Here is another review on an Evernote book. This book, My Evernote*, was written by Katherine Murray, and I would classify it as a very detailed beginner's book. Murray does a great job of detailing the use of Evernote in a step-by-step manner. The book is laid out in twelve chapters, each focusing on a specific way to capture or organize notes in Evernote. Read more ( )

The Holy Grail of software these days is something that helps organize both work and personal life. Of all the software available, notebook software has come the closest to providing what I call an information ecosytem. Evernote and Microsoft Onenote are the most popular of this type of software. Evernote is free unless you want premium features, and it is very device agnostic - that is, it is available for almost every computer, browser, tablet, or smartphone. It syncs well across all your devices. Evernote's other great strength is that it is interoperable with a lot of other hardware and software including scanners.

My Evernote is a very nice introduction to that software. It is beautifully organized and has a clear, clean design, with lots of screenshots of Evernote in action. There is first a top level table of contents (ToC) and next a more detailed ToC that could serve as an index. It doesn't have too, however, as it includes a very thorough index at the back of the book.

I read Evernote for Dummies right after My Evernote, and a comparison might be useful. The Dummies book is not nearly as nicely organized as the Murray book. It seems cluttered. It does, however, cover more features and uses of Evernote.

Comparing the two is somewhat coparing apples and oranges, as I read My Evernote as a trade paperback and Evernote for Dummies as an e-book. While in the past I've been pleased at how well my Nook Color renders graphics, it does not do well with screenshots. The text is blurry. Nor did the Dummies book have an index. Those two criticisms apply equally to the Wordpress for Dummies e-book I read. I do not know if the printed versions have indexes or not. I must say it shocks my librarian soul to the core for a reference book to not have an index. It is less of a problem in an e-book in which the text is searchable, but it is still a problem. If I forget what something is called, browsing the index can help find what I am looking for. And since computers make creating an index easy, the lack is inexcusable.

So both books on Evernote have their merits, but for the new user My Evernote is an excellent introduction. ( )