do.

I actually like it better than the frustrating online guide help. It is well organized, has a good table of contents and index, and is designed with a simple, easy to understand format.

But it's not just about help. Just thumbing through it you'll pick up tips that you hadn't thought of before. (Like building and using the powerful locate database!) It's a great little book, fits nicely in the brief case for travel and gives you the support you need when you need it.

Yes, I bought David Pogue's "Missing OS X Manual" for the kids and at home. I bought Robin William's wonderful "Little OS X Book" to send off to college with my son. But this one . . . it's in MY brief case all the time.

Although the Designer's Bookshelf concentrates on books in the visual communications fields, the Max OS X Pocket Reference caught all our Mac User's fancy and won itself a place in the Design-Bookshelf.com Editor's Choice Circle for July 2002.