Book Review: Mac OS X Snow Leopard For Dummies

Some people think we're a nation of dummies. Well, if the writing style of "Mac OS X Snow Leopard For Dummies" is any indication, we must be collectively smarter than I thought. The book is a thorough look at Snow Leopard. Perhaps too thorough for the "Dummies" moniker with sections like "Understanding Nested Folders" and "Zapping the PRAM." Again, these are clearly explained, but maybe this all too much for the first-time Mac (and maybe even first-time computer) owner. Bear in mind this is a book that starts with an explanation of what the power button looks like.

In this same spirit, some sections might over complicate things or scare the newbie. For example, this discussion on properly shutting down the Mac:

Turning off the power without shutting down your Mac properly is one of the worst things you can do to your poor Mac. Shutting down your Mac improperly can really screw up your hard drive, scramble the contents of your most important files, or both.

As a newcomer, I might wonder just what I got myself into.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard has plenty of thorough information on the OS and a few of the included apps, but it tends to hide that information between swinging between being written for a complete newbie, and as a complete Snow Leopard manual for all users.