Re: why I like the Dummies books - was Boring documentation

["Edwin Skau" <eddy -dot- skau -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Dummies books generally seem to be written by people who are experts on the
topic. That explains the very thorough and comprehensive coverage of subject
matter. The humor and style, though, is almost exclusively American.

Unlike US English, which tends to be closer to plain language than other
forms of English, US "style", specially *humor*, carries cultural and
lifestyle undercurrents that can leave an outsider... well..., outside. To
such readers, reading Dummies books can seem to be like going for nuggets in
a haystack - not quite needles, but lots of hay anyway.

--------

I've read and recommended some Dummies books to people. Then I moved to the
"Teach yourself <whatever> in 24 hours" series. Now I prefer working with
vanilla, standards-style documentation.

When I need a very basic understanding of a topic, I go to
www.howstuffworks.com, or use Google.

--------

Edwin









On 3/25/06, Bryan Sherman <bsherm -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Since we are throwing out anecdotal evidence, I'll counter that I have
> have found quite a few SMEs and Intelligent people that like the
> Dummies series, even if it wouldn't fit their specific learning
> preference.
>
> I have also found that a lot of folks (certainly not all, perhaps not
> even a majority) who loath the Dummies book (as opposed to simply
> dislike) have never really looked at one, or tend towards the
> pretentious. I am categorically NOT saying that anyone who doesn't
> like them falls into this category.
>
> IMHO it all goes back to variety. Some folks will find the
> Dummies/Complete Idiots/whatever series incredibly helpful. Others
> swear by O 'Reilly books. Isn't that the challenge of our jobs. There
> is no ONE RIGHT WAY... :-)
>
> On 3/24/06, Joe Malin <jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com> wrote:
> > My own limited survey of the population yields these results:
> >
> > * Technical "experts" like engineers and tech writers, people who
> > understand the field or a closely associated
> >   one, dislike "Dummies" or "Idiots" books. The dislike varies from
> > vague unease to downright loathing.
> > * Highly intelligent people tend to dislike Idiots/Dummies books
> > * A **large** majority of the general population *loves* Idiots/Dummies
> > books.
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