Macintosh Bible, The (9th Edition)

The Macintosh Bible is billed as the "most popular Mac book ever," and reviews for earlier editions (from Macworld, the New York Times, and Byte among others) are almost universally superlative. No wonder. Sharon Zardetto Aker, who has authored and/or collaborated on each edition of The Macintosh Bible since the third, offers thousands of hints and inside suggestions that will be invaluable to even the most seasoned Mac user. This time, her attention extends to material through Mac OS 8.5 and issues of concern to iMac owners. Topics treated in depth include: beginning with a Mac, hardware, the operating system, other system elements, productivity software, creativity software, and connections. More than 80 percent of the material is new in this edition. The revised version especially excels in its attention to minutiae, encompassing issues as far-ranging as "zapping the PRAM" (that's the 24K parameter RAM that retains control panel and date/time settings, etc.) or the "Color Menu addition" to SimpleText (SimpleText Color Menu is a shareware utility that adds some cool functionality to the basic Mac text processor). In fact, you can pick just about any page in the Bible and find some new Web site or new function that will expand the power of your Mac or iMac. This one is essential. Updates will be continuously available at the readers-only Web site (password information is hidden in the book). --Patrick O'Kelley