BKSADMAC.RVW 940119 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Kelly Ford, Promotion/Publicity Coordinator Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, 73171.657@Compuserve.com P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 or Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com Bob Donegon bobd@aw.com John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com Tom Stone, Editor, Higher Education Division tomsto@aw.com Philip Sutherland, Schulman Series 74640.2405@compuserve.com 1 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867-9984 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 5851 Guion Road Indianapolis, IN 46254 800-447-2226 "Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters", Landau, 1993, 0-201-62207-6, U$24.95 Every novice Mac user should have this book. They probably wouldn't think so at first. At more than six hundred pages, it probably seems a bit daunting to new users. Landau has, however, taken great care to make the information accessible in a number of ways. The table of contents is extensive and detailed. Even before the Introduction, there is a two-page quick guide to the most basic problem types, and, in addition to the normal index, there is also a symptom index. Every Mac power user should have this book. Landau presents clear solutions to common problems, but he then often goes on to delve into the technical details behind the operations. This doesn't interfere with the basic explanation: it is obviously demarcated as additional material. While not as smirkingly cute as some other, similar, books, Landau is much more complete. (At a time like that, who needs cute, anyway? When the presentation right after lunch depends upon six months' worth of work on a disk that you can't read anymore, you want help, not jokes.) Every Mac office should have this book. Chapter two, on prevention, and three, on diagnosis, will not only help your office recover from the normal day-to-day disasters faster, but generations of technical support people will rise up and call you blessed for calling only when there is a *real* problem--and for having done your homework, first. (I don't even find much fault with the chapter on viruses. Although Landau brings out the old BBS bugbear, you can forgive a lot to someone who tells the reader to "Install and *Maintain* an Antivirus Utility" [emphasis mine].) A clear, complete and helpful book for times of trouble. They *will* come. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKSADMAC.RVW 940119 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '95, Toronto, ON, February 13-17, 1995, contact: rulag@decus.ca