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The Mac Is Not A Typewriter: A Style Manual For Creating Professional Level Type On Your Macintosh
by
One of the most popular Macintosh books ever published (over 300,000 now in print), The Mac is not a typewritercovers the top twenty things you need to know to make your documents look clean and professional: em dashes, curly quotes, spaces and indents, white space, etc. It's a primer that novices can pick up quickly, and that pros can keep going back to. Winner of the 199
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Paperback
Published
February 6th 1995
by Peachpit Press
(first published 1989)
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Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Jul 12, 2008
Leslie
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who cares about the perception given by their written work.
This tiny book is a perfect companion to Lynn Truss's "Eats, Shoots & Leaves". It picks up where Ms Truss leaves off, answering questions many of us sticklers didn't even know we had about the difference between a hyphen and a dash or tabs and indents and how many spaces to use between sentences. The appendices provide an excellent reference to the ascii codes for "unusual" characters as used by various word processors. An invaluable tool for anyone using type in design, or anyone who cares
...more
If you're still putting two spaces after a sentence, read this book immediately.
Give as present to Art Director friends
A great book for those in design and those not. 5/5 stars.
If I could, I would give everyone I meet a copy of this gem. Read it. Live it. Your writing, and your readers, will thank you for it!
Two prerequisites for getting the most out of this book:
1. A computing machine of much antiquity (or a Mac, if Macs have kept the same keystrokes since 1990).
2. A thick skin as author Robin Williams could easily be described as a disgruntled junior college professor who has graded one-too-many bad papers. The book is laced with sarcasm with which I am annoyed but also admire simultaneously. Bottom line: if you crossed her grammatically on the street, she would challenge you to a rumble. But yo ...more
1. A computing machine of much antiquity (or a Mac, if Macs have kept the same keystrokes since 1990).
2. A thick skin as author Robin Williams could easily be described as a disgruntled junior college professor who has graded one-too-many bad papers. The book is laced with sarcasm with which I am annoyed but also admire simultaneously. Bottom line: if you crossed her grammatically on the street, she would challenge you to a rumble. But yo ...more
I recently re-read this book and was reminded how fabulous it is. Along with Williams' other works, including The Non-Designer's Design Book and the Non-Designer's Type Book, this is essential reading for anyone who works on newsletters and other print materials but is not professionally trained. These books are some of the most clearly-written, helpful, practical, and informative books I've ever read. (Note: if you're a Mac person, you should read The Mac is Not a Typewriter instead.)
I read the earlier edition of this book when I first transitioned from typewriter to computer (and Macs happened to be my introduction to the world of computing). There are lots of great tidbits in here, from the proper use of quotations and dashes to combining fonts and making sure your document is readable with them. It's presented very well so that it is easy to follow and to find your way to the information you need.
Apr 16, 2007
Ram Ray
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Any computer user who writes
The best little book I have ever seen offering so much information and inspiration for the crafting of better writing. Very informed and credible author who knows her semicolons really well . . . very few do! And she makes it all very interesting while pointing out mere typing is not good writing.
This reference book should be on everyones desk. I believe we have all become a little lazy with type, punctuation etc. This book has all the little things that make for professional writing summed up in "an easy to find" manual.
Feb 24, 2011
Douglas Wilson
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
personal-development
Very helpful. Filled in some important gaps.
Book on the differences between the PC and the typewriter. I've had a PC for a number of years and didn't ever learn to type on a typewriter, so this book didn't help me much.
A little dry, but good info for typing things correctly and more up-to-date.
Great primer on how to use a computer correctly to set type. A must have for anyone serious about books and book design.
A book recommended by a very savvy nun who taught me graphic design in undergraduate school.
a good book to keep around if you use a mac for writing or for design. the whole "i'm superior because i'm a mac owner" attitude can get really irritating, though.
Dated, but most of the advice still holds true. Even with auto-formatting, it's easy to commit some grammatical/stylistic blunders. And the advice still works for most photo-editing software as well.
It has some clever writing tips. A few things were outdated or questionable, but it was mostly good and a quick read.
Oct 08, 2007
Jo
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
mac people
Shelves:
technology,
nonfiction
Robin Williams is so clear.
what i remember from the first few pages...do not double space after a period!
Simple, humorous, and extremely useful.
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