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The Mac Library

April 19, 2000 - Evan Kleiman

One of my other duties at Low End Mac, besides writing the articles you love to read every week, is helping out at the LEM help desk. Here, people email me (and a few others) with Mac questions. Most of the time, these questions are simple "how do I . . ." questions. Whenever I get one of these questions, I go straight for my library of Mac books to get the answer.

Once I get the answer to the question, the person who asked it sometimes feels somewhat dumb about it. I explain that I got the answer from one of my many Mac books. But, don't fear, today I will show you how to create the ultimate Mac library to make sure you know all the answers.

Here are the books you'll need to get your library started. These books aren't exactly cheap, but look around. When my local book store closed down, I got these books for $3-5 dollars a piece. My entire library cost maybe $45. (To show you what a deal that was, we've included links and prices from Amazon.com - some of these titles are almost $45. dk)

Macs For Dummies ($19.99 from Amazon.com), David Pogue, IDG Books. This is the ultimate staple of any book collection. For about $20, you can find out the answer to any simple Mac problem. Also, you'll get a brief introduction to some more advanced topics, like networking.

More Macs For Dummies ($22.99 from Amazon.com), David Pogue, IDG Books. This book is the next step up from Macs For Dummies It provides more information of advanced topics, like networking and programming. With this book, you can set up a small home network and do many other cool Mac things, this book is a must-have for anyone with more than one Mac in their house.

Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters ($23.96 from Amazon.com), Ted Landau, Peachpit Press Once or twice in every Mac users lifetime, you'll come across a larger problem than you can solve with Macs For Dummies . So, this book is definitely for you. Whenever I get a bad problem, this is the first book I look to for advice, and usually, it always has the solution.

Macworld Mac Secrets ($39.99 from Amazon.com), David Pogue and Joseph Schorr, IDG Books. This book, in it's 5th printing, is the perfect book for anyone who wants to be more productive with their Mac. Mac Secrets provides you with all you need to become more productive, and of course, it also shows some cool ways to have fun with your computer. Plus, it comes with a nice CD that contains many useful utilities for your Mac.

The Macintosh Bible ($29.95 from Amazon.com), Sharon Zardetto Aker and others, Peachpit Press. If you don't know how to do it, this is the book for you. The Macintosh Bible provides you with in depth descriptions of how to troubleshoot almost any common problem. Also, it gives you help to get connected to the net and basic ideas of how to use many common programs.

Now I can't really guarantee that once you get these books, you'll become a Mac guru, but they are definitely a good start for getting to know how to use your computer well, and you'll definitely have an impressive library of thick books, so people will think you like to read, even if you don't. :)