A Little Professional History
During the course of my career as a programmer, I took a
number of sidetrips into the world of writing and editing. Articles
about programming and programming tools in computer magazines and
weeklies were the start of this sideline. The first was a 1982
article in PC Monthly on the different choices for Pascal
compilers on the then-new IBM PC. One of the interesting points that
people forget is that the original PCs did not come standard with
MS-DOS; the user purchased the operating system separately and had a
choice of PC-DOS (IBM-labelled MS-DOS), the UCSD p-System, CP/M-86,
and Xenix. All of these were floppy-based choices since the IBM-XT
had not yet been released. The major reason DOS became the standard
was that it sold for $50 and everything else was $200 or more.
I did a couple more articles for PC Monthy before they went
out of business; however, it was during that time that I got started
in the world of the six-hued fruit. A studio which
produced TV commercials approached me to write a custom suite of
job-reporting programs for them and they specified that the programs
be in Pascal and on Apple ///s. While moonlighting on these programs
(I was employed during the day at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
writing software for the Deep Space Network), I also started writing
for some Apple publications, such as On Three and Call
A.P.P.L.E. Well, after the first suite of programs was complete,
the studio got interested in the "new" machine from Apple, the Lisa,
and I wrote a couple of programs for them which ran in the Lisa
Workshop. Then came the Macintosh, and I had found the machine that I
really enjoyed using. Product reviews and articles in Macworld
followed, as well as articles in MacTutor (now called
MacTech), and reviews and features in the early IDG competitor
to MacWeek, named Macintosh Today.
In 1984, I left JPL to work for Ashton-Tate. My first tasks there
were on unix versions of dBASE III, for the AT&T 3b series
and the PC7300 (aka the "Unix PC", later renamed the 3b1) as well as
ports to other, non-clone, DOS environments such as the DEC Rainbow
and the TI Professional. Fortunately, Ashton-Tate finally got around
to working on their Macintosh database with the acquisition of
software under development by a small Utah company named DigiCorp.
This product had been previously hyped in the trades of the time as
HaydenBase and TheBase, depending on who the
prospective publisher was at the time. One of Apple's earliest
evangelists, Allain Rossman, was the matchmaker on the deal.
Ashton-Tate also had a book division, Ashton-Tate Books, and I got
drafted to do the technical edit on Jim Heid's dBASE Mac in
Business. Out of this grew contracts with other publishers (Que,
TAB, et al) to do the technical edits on their dBASE Mac books.
Ashton-Tate management decided in 1987-8 to consolidate their
development operations in Northern California and I figured that if
it was either change jobs or move north, I might as well see what
other opportunities were available. There was a new (at the time)
spin-off of Apple, named Claris
(now FileMaker, Inc.), and I
found a home where I was quite content for eight years. That was
followed by one year at Aladdin
Systems, which was also a great group of people and products.
Now, I am trying out the independent life, doing contract work --
writing, editing, programming, and doing general consulting.
Current Titles
While I have worked, on occasion, for Macmillan & Sons (Hayden
Books), Morgan-Kaufman, and Addison-Wesley (Peachpit), the bulk of my writing and editing has
been for Wiley (formerly known as Hungry Minds and IDG Books Worldwide)
and their subsidiary, Dummies
Press. Part of this is due to in-house referral, part may be
attributed to how pervasive Wiley's titles are, but a major part is
surely due to the fact that I have greatly enjoyed working with the
folks I've met at Wiley. I've also gotten involved in the authoring
end of things, co-authoring seven titles (so far) for Wiley and one for Sybex. David Pogue
has started up "Pogue Press", in collaboration with O'Reilly, to produce what is called "The Missing
Manual" series &emdash; books that can function as manuals for those
software products which do not include a written manual (something which
has become all too common). I've also been working with him as Technical
Editor on most of his Mac-related titles.
Some of the titles for which I've been author, contributor, and/or technical editor are:
| Author, Co-author, or Contributor |
|---|
Mac Digital Photography
Dennis Cohen and Erica Sadun September 2003
When Erica asked me to do the Mac version of her popular "Digital Photography Essentials," I quickly agreed. The bulk of
the platform-independent material is hers, particularly most of the neat craft tricks. My primary contribution was the Mac material
and recasting her projects to employ tools available to Mac users. |
iLife All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies
Tony Bove and Cheryl Rhodes October 2003
My name isn't on the cover, but I wrote Part VI: iLife Extras. That's the "additional material" that the authors thank me for
contributing in their acknowledgements. |
iLife Bible
Dennis Cohen and Bob LeVitus May 2003
Virtually simultaneous with the release of our iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, & iDVD Bible, Apple released major updates to the latter
three applications and repackaged the four products as "iLife." Thus began a concentrated effort to update the previous title to become
the iLife Bible. I've added coverage of even more ancillary tools you can use, particularly with iMovie. |
iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, & iDVD Bible
Dennis Cohen and Bob LeVitus Feb. 2003
Apple has provided their users with a great collection of digital media applications and I really wanted to write a book about them.
With the assistance of Bob LeVitus, I realized this wish. This book covers iTunes 3, iPhoto 1.1.1, iMovie 2.1.2, and iDVD 2.1. We've
written in a much lighter tone than is common for Bible titles and have filled it with all sorts of tips and pointers to add-on tools,
increasing the scope of what the Digital Hub applications offer. |
Macworld Mac OS X Bible (Jaguar Edition)
Lon Poole and Dennis Cohen Feb. 2003
This title is an expanded and revised edition of the original Mac OS X Bible title, described below. It covers Mac OS X, version 10.2
and all its new features. |
Macworld Mac OS X Bible
Lon Poole and Dennis Cohen Feb. 2002
This title was a long time from start to finish because it didn't make sense to put out a book in September that covered the 10.0
release with a vastly improved (and changed) 10.1 release due out at about the same time. Hungry Minds (formerly IDG Books and
now part of John Wiley and Sons) shipped a limited print run of this book without the updates for 10.1 before Christmas, 2001;
however, the real book covers 10.1 and is ships for Feb 2002. I also did the 10.1 update to Bob LeVitus's OS X for Dummies
title and was the tech editor on David Pogue's Missing Manual title. This book is a "winner" and is worth all the hard work and
aggravation (trying to get information from Apple) it took to create. |
Macworld Microsoft Office 2001 Bible
(Bob LeVitus and Dennis Cohen) Dec. 2000
Microsoft Office is the number-one selling productivity suite on Mac and Windows. Microsoft has significantly changed
the UI in Office:mac, adding the Project Gallery and Formatting Palette, moving the Status Bar into the window frame,
and incorporating significant PIM features into Outlook Express to create Entourage. We cover it all in this book,
including a new chapter on an old feature: Pivot Tables. |
Macworld AppleWorks 6 Bible
Steve Schwartz and Dennis Cohen Sept. 2000
A little later I was asked to co-author this version of the AppleWorks Bible (I tech-edited the previous edition).
Since we got a little later start on this one, we were able to cover the few feature-set additions Apple provided
with the update to 6.0.3 and (6.0.4) as well as benefitting from the greatly improved performance provided by the
CarbonLib updates. A comprehensive coverage of the AppleWorks product. |
AppleWorks 6 for Dummies
(Bob LeVitus and Dennis Cohen) March 2000
The premiere integrated product on MacOS and the best on any platform, Apple has given the package
a complete facelift in version 6. Most of the changes have been for the better, but there have been
some casualties in the feature set as well. Here we offer a new edition of this superb Dummies title,
completely revised to cover the AppleWorks 6 feature-set and new user interface. |
Teach Yourself WebTV
(Erica Sadun and Dennis Cohen) Feb. 2000
My first co-authoring credit. Steve Perlman and the other folks at WebTV created a great tool for
those folks who want the Internet but don't want a computer. Microsoft bought the company, but it is
still a cool product. In this book, we give you an illustrated, step-by-step walkthrough of just what
this amazing little box (and the Internet portal it opens) has to offer you. |
AppleWorks 6: The Missing Manual
(Jim Elferdink and Dave Reynolds) April 2000
Originally signed to do the technical edit for this fine title, I also wrote the chapter on the new
Presentations environment. |
| Tech Editor (cross platform books) |
|---|
Master Visually
Photoshop 6
(Ken Milburn)
From soup to nuts, the what, how, and why of using the myriad features of
Photoshop 6, Adobe's market-dominant graphics editor. Written for both Mac and Windows users, though most of the screen shots
came from the Windows version, and including both Mac and Windows support software and graphics on the included CD-ROM, this
book not only explains what to do, but shows you how it's done and the effects you can achieve. |
Adobe InDesign Bible
(Galen Gruman, John Cruise, K. K. Anton)
Thorough coverage of the first release of Adobe's "Quark killer," this book also covers comparative
behavior with PageMaker and XPress to aid in transitioning. |
Acrobat PDF
Bible
(Ted Padova)
Covers Acrobat 4.0 from both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. A thorough discussion
including workflow management with tips and techniques. There's also a lot of useful software
on the CD. |
Great Web
Architecture
(Clay Andres)
A graphic display and dissection of what works and doesn't work on real websites, including
interviews with some of the top web designers. |
| Tech Editor (Mac books) |
|---|
The Internet for
iMacs for Dummies
(Bob LeVitus and Natanya Pitts)
Most iMac users are Internet users. In fact, a significant number purchase the iMac primarily for Internet usage.
This book leads you through what you need to know to use the Internet from a Mac, not just an iMac. The Internet-specific
tools bundled with the iMac, called "iGear" in this book, make the Internet experience even greater and are the reason for
the iMac specification in the book's title. |
iMovie 2 for Dummies
(Todd Stauffer)
This is a title I would really like to have written, but Todd did a great job with it and deserves credit for a
first-rate book. iMovie is still about the coolest application I use on a regular basis. |
Mac OS 9 Bible
(Lon Poole and Todd Stauffer)
This is an incredibly complete, comprehensive discussion of Apple's latest operating system offering.
It is the fourth successive edition on which I've worked and each one just gets better. |
Mac OS 9: The Missing Manual
(David Pogue)
A complete guide to Mac OS 9, written in the inimitable Pogue style. This is the first title in
Pogue Press/O'Reilly's new Missing Manual series and a superb example of the way
a manual should be written. |
Macworld
Mac Secrets, 5th Edition
(David Pogue, Joseph Schorr)
In my opinion, this is easily the best title a Mac user can obtain to help them make
the most of their computer and System |
iMovie: The Missing Manual
(David Pogue)
David has done his usual superb job of covering iMovie, one of the coolest products I've encountered on
any platform. His easy style and soup-to-nuts coverage of everything iMovie is an example for others to emulate. |
FileMaker Pro 5 Bible
(Steven Schwartz)
This is the first release of FileMaker since Claris was dissolved and FileMaker spun out as an independent
company. The software is good -- the Mac database leader and highly regarded on Windows. This book covers
both platforms in detail and explains much left murky by the documentation -- used as the inhouse
reference by FileMaker technical support personnel. |
FileMaker
Pro 4 Bible
(Steven Schwartz)
Great cross-platform coverage of the best-selling Mac database and number 2 Windows database |
Teach Yourself the iMac
(Jennifer Watson)
Step-by-step, illustrated tutorial to introduce you to the hardware and software you receive when you purchase
one of Apple's stylish miniaturized powerhouses. |
My iMac
(Andrew Gore, Jill Baird, Chris Breen)
A fine introduction to owning and using Apple's iMac computer. |
Teach Yourself the
iMac Visually
(Mark L. Chambers)
Colorful, illustrated introduction to Apple's colorful computers. |
|
Upgrading
and Fixing Macs and iMacs for Dummies
(Todd Stauffer)
Excellent, easy-to-read coverage of all the basic (and some not-so-basic) enhancements and repairs you
can make to the Mac or iMac you already have. |
Mac
Upgrade and Repair Bible
(Todd Stauffer)
Todd does a great job of covering just what you can do and need to do if you want to get more out of
the Mac you already have. |
Mac
Programming for Dummies, 3rd Edition
(Dan Parks Sydow)
Classic Dummies introduction to programming your Mac using C. A limited version of CodeWarrior is included on
the CD with this title. |
The
Macintosh Bible (6th edition)
Jeremy Judson et al
A very well-done reference to all things Macintosh--also a contributor |
| Somewhat dated, but still useful |
Mac
OS 8 for Dummies
(Bob Levitus)
A super "Dummies" title - a light, breezy overview of Mac OS |
ClarisWorks
Office Bible
(Steven Schwartz)
This product is now called AppleWorks and is included with every iMac sold. You'll
be hard-pressed to find a comparably complete and usable guide to this fine software (until the next edition -- see above). |
HTML
and Web Publishing Secrets
(Jim Heid)
Jim tells you a lot, not just about how to do things in Web design, but why you do them that way. |
Mac
OS8.5 Bible
(Lon Poole)
Lon Poole is a fine writer and this is another in a series of fine reference works by him. |
| Tech Editor (Windows books) |
|---|
Microsoft Project 2000 for Dummies
(Martin Doucette)
A clear, readable introduction and overview of the newest release of MS Project. Project management is part art and
part science. This book will help you with both sides of the coin. |
Microsoft Project 2000 Bible
(Elaine Marmel)
The author has done an excellent revision of her Project 98 Bible to cover all the changes and new
features present in Project 2000. |
Teach
Yourself Microsoft Project 2000
(Vickie L. Quinn)
A wonderful step-by-step tutorial to MS Project 2000. Every "lesson" is accompanied by illustrative screen shots, step-by-step
instructions, and helpful Websites for further reference. |
Access 2000 Gold Bible
(Cary Prague, Michael Irwin, Jennifer Reardon)
Hardbound and accompanied by two CDs full of useful information, addons, and templates, this is the
Access developer's edition of the Access 2000 Bible. |
Access
2000 Bible with CDROM
(Cary Prague, Michael Irwin)
Prague and Irwin have done a fine job of making an increasingly complex software
system comprehensible. |
|
Quicken 2000 Bible
(Kathy Ivens, Thomas Barich)
Complete coverage of the Intuit's latest release for Windows, in its various versions and bundles. |
Family Tree Maker for Dummies
(Matthew and April Helm)
This book provides an excellent introduction and reference for the use of the most ubiquitous
genealogy software on the market. Very needed because Broderbund's manual is so bad. |
Teach
Yourself Microsoft FrontPage 2000
(David & Rhonda Crowder)
A complete tutorial into the usage of Microsoft’s latest Website editor version. |
Teach
Yourself Microsoft Word 2000
(Keith Underdahl)
A tutorial walkthrough for the latest version of Microsoft’s industry-standard
word processor. |
Teach
Yourself Microsoft Excel 2000
(Dennis Taylor)
When you say spreadsheet, Excel is what comes first to mind. This version is the
latest and greatest and Taylor teaches you how to make good use of it. |
|
Some other oldies, but some are still in print and you might find them useful
There have been other titles for products which are out of date,
such as Word 5, System 7.5, System 7.6, and MPW 2.0 which are not
included on this list. I also worked on the earlier editions of Mac
Secrets, MacOS nn for Dummies, the MacOS Bible title, and various
others.
Here are some titles I like, but on which I did not work:
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