iMovie 2: The Missing Manual by David Pogue (Paperback Edition): Booknear.com

It IS very good. It DOES deliver what I expected. It is solid, complete and good value for the money. Despite the fact that it constantly refers to the program "iMovie," it IS a manual for iMovie 2, thoroughly revised for iMovie 2, and not just a retread of the earlier iMovie book.

But the main reason I say "buy it" is that the time when you'll get the most value from this book is when you're just starting to use iMovie 2. Or, even better, BEFORE you've started to use iMovie 2, maybe even before you've bought your Mac.

Don't dither. Don't delay. Don't pinch pennies. By all means, feel angry at Apple for not including any manual with iMovie 2. I know I do. But don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Just go ahead and buy the book, already. Buy it first, fume about the twenty bucks later.

If you wait, you'll stumble your way through iMovie on your own. You CAN get by with iMovie's built-in help, but that's what it is--getting by. Buy the book afterwards and it will just be confirming guesses you've already made. Buy it first and it will save you time and trouble.

Pogue does a very skillful job of using sidebars and inline "tips" so that the needs of both beginning and proficient users are addressed in a single unified narrative.

Part 2 of the book--about 200 pages is the "missing manual" per se. The rest of the book covers topics such as recording DV on a camcorder, readying it for Web publication, and summaries of more advanced editing tools (Final Cut, Premiere, EditDV). I found this material to be excellent. I found the section on using Quicktime Pro particularly helpful. Traditional manuals act as if the software they document is the whole world. This "manual" is better.

In fact, Pogue is at his best when he goes a little beyond what a normal manual would cover. For example, there are very sensible couple of pages on what you reasonably can and can't expect if you try running iMovie on an older Mac. There's an excellent discussion of just what iMovie does at different screen resolutions.

So, why didn't I give it five stars? Well, it's mostly a matter of taste. I feel that Pogue has too much of the breezy, uncritical, if-you-can't-say-something-nice-don't-say-anything-at-all magazine style. Everything is just sooooo great.

"It's fascinating, important, and useful to note that iMovie never actually REMOVES the audio from a video clip." Are all THREE adjectives really necessary? Useful, yes; important, OK. But "fascinating?"

Is it necessary to laud the little first-time demo clip as "gloriously filmed" with a "catchy little guitar lick" and "children dancing in exquisite lighting conditions?"

You can sure tell that "Pogue Press" has a different editorial style than "O'Reilly." And, for the record, I prefer the O'Reilly style. I honestly don't think you'll find a better guide to iMovie than this one. But if there were such a thing as an O'Reilly Nutshell Guide to iMovie--with an animal woodcut on the cover--I'd reconsider.

Summary of iMovie 2: The Missing Manual

When it created iMovie in 1999, Apple Computer made digital video editing almost as easy as using a word processor--and even less expensive. Built into most modern Macintosh models is the circuitry needed to record pro-quality video from a digital camcorder, and then send the edited movies back to TV or tape with zero picture-quality loss.

Now Apple takes the revolution to the next level with the dramatically enhanced iMovie 2.0. The new software adds the option of inserting new video over a continuous audio track; removes limitations on the number of raw clips from which to choose scenes; and offers bonuses such as special effects and brightness and contrast adjustments, much greater typographical flexibility in its title- and credit-maker, and a far more useful and complete audio-track editor.

But one thing hasn't changed: iMovie 2, though much more sophisticated than its predecessor, still doesn't come with a single page of printed instructions.

Pogue Press/O'Reilly's iMovie: The Missing Manual, released in May 2000, became an instant bestseller, requiring two reprints in three months and earning rave five-star reviews on Amazom.com. This entertaining guide covers every step of iMovie video production, from choosing and using a digital camcorder to burning the finished work onto CDs. The book's philosophy: Giving someone iMovie without also teaching basic film technique is like giving a map to a teenager without teaching him to drive.

Now author David Pogue is back with an expanded, revised edition, now called iMovie 2: The Missing Manual, rewritten to cover iMovie 2 and nothing but.

Far deeper and more detailed than the meager set of online help screens included with iMovie, the book helps iMovie users realize the software's potential as a breakthrough in the cost, complexity, and difficulty of desktop video production.

With a technical review by Glenn Reid, architect and lead engineer of both iMovie and iMovie 2.

For an example of how this book is technically precise in an engaging way, consider how it explains the purpose of the QT Margins check box, which has to do with compensating for a margin-cropping characteristic of televisions. Pogue proposes an equivalent label: "'QT Margins' means 'Assume this movie will be shown as a QuickTime movie, and therefore won't have chopped-off margins.'" The meaning of a fairly cryptic label becomes absolutely obvious.

Further kudos go to the book's designers for their liberal inclusion of illustrations. Where multiple frames are needed to illustrate a point, they're included. Tips and notes serve a valuable purpose, and are likely to introduce even seasoned iMovie editors to features they've missed on their own. --David Wall

Topics covered: Capturing video with a camera, then editing it on the Mac to include appealing transitions, effects, titling, and audio. The process of exporting edited video from the computer (such as for videotape or Web publishing).

iMovie 2: The Missing Manual