Review

Robin Williams' Cool Mac Apps

Cool Mac Apps
By John Tollett, Robin Williams
August 2004
ISBN: 0321246934
504 pages, $21.99

http://www.peachpit.com/title/0321246934

This collection by Robin Williams and John Tollett bills itself as “17 manuals in one book!”, which explains why I felt like I had read it before. As with most books by Robin Williams, it’s jam-packed with diagrams, step-by-step instructions, and lots of good information about what will happen if you do THAT by mistake. (As in, “ Don’t do that! A bad thing will happen; how do you think I know this?”) You also get a glimpse into his life, filled with travel and adventures, which was interesting. At least, more so than mine...

I found all the information to be comprehensive and correct, but with very little nuance, and few new angles to make the book worth the price tag ($21.95) if you had the separate manuals already. If you are just starting out and want one book to cover all the applications, it’s a good deal, however. The only really new thing was on Garage Band, probably because it’s the newest application available.

One thing I liked and wished there were more of were the keyboard shortcuts at the end of the iTunes section. I can never get enough of those; couldn’t they be at the end of each section, just for me?

In summary, if you are new to the OSX Applications, or simply have limited space on your bookshelf and want one manual to cover it all, you can’t go wrong with this one.

November 2004