Great Reading: 5 Killer Books For Mac OS X.

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Mac OS X Maximum Security - John Ray and William C. Ray
You knew there had to be a geeks book in there somewhere, right? This is a good one and has helped me through a number of sticky situations.

We run the web site on Mac OS X Server (Panther) using a PowerMac G5 (in humbler beginnings it was Server running on an iMac; this is better). That means things like Apache, PHP, Perl, MySQL, Domain Names, email, and much more.

That also means “security” problems. Well, potential problems, anyway. Maximum Security did and does an excellent job getting into some guts of security issues with Mac OS X and Server that a competent user can understand.

Before getting all the way through Maximum Security, I’d configured Apache, MySQL, .htaccess, the Mac IP firewall, set up a different version of PHP (Marc Liyanage’s version is tops), and much more.

The other books are good for learning about Mac OS X, Maximum Security is what make sure you learn ALL you need to know to have a secure system.

Mac OS X Book - Panther Edition - Robin Williams (co-author John tollett)
Why such a great comedian is doing Mac OS X books, I’ll never know. Just kidding. Robin Williams (the writer, also a woman) has a bunch of Mac books under his belt, and this one from Peachpit Press (courtesy of Amazon) is spongeworthy, too.

There’s nearly 800 pages of goodies here, most of it a little less technical than The Missing Manual but, as with all these books, nearly everything gets covered.

Williams devotes more space setting up and using Mac’s built-in applications, and devotes sufficient space to getting into the Unix-guts of OS X, but not so much as to scare the newbie.

As you’d suspect with a book aimed at the less-than-technical Mac users, there’s extra pages on network setup, printer sharing, a lengthy glossary, and an answer key. There’s specially marked sections for new users and beginners.

Williams also devotes plenty of space to setting up, formatting documents of all kinds. Yes, if you don’t know how to setup you Mac for the Internet, she covers that, too. In painstaking detail because it’s pretty darned easy on the Mac.

For those just getting started or new to the Mac or Mac OS X, Williams’ book makes a good purchase and a great gift. About $21 at Amazon (see a trend here?)

The final book on my list is one from the QuickStart line. I have a number of books in this series. They’re better than the manuals included with Macs but aimed at basics. I have the Final Cut Pro book, the AppleScript book, and a good one on XHTML (with the exception of some Javascript, our site is XHTML 1.0 transitional compliant).

Mac OSX Panther Visual QuickStart Guide - Maria Langer
This is the only book on the list that’s less than $20. Maria’s book gets you into Mac OS X very quickly. Not too quickly and not too deeply.

Once you’ve gone through cover to cover you’ll appreciate two things much better: 1) how nicely the book leads you from major topic to major topic, 2) how good Mac OS X really is compared to anything else.

Langer’s vocabulary is aimed more at the newbie than any of the other books, including Killer Tips.

Competing for this coveted #5 spot on my list of 5 Killer Books for Mac OS X are some very good ones which, unfortunately, are aimed at more technical usage. They’re getting mentioned here as Honorable Mentions because they’re necessary books once you go beyond the basics.

Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks - Brian Jepson, Ernest E. Rothman
Yes, Mac OS X is based on the BSD (Unix) subsystem and the Mach kernel. So it’s Unix. But not all Unix systems are exactly alike and Apple’s is no different. It’s different. This book does a nice job of comparing Apple’s version with others, particularly the whereabouts of certain files.

There’s also a companion book called Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther. If there’s much difference between the books, I couldn’t figure them out by standing in Borders.

Books To Forget About
Yes, there’s a few. The Dummies and Idiots books don’t bring much to the table and cost nearly as much as the best book, The Missing Manual. The so-called “Teach Yourself...” books are written for middle school students, it seems, and your money is better spent elsewhere.

I ordered a book from Borders months ago on Mac OS X Server. That hasn’t seen the light of day. Yet.

The books I used most? The Missing Manual. Killer Tips. Maximum Security. In that order.

How about you? Any success or failures with Mac OS X books? Share your experiences with other readers. Click the Comments link below.

Off Topic Note: Have you ever noticed how much Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” television commercials remind you of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote? Seriously.