Mac & PowerMac Secrets 2nd. Edition
Book Review

Mac & PowerMac Secrets 2nd. Edition
Price: $39.95
Publisher: IDG Books

It is not easy for a writer who usually writes about software to do a review on a book, but I will attempt to do so. Many good things can be said about Macworld Mac and Power Mac SECRETS, from it’s comprehensive index, the pleasant writing styles of David Pogue and Joseph Schorr, and the usefulness of the information provided within it’s one thousand plus pages.

The word “SECRETS”, as you can see, is huge on the cover. And while there are indeed many secrets within, it provides much more information than simply revealing some OS and programing secrets. It is more like a directory to your Macintosh. For instance, the writers go so far as to tell you not only what is inside your System Folder, but what each of them actually do. Very helpful information for both new users, and for troubleshooting as well.

In chapter one, the Finder is explained, from what it is, to what it can do. Most new users will find this informative, while the more experienced user will not. I will lay odd’s , however, that even the most die-hard mac user will learn something either new or informative, in each of the 33 chapter.

But this book is called SECRETS, and as such, the writers have included a plethora of them! I will not, however, tell you any, as I do not want to be sued! To learn some really neat and worthwhile secrets of your mac and some of it’s applications, your must buy the book yourself! (Hey, I paid my forty bucks!)

Do you have a question, but do not know where to look for the answer? Chapter 32 is for troubleshooting, explaining such things a Bus error to the flashing Apple menu. Thinking about networking your mac’s? Look in chapter 31, The Networking Chapter. Or perhaps you have ResEdit, Apple’s free resource editor, but do not know what to do with it? Yes, there is even a ResEdit chapter (21).

So, does it sound like it would be worth forty of your hard earned dollars yet? Wait, there’s more! Included with the second edition is three floppy disks, full of some of the best commercial and shareware programs you could ever want. Included are ResEdit, Color It! 2.3 (worth the price alone), WYSIWYG Menus, True Type fonts from Bitstream, Before Dark, Sounds from KaBoom! , MenuChoice, MultiClip Lite, PopChar, AppDisk, CP Undelete, Sunset screen saver, SuperClock! , System 7 Pack! , and more. In fact, you get over 45 programs with Macworld Mac & Power Mac SECRETS. Many of them are shareware, and you are still required to pay the shareware fee, the only real downside to the whole book.

On a whole, Macworld Mac & Power Mac SECRETS, second edition, is a great buy, and well worth having on any mac users desk. The god news, however, is that there is a third edition shipping, so if you are planning to buy this book, I would suggest waiting until that comes out, due this month!
(Look for more info. on this book on the next page, a interview with one of the books writers, David Pogue.) New software shipping with the third edition include: A Zillion Kajillion Rhymes, Add/Strip, Anagrams, Apeiron, ArtValve, Blood, Cache-22, Chiral, Clockometer, ColorSwitch, Conflict Catcher 3 Demo, Control Strip modules, Dialog View, Disk Rejuvenator, DiskFit Direct, DragAnyWindow, DragStrip, DropStuff, Dvorak Keyboard Layouts, Easy Envelopes+,Easy KEYS, Eclipse Screen Saver, FC Text-Picture, File Buddy, Folder Icon Maker, Googool Eyes, GURU, Helium, Holiday Lights, Label Secrets Pro (exclusive program to this book only!), Mac Identifier, Mac Secrets Outtakes, Macman Classic Pro, Maelstrom, MenuChoice, MIDI Files, Movie2Snd, Oracle, PhoneBook Plus, PowerPCheck, PowerSecretary demo movie (a voice-dictation system for the Mac.), PrintChoice, Program Switcher, QuickPop, QuickTime 2.1, Remember?, ScrapIt Pro, Sleeper,
Snapz, Sound Builder, Startup Screens, StuffIt Expander, Super Comments, Swoop, TechTool, The Tilery, To Do!, X-Words,and Zonkers! Sampler.

This book is great, and though mac users are notorious for not reading manuals, each such user should have this book within easy reach.