Over the past several years, O'Reilly, the publisher of the best computer language reference books has been diversifying. Their core remains authoritative, definitive reference books - if you want a printed reference for PERL, HTML, C++, Network Administration, Linux, or whatnot, they are what you have on your desk.

However, if you are learning a new application, or are looking for a solution to a particular problem (how do I set up a Linksys wireless router to work with a small office network of Mac, Windows and Linux computers, plus visiting laptops, for example) you generally looked at the likes of Peachpit Press, or even one of those "... for Dummies" books (and know much shame).

The most recent series from O'Reilly is found in "Mac Annoyances" by John Rizzo, and it takes a number of cues from the Peachpit Press Visual Quickstart Guide series, with the call-outs, screen-shots and solution-based approach. This book starts off by telling you to use the index, and to browse for the solution to the problem you are having. It deals mostly with Mac OS 10.3, and covers the system, email, browsers, iLife, iPod, MS Office and more. The writing is casual, encouraging, helpful and gets right to the point. This is an excellent book for people just getting a new Mac or making an upgrade after many years to OS X (for example if you buy your Mom an iMac Mini to replace the PC she never uses).

There is the basic problem of shelf life of the book, which is current right now, but much of the information will be out of date in a year. It would probably be better if it was published in a work-book format, so the user could update it with material from the website and their own notes.

As with all other O'Reilly releases, there are extensive resources, web-logs and samples on their site.