Why I chose PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide?
For me, the answer to that question is the publisher. Computer industry veterans, especially those who work with Unix, have long considered O'Reilly and Associates (ORA) publications to be standard reference works.

While I doubt that someone's going to drop by my desk and ask to borrow "the flying squirrel book" any time soon, many ORA books have become classics, and are commonly referred to by the names of the detailed animal drawings on their front covers. Figure A shows the cover of PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide.

FIGURE A

Another cute O'Reilly book cover.

I don't always have a lot of time to do all the reading I should. As a result, I demand professional books that give me the information I need in the detail I want. There are a lot of publishers in the technical market. Frankly, many of the competition's books remind me of 3 Musketeers candy bars--lots of fluff and little substance. ORA books are more like Snickers bars--they satisfy. And, getting an ORA book at 40% off is a real treat for my overburdened book budget. I purchased my copy from Computer Literacy Bookstore's website. In my experience, I have found that ORA books are consistently well-written and thorough.

Please, don't take this the wrong way. This is not a slam on the authors of other available PalmPilot books, especially Calvin Parker's. Calvin writes and maintains the excellent Pilot FAQ at http://www.pilotfaq.com.

What's in the book?
Don't let the name fool you. PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide (PP:TUG, hereafter) is a compendium of useful, almost up-to-this-second information about the Pilot, PalmPilot, and Palm III. The book includes a CD-ROM with the complete contents of The Everything CD for PalmPilot, a trial version of Intellisync, and a copy of CodeWarrior Lite. What a deal!