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The Book MannWindows 95 BooksBy: Richard O. Mann |
When
Windows 95 hit the retailer’s shelves last August 24th,
every computer book publisher on the planet wanted to have its
line of Win95 books in the bookstores, ready for the anticipated
crowds of eager buyers. Due to the extended beta testing period,
it was easy to get the books done in time—in fact the first
Win95 title came out in November, 1994!
Isn’t 450 Different Books on Windows 95 Enough?
The Wall Street Journal reported that publishers planned over 450
Win95 titles, about 20% of them on Win95 itself, the rest on
Win95 applications such as Excel and Word. That’s about 90
books on Windows 95, all hitting the stores in late summer. Not
only was this an unprecedented number of titles about a single
program, but the press runs for these titles—as many as
250,000 copies in the first printing—more than doubled
anything done before. (They run a quarter million copies for Tom
Clancy and John Grisham novels, not for computer books.)
Which One Is the Best Book?
Have you ever had a novice ask which computer he should buy? I
always tell the person that’s like asking which car is the
best. There is no answer; it depends on your needs, your personal
taste, and other intangibles. Similarly, I can’t tell you
which is the best book. To give you meaningful guidance,
I’ve broken the books down into a dozen categories and will
give you some advice on which books cover their chosen niche the
best.
First, installing Win95 can be a trial. If you’re lucky and
rigorously prepare your computer (Uninstall unnecessary programs,
clear space on drive C, defragment all drives, virus check,
etc.), you might have no trouble at all. The experience of my
neighbors and coworkers, however, is that about half will
experience some mystifying problem.
Second, while Windows 95 looks like an older brother of our
familiar Windows 3.1, it’s really more of a cousin. Sure, it
has a desktop, wallpaper, icons, and even a Control Panel, but
almost everything works differently than you expect. The clever
folks at Microsoft have hidden necessary and familiar functions
in the oddest places, ensuring that we’ll fuss around for a
half an hour before we figure out how to add a new icon to the
desktop, for instance.
These books can help you through the trials. One group of books
does nothing but help you prepare for and install Win95. Another
gives step-by-step Win95 lessons. Others give intensely visual
screen-by-screen instructions. You’ll find quick references,
complete references, trick and tips, highly technical treatises,
and, of course, the obligatory titles for dummies and idiots. You
name it, somebody has written it.
We’ll have to do this in two installments. This time around,
we’ll cover the installation, familiarization, training, and
other beginners’ books. Next issue, we’ll cover the
hard-core titles, including the complete references, the
marvelous books full of off-beat secrets, tips, and other
wonders, and whatever miscellaneous other stuff ups may bring
before my next deadline.
Rigorous, Thorough, and Precise Testing
I have shocking news for you. Of the 24 books that fall into this
column’s purview, I haven’t read any of them cover to
cover. I used them all and reviewed them for style, coverage, and
character. I tested accuracy by trying to answer the same
questions with each book, questions I encountered when I first
installed Win95, and questions that others ask me. How do you put
shortcuts on the desktop? How do you add programs to the Start
menu? What’s this install/uninstall icon do? What do I need
to do before installing Win95? That sort of thing. I evaluated
the accuracy and clarity of the books’ answers.
One common problem I found was that the books were often not
quite right. Apparently, interface tweaking went on right up
through the last beta version. Authors who had already written
their books had to change them for each programmer tweak, but
most had to send the books to the press before the tweaking
ended. Only one of the complete-reference titles had it totally
right—Robert Cowart’s excellent Mastering Windows 95
from Sybex ($29.99). Others discussed at length features taken
out of Win95’s final version, made mistakes in the
step-by-step instructions, or missed the boat in other, more
creative ways.
Preventing and Curing Installation Woes
Two installation guides provide invaluable information. Windows
95 Easy Installation Guide by Andrew Reese (Prima Publishing,
$12.95) is exactly 100 pages of distilled wisdom, covering
step-by-step preparation (including a few good ideas I missed on
my installation). While other books tell you to "remove any
third-party memory managers," Reese starts with that advice,
then lists common memory managers with detailed notes on a few.
He tells you what to do when your Mosaic Web browser won’t
work after installing Win95—a widespread problem missed by
most of these books. This book is worth its tiny weight in gold.
Windows 95 Installation and Configuration Handbook by Rob Tidrow
(Que Corp., $39.99) offers 770 pages of detailed,
technical-yet-understandable advice on installing Win95 and
maintaining it as you add or change devices. It offers full
chapters on configuring modems, adding scanners and digital
cameras, and so forth, including all the traditional devices
you’re likely to use. An outstanding troubleshooting
appendix covers thousands of problems in question and answer
format. The included cd-rom has 50 shareware Win95 applications.
I would only use about a dozen of them. If you encounter problems
or expect to, this is the book for you. Highly recommended.
Introductory Books—for Readers
Al Stevens’ Teach Yourself...Windows 95 (MIS: Press, $21.95)
covers a lot of territory as it teaches with no-nonsense prose.
Even though it doesn’t offer numbered lists of steps, it
still tells you what to do well enough that you can do it
yourself as you read. Greg Perry’s Teach Yourself Windows 95
in 24 Hours (Sams Publishing, $25) carves things up into 24
one-hour lessons (with two short game breaks). Each lesson is a
chapter, with explanations followed by specific tasks presented
in numbered steps. Perry’s style is neutral but pleasant;
you can easily understand his explanations.
Upgrading to Windows 95, Special Edition by Russel & Crawford
(Sybex, $22.99) is an impressive book, not really presenting
lessons, but covering related tasks in unusually clear,
fun-to-read prose with occasional step-by-step instructions. The
chapters on preparing for and installing Win95 cover the
territory in just enough detail to be useful.
Tom Sheldon’s Windows 95 Made Easy (Osborne/McGraw-Hill,
$27.95) stops short of the complete-reference class, but offers
more hard information than most introductory texts, covering even
Microsoft Plus!, Microsoft’s add-on package for Win95. The
style is clear, understandable, and only occasionally light and
personal.
Kay Yarborough Nelson’s The Little Windows 95 Book (Peachpit
Press, $12.95) is billed as concise and irreverent. Concise it
is, explaining an amazing number of Win95 techniques in only 129
pages. Only occasional irreverence interrupts the flow of highly
accessible information.
Introductory Books—for the Visually-Oriented
These books present step-by-full-color-illustrated-step
instructions on the basic Win95 functions. You won’t find
anything but beginner’s info here, but that can fool you.
Just paging through these books, I’ve found several
delightfully valuable functions I didn’t know about.
Windows 95: The Visual Learning Guide by Beatty & Gardner is
another in the highly popular series from Prima Publishing
($19.95). With two full-color screens per page and step-by-step
instructions with arrows showing the results on the screens, you
cannot help but learn these simple tasks. If you need only basic
instructions, there’s no better way to get them.
Douglas Hergert’s How To Use Windows 95 (Ziff-Davis Press,
$19.95) uses the larger format of the popular How Computers Work
series to explain basic Win95 operations. There’s more
information per page here and more interesting illustrations
(also full-color throughout). You get not only screens, but whole
computers, drawings of printed output, and other imaginative
touches. A Win95 Road Map—folded just like real road
maps—is included, showing which menu contains each important
Win95 function. I like this book.
Quick References
Quick References are ubiquitous—every big publisher offers
one. The best of the current crop is probably Stephen L.
Nelson’s mildly humorous Field Guide to Windows 95
(Microsoft Press, $9.95). Presented in alphabetical order with
jungle cartoon characters throughout and occasional pink-tinted
tips, the information is solid and useful.
Books for Dummies, Idiots, and Other Folks Like Us
I don’t really have to tell you about Windows 95 for Dummies
by Andy Rathbone (IDG Books, $19.99), do I? Rathbone is one of
those naturally funny authors with a knack for explaining things
clearly. This one is well up to the high standards of the dummies
books.
Real Life Windows 95 by Dan Gookin (IDG Books, $24.99) is not a
dummies book but bears a suspicious resemblance to one. Dan
Gookin, of course, is the original author of the first dummies
book. His humor and skill at making even the most arcane subjects
simple and understandable comes through in this book, too. It
provides more coverage than a dummies book, leaves out the
cartoon character, and strikes me as the book Gookin wanted to
write, leaving behind the fairly ironclad format and content
rules for dummies books. As such, you can’t do much better.
This concludes our examination of the introductory and light
Windows 95 books. Come back for the next installment, same time,
same station, when the Book Mann takes on the advanced,
technical, and weird Windows 95 books. And now, for the...
Book of the Month
How To Lie with Charts by Gerald E. Jones (Sybex, $16.99)
delivers on its title promise, but really wants to help you
understand how not to inadvertently lie with your charts.
It’ll also help you know when you’re being lied to,
such as any time the government presents budget charts. Jones
knows his stuff; read his book and you will, too. You’ll
learn how to exaggerate a trend by stretching the chart’s
axes, how to confuse by reversing the natural flow direction, how
to subtly affect mood with colors, how to obfuscate with
inappropriate chart types, and so on. When you’re through,
however, what you’re sure to know is how to make your charts
accurate and truthful and, if necessary, how to provide emphasis
to particular points you want to make. And the beauty of it all
is that it’s presented in plain English with lots of clear
examples that illustrate his points perfectly. Don’t make
another chart until you’ve read this book.
Richard O. Mann, CPA, a contributing editor here and at PC Laptop Computers Magazine, writes regularly for many national magazines from his home in Roy, Utah. An accountant and auditor by day, Rich magically transforms into the Book Mann by night. Read any good computer books lately? Rich would love to hear about them for possible future Books of the Month. Contact him at RichMann@unforgettable.com.
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