I ran across this OLD 2003 book at my public library:
https://www.amazon.com/Moving-Linux-.../dp/0321159985
It's mostly pictures, about using 'apps' that 'basic users' use.
(there is an appendix on CLI; I'd omit install&browser chapters)

I see tons of similar M$Win Visual Quick-Start stuff, but not Linux.
(the Linux Visual Quick-Start book is mostly cli! )

My specific idea/point is: almost zero CLI; mostly GUI pictures.
Before you say: useless/etc, I say: help LinuxDE replace M$WinX
This isn't a rant 'against cli' (I love cli; my only GUI is FireFox&VBox).
It's an idea for easily(?) publishing such a useful/unique book.
It would show&teach Linux doing what M$Win does!
(omit install & browser; tons of that elsewhere)

Do you know of any links (and/or websearch keywords) of/for such?
Specifically <n% cli; mostly pictorial on using basic 'apps'.
(my websearches find cli; -cli -command -terminal eliminates everything,
e.g. "1% cli appendix" is ok. IF >n% cli, "that's not it"!)

Thanks! Become famous&rich (not) Let LinuxDE/WM replace M$Win

My first response is that the Linux ecosystem is just too big and too rich to be reduced to a single book for beginners.

Outside of a few big programs such as Libreoffice and the GIMP, I am sceptical that the category of applications that most "basic" Linux users use can be narrowed down. Do you mean Gnome applications, KDE applications, MATE or Cinnamon applications, and so on?

Slackware, which is hardly typical, comes with a flock of text editors and several media players.

For example, Windows comes with one text editor and users must go out of their way to find alternatives. Text editors swim in Linux like tropical fish in a tank. You can say the same about media players and, to a lesser extent, file managers and browsers.

A book based on a particular distro or group of distros, such as the *buntus (they tend to share the same group of applications), or a particular DE might be feasible, but would have much more limited market appeal.

Just a few thoughts.

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In addition to frankbell's informative post, Microsoft and Apple make products designed for a different type of user than Linux and BSD are designed for. (Although Linux is moving towards a Windows-style system, it is not yet there.) CLI is essential for anyone that wants to learn the system, as opposed to only use it. Not including the CLI would limit the usefuness of a book. Picture books are limited to begin with, because they assume the user is an idiot. "Move the cursor to the top-left corner" is more useful and takes up much less space than a diagram or photograph showing the cursor's position. If you really think such a book would be useful you could make one.

Linux for Dummies and the Idiot's Guide to Linux are both good books for beginners.

No: they have (lots of) CLI in them;
the tons of M$Win for Idiotic Dummies are all GUI & barely mention Run cmd

IF you can't beat their market share, join 'em (M$Win GUIonly books)

I found a very similar (to initial link) free book (on onebuck's link page):
http://commons.oreilly.com/wiki/inde..._Driving_Linux

There is a reason for that. It is there neither to look impressive nor confuse people.

What would the purpose be of having systems that are the same? Different systems for different jobs and different types of people. Your continued reference to Windows suggests you do not understand how the systems are different. Unfortunately, there is no substitute for documentation. Microsoft might be able to put out picture books for Windows (I do not know how useful they are, because I have never seen them.), because that is how Windows is designed to be used. Unix-based systems are designed on a different model and philosophy. Instruction books reflect the needs of learning the system. Thus, Linux books have more than just how to use a GUI. (Even that simple task is complicated. Re-read frankbell's post.)

To be honest, a guidebook that ignores the fundamentals of the system would not be very useful.