That kind of vendor-supplied documentation is fine, to a point. But this kind of training rarely gets as honest as an independent guide to a product. For example, if you look over those videos on the Apple website, you’ll find they’ve got a snappy 2 minutes on buying music via iTunes on the iPad — when what you really need is a primer on how to use iTunes on the Mac or PC to control what’s on your iPad. No such video exists.

No Starch Press has produced a “My New iPad 2” book, written by Wallace Wang, to help. We reached out to a first-time iPad user  who’s running a travel agent business, Ron Wilcox of Seabird Cruises, to tell us how this book stacked up for him. He added, after reviewing it, “now just try to get it out of my hands.”

I’ve often found instruction manuals to be frustrating and confusing.  Many are written with an assumption about the level of understanding that the reader already has about the subject. Online manuals tend to be exasperatingly user-UNfriendly, but manufacturers are so fond of the format that good print manuals are often difficult to find.

However, this manual, for this user, was pretty close to perfect. The index was detailed and complete. As a reference manual, it was quick and easy to locate information specific to a particular function.

Screen shots were clear and plentiful. The step-by-step instructions were very specific and easy to understand. If a set of instructions for a function included part of the instructions for another operation, there was no assumption that the user knew the previously-described operation. All steps were repeated clearly. The instructions for a particular operation didn’t require knowledge of any other operation covered earlier in the book.

Each chapter concluded with a section called “Additional Tips” for using the functions covered in that chapter. While interesting, this section sometimes mentioned a way of using the iPad but failed to explain that particular usage/function or even refer the reader to another source of more specific information.

Wang, the author of the book, has penned several others for No Starch Press on Mac and Apple products. His bio indicates that he’s also had a stand-up comedy career — just the kind of edgy, indie voice that makes a new computer like Apple’s tablet easier to embrace.

Wallace Wang's My New iPad from No Starch Press

My New iPad was written by a stand-up comic, but the advice in this thorough book is no joke. The 350 pages of this manual ($24.95 print plus ebook, $19.95 ebook) from No Starch Press don’t overlook a thing in the iPad user experience. It’s a guide to the 1st generation of the iPad, written in Deb. 2010. iPad 2 users can look forward to another edition in May, but this book does include specifics on the recent iOS 4.2 release. Apple rolled out version 4.3 of the iOS today.

The new iPad user can rely on this book like a novice cook reading The Joy of Cooking. The tasks explained, from setting up email accounts to synchronizing contacts, all include a novel What You’ll be Using feature.

For example, to transfer ebooks and audiobooks to the iPad, you’ll need 1. The iPad’s USB cable; 2. iTunes on your computer; 3. The iBooks app. The range of possible ingredients is vast these days for Apple owners, with some software on desktop/laptops, and other programs on iPads. This feature keeps things well-sorted-out. There’s a generous layout that leaves plenty of room for screen shots — very important for new-user books.

Another element that’s extraordinary is the “Additional Ideas” wrap-ups for each chapter. After you’ve learned how to do something like set up and customize an email account, it’s good to see the bigger picture and deploy what you’ve learned to do. Establishing separate accounts for work and home, or customizing your signature, may seem obvious to some. But a user who’s new to the Mail in iPad, coming from a Web-based mail service, can find this deeper dive aspect useful.

If you own an iPad already, this book will provide the training to take it to another level. I’ve learned that every onscreen keyboard key can be held down to reveal its alternative characters. Great for speeding up your typing.

Bookmark management is another insider kind of task you might have overlooked if you already own this device. A lot of this kind of technique is hidden away in the Settings app of the iPad. You’ll feel a lot more comfortable with Settings by using this book.

No Starch (an imprint of the O’Reilly tech publishing empire) has an extensive overview of the book on its site. The table of contents shows a thoughtful and thorough collection of subjects.

Part 1: Basic Training

Chapter 1: Turning Your iPad On and Off
Chapter 2: Charging and Conserving iPad Battery Power
Chapter 3: Using Your iPad’s Physical and Virtual Controls
Chapter 4: Controlling the iPad User Interface
Chapter 5: Using and Customizing the Virtual Keyboard

Part 2: Customizing Your iPad
Chapter 6: Customizing the Home Screen
Chapter 7: Using Parental Controls
Chapter 8: Protecting Your Privacy
Chapter 9: Setting the Date and Time
Chapter 10: Restoring and Resetting Your iPad
Chapter 11: Setting Up an Internet Connection
Chapter 12: Installing (and Uninstalling) Apps

Part 3: Getting on the Internet
Chapter 13: Browsing with Safari
Chapter 14: Using Bookmarks with Safari
Chapter 15: Filling Out Forms Automatically in Safari
Chapter 16: Setting Up and Customizing an Email Account
Chapter 17: Reading, Writing, and Organizing Email

Part 4: Sharing Data with Your iPad
Chapter 18: Transferring Photos, Movies, Music, TV Shows, and Podcasts to Your iPad
Chapter 19: Transferring Ebooks and Audiobooks to Your iPad
Chapter 20: Transferring Contacts, Appointments, Mail, Notes, and Bookmarks
Chapter 21: Transferring iTunes University Courses from a Computer to Your iPad

Part 5: Video, Music, and Ebooks
Chapter 22: Shopping on iTunes and the iBookstore
Chapter 23: Listening to Music and Other Audio Files
Chapter 24: Watching Videos
Chapter 25: Watching YouTube Videos
Chapter 26: Reading Ebooks
Chapter 27: Viewing Photographs
Chapter 28: Using and Sharing Photographs

Part 6: Organizing Yourself
Chapter 29: Jotting Down Notes
Chapter 30: Viewing Contact Information
Chapter 31: Tracking Appointments on a Calendar
Chapter 32: Viewing a Map
Chapter 33: Finding Places and Getting Directions with Maps
Chapter 34: Searching Your iPad with Spotlight

Part 7: Additional Tips
Chapter 35: Updating the iPad Operating System
Chapter 36: Making an iPad Accessible
Chapter 37: Using Foreign Languages
Chapter 38: Transferring and Editing Microsoft Office Documents
Chapter 39: The Best iPad Apps

If you haven’t seen one of these books, it may not be easy to describe how much color and how many screen shots prance across the pages. This is a book for the switcher who’s moved from a business Windows system to the simplicity of the Mac — or a more advanced user who needs a quick refresher and can just scan a picture to recall how to reset a forgotten password.

The emphasis here is on the complete set of computing tasks at an everyday level. Using the Dock, entering a Web address into Safari, composing email in Mail, locating files you’ve downloaded from the Web: it’s all shown screen by screen in Paul McFriederies’ book. The lessons are broken down into two-page spreads with alternative methods for some tasks, such as uninstalling applications or customizing the Dock.

If you’re working with a Mac for the first year, or in the first year of using Snow Leopard, this training tool might be just the right amount of information to avoid overload. Some users don’t need extensive details on the nuances of networking, or the best way to bring iPhone voice memos onto the Mac without a complete snyc of everything on the iPhone with the Mac. This isn’t a power users’ book, but it’s got plenty to show the small business and creative user who’s exploring the utility of the Mac.

About 20 percent of the book covers using the highly-visual Mac apps, iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie. There’s a healthy spread devoted to iTunes, where across almost 50 pages you can learn how to manage music and the ever-growing controls of synchronization between iPhone and Mac.

One of the shortest sections of this book is its networking instructions. For plenty of users, networking amounts to linking with a WiFi network in their office or at a client site. Setting up a network is beyond the scope of this book, and securing a network isn’t covered at all. There’s a firewall in every Mac, but this book won’t help you understand that protection. On the upside, you’ll get a good primer on creating a robust password using Snow Leopard’s Password Assistant.

The Mac ships with software included to build Web sites, as well as features to record video from a Webcam or audio messages, but there’s nary a page about iWeb or Quicktime Player 7 in this book. The former is a underwhelming tool for building fundamental Web sites, while the latter is an optional install that provides much more multimedia power than Apple’s simple Quicktime Player.

But a training book like this one can’t really be judged by what’s missing as much as how it handles the included tasks, taught from scratch. You will learn how to create and manage iCal appointments or organize business contacts using Address Book, and this book — Wiley’s only Mac title in the Teach Yourself Visually Series — is a useful addition to a training library. It’s something to hand to the curious user who’s got the motivation to follow a pictured path to productivity. Let your Mac guru or administrator wrestle with one of Wiley’s 800-page bibles.

US $29.99