Books, Commentary, Ephemera, & More
Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, & technology book reviews. Also social, political, & economic commentary. Plus more.
Mac Hacks Tips & Tools for Unlocking the Power of OS X Chris Seibold (O’Reilly – paperback, Kindle) Many people buy Apple’s Macintosh computers precisely because they do not want to have to mess with their machines. They just want to open a specific app, use it, close it and move on to the other … Continue reading Mac Hacks – More than 50 ways to unlock the power of OS X – #apple #mac #bookreview
Mac Kung Fu, 2nd Edition Kier Thomas (Pragmatic Bookshelf – Paperback, Kindle) More than a hundred new tips and tricks have been packed into the new edition of Kier Thomas’s popular how-to guide for OS X Mountain Lion. His book now offers “Over 400 Tips, Tricks, Hints, and Hacks for Apple OS X.” And it … Continue reading Mac Kung Fu – Kick productivity into higher gear with 400+ tips, tricks – #bookreview
Master Your Mac Matt Cone (No Starch Press, paperback – Kindle) This well-written how-to book will please many new Mac users, as well as many who have been using Macs for years. But, to fully benefit from this excellent new guide, you must be willing to go beneath the Mac’s easy-to-use OS X surface and work at the command line. In other words, … Continue reading Master Your Mac – Useful how-to projects for intermediate users – #bookreview
Learning Unix for OS X Mountain Lion (O’Reilly, paperback – Kindle) When I showed this book–and its “Going Deep with the Terminal and Shell”–tagline to my Mac-centric wife, her first response was: “Why?” Her Macintosh, she declared, already does everything she needs it to do, with no fuss. Why bother with terminals and shells–and Unix? … Continue reading Learning Unix for OS X Mountain Lion – Working with the Terminal and Shell – #bookreview
Adobe Edge Animate Preview 7: The Missing Manual Chris Grover (O’Reilly, paperback – Kindle) Chris Glover’s well-written new book shows you how to build animated HTML 5 graphics for the iPhone, the iPad, and the Web, using familiar Adobe features. By the sixth page of the first chapter, you are using the software to create … Continue reading Adobe Edge Animate Preview 7: The Missing Manual – #bookreview #html5 #animation
Switching to the Mac: Mountain Lion Edition David Pogue (O’Reilly, paperback – Kindle) David Pogue will have to pry Windows PCs out of my cold, dead fingers. That being said, his new book makes a very compelling case for why you other Windows users should switch from PCs to Macs right away. As I’ve previously … Continue reading Switching to the Mac, Mountain Lion Edition – David Pogue scores again – #bookreview
Build Awesome Command-Line Applications in Ruby David Bryant Copeland (Pragmatic Bookshelf, paperback) The word “awesome” now is grossly overused in contemporary culture. And I hate it in book titles. That being said, Build Awesome Command-Line Applications in Ruby is an excellent how-to guide, particularly if you have a little bit of UNIX and some basic Ruby programming in … Continue reading Build Awesome Command-Line Applications in Ruby – #programming #bookreview
OS X Mountain Lion: The Missing Manual David Pogue (O’Reilly, paperback – Kindle) David Pogue knows how to produce excellent user manuals. He invented the popular “Missing Manual” series. And he continues to set high standards for other writers who also produce “Missing Manuals” and other tech books. Pogue’s newest, OS X Mountain Lion: … Continue reading OS X Mountain Lion: The Missing Manual – Another how-to classic from David Pogue – #bookreview
O’Reilly recently has released two compact and handy guides for Macintosh users: the Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide and the OS X Mountain Lion Pocket Guide. Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide Daniel J. Barrett (O’Reilly, paperback – Kindle) Macintosh Terminal is termed “the Macintosh’s best-kept secret” in this conveniently organized , well-illustrated guidebook. Terminal also is described … Continue reading Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide and OS X Mountain Lion Pocket Guide – #bookreview
Learning iOS Programming, 2nd Edition By Alasdair Allan (O’Reilly, paperback, list price $34.99; Kindle edition, list price $27.99) Alasdair Allan’s popular iOS programming book recently has been updated to cover iOS 5. And it has a new name. (The first edition was titled Learning iPhone Programming.) “The changes made in this second edition reflect the fact that … Continue reading Learning iOS Programming, 2nd Ed. – Updated to cover iOS 5, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch – #programming #bookreview