Re: (long) Textbooks - the good, the bad, and the ugly

["Jeff Hanvey" <jewahe -at- lycos -dot- co -dot- uk>]

Keith:

I feel your pain. I was a math and English major as an undergraduate, and
embarked on an ill-fated master's degree in math.

Most math books are horrible - they don't really even attempt to teach, just
present a lot of text that isn't very clear or relevant. While terms and
definitions are important, I'd rather the books focus on using the math to
teach logic and problem-solving.

When I taught math, I strove to teach it from this standpoint. Here's how we
approached this problem earlier...now, apply those techniques to this
problem...unfortunately, the book fought that strategy and often caused more
confusion. I gradually and unwilling caved to the book, since I had no
control over the choice.

What I find even more incredible is the state of grammar books. These books
are often more dense and confusing than even the math books. The rules are
never really explained, but presented, with examples that aren't very clear,
and relying on terms and definitions that are more jargon than useful.

Oh, well...I'm out of school, so I'm not going to worry about it now...maybe
in a few months when I go back to get that IT degree....

Jeff Hanvey
Augusta, GA
jewahe -at- lycos -dot- co -dot- uk
http://www.jewahe.net

----- Original Message -----
From: <kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 10:26 AM
Subject: (long) Textbooks - the good, the bad, and the ugly


>
> I went back to school in January, and since then I've used four recently
> written textbooks, covering algebra, statistics, economics, and calculus
> The last time I was in school was in the mid 90's, prepping for the
> beginning of my tech writing career, and now, with 6 years of tech writing
> under my ever-expanding belt, I find I look at these textbooks through
> different eyes. I'm much more aware now of *bad* tech writing, when the
> text in front of me acts as more of a hindrance than a helper


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Robohelp X3, from eHelp, lets you quickly and easily create 
professional Help systems for all your Windows and Web-based 
applications, including Net. 

Order RoboHelp X3 in May and receive a $100 mail-in rebate, PLUS
free RoboScreenCapture and WebHelp Merge Module. 
 
Order RoboHelp today: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.