I consider myself a mac veteran and would normally feel I have no need for a book on how to use a mac, because I have been using a mac for many years now. But when I saw Wallace Wang's name as the author (being a fan of his previous books), I decided to give the book a chance. I can safely say that I am glad that I swallowed my pride and did so, because this is a great way to learn more about your mac.
I found this book very easy to read, and his instructions are clear and concise. There are 56 chapters, appropriately named "projects", well 57, if include the constructing of a paper mac, (which I did, twice). In each project, you are given the details of the project, what programs are involved, a project goal, followed by easy-to-follow instructions. How easy is that?
What hooked me though, was his clever use of the word "Projects". He didn't call the chapters, "lessons", but projects, and to me, that made all the difference in getting me started. If he would of chose the more commonly used the word, "Lessons", I would of checked-out with no interest in the book (and would of missed out on an opportunity to better understanding the core essentials of Lion). No, he used the word "Projects" and in a non-threatening way it invokes a sense of challenge that all DIYer's (Do-It-Yourselfers) are quick to jump to.
So I rose up to the challenge, with the goal of 2 projects a day, 1 at a bare minimum, and that way in 30 or so days I would have completed all the 56, or 57 projects in a month, give or take a couple days. My taking-it-slow-on-purpose method allowed me to complete a project or two then try to use what I learned every now and then throughout the course of the day, thereby committing that newly learned feature to muscle memory. It is what I always wanted to do but never made the time to do. I am certainly glad I took the challenge using Wallace's well thought out book of mac projects… I am a better, more rounded mac user for it =) This is definitely a perfect book the first time mac users, or people just switching over, but also a great for veteran mac users to get hands-on experience with some of the newer features in Lion that they know is there, but might not use on a daily basis. This is yet another five star with two thumbs kind of book!
