I've just loaned a Macintosh to a friend (so Jade will have a computer at home), and I bought her Macs For Dummies by David Pogue, from 2004. There is a newer version of the book, but it is written by somebody else, and as the perceptive reader will have gathered, I'm a huge Pogue fan.
Macs For Dummies was the first computer book I ever read (I got it a month before I got my first computer of my own, back in 1995), and it just makes it such a pleasure to learn to use a Mac. And it's funny! I even sit and read it just for pleasure, even though I've known all those basics for years now. If you are getting a Mac or know somebody who are, buy this book.
Update: Quoth Through The Lens:
"It kind of puzzles me how the "... for Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's Guide to ..." series' have turned out so succesful. Isn't a person who buys one of those books implicitly declaring herself an idiot?
"I think I also have one or two yellow books in my library, but I bought them from Amazon. I might feel awkward approaching the sales counter in a bookshop with a "Complete Idiot's Guide ..." book under my arm.
"You can almost hear the sales clerk's greeting "So, you're one of them idiots, I see. That'll be 9.95, sir." :-) "
Eolake elucidates:
OK, the Complete Idiot's Guide to... title is just silly. But the Dummies moniker never bothered me a bit. It's obvious that it's tongue-in-cheek.
It seems, though, that it does bother some. So David Pogue helps out those people with an even more tongue-in-cheek Fake Cover which you can reveal by cutting off the real cover. It's hilarious, it says:
MACINTOSH METHODOLOGIES IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
A technical guide for experienced users
(Formerly Macs For Dummies)
By D Welch Pogue
... Includes advanced treatment of these topics:
*Invoking the commencement of A/C 120V electric power to the CPU unit
*Propelling the cursor-control unit module on a horizontal plane
*Insertion and removal of optical data storage media
A technical guide for experienced users
(Formerly Macs For Dummies)
By D Welch Pogue
... Includes advanced treatment of these topics:
*Invoking the commencement of A/C 120V electric power to the CPU unit
*Propelling the cursor-control unit module on a horizontal plane
*Insertion and removal of optical data storage media
It kind of puzzles me how the "... for Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's Guide to ..." series' have turned out so succesful. Isn't a person who buys one of those books implicitly declaring herself an idiot?
ReplyDeleteI think I also have one or two yellow books in my library, but I bought them from Amazon. I might feel awkward approaching the sales counter in a bookshop with a "Complete Idiot's Guide ..." book under my arm.
You can almost hear the sales clerk's greeting "So, you're one of them idiots, I see. That'll be 9.95, sir." :-)
"Complete Idiot's Guide to..." is just silly. But the Dummies moniker never bothered me a bit. It's obvious that it's tongue-in-cheek.
ReplyDeleteIt seems, though, that it does bother some. So David Pogue helps out those people with an even more tongue-in-cheek Fake Cover which you can reveal by cutting off the real cover. It's hilarious, it says:
MACINTOSH METHODOLOGIES IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
A technical guide for experienced users
(Formerly Macs For Dummies)
By D Welch Pogue
... Includes advanced treatment of these topics:
*Invoking the commencement of A/C 120V electric power to the CPU unit
*Propelling the cursor-control unit module on a horizontal plane
*Insertion and removal of optical data storage media
Haha! I much prefer the alternative cover.
ReplyDeleteI quite like what I've read and viewed his work online. But as I don't really need help in using my Mac I went to Amazon.com to look for what other books he might have written.
I stumbled on Opera for Dummies by David Pogue.
I'm a huge fan of opera and would buy in an instant a book describing opera with Pogue style humor. But this can't be the same David Pogue, can it?
It must be. For one reviewer writes:
I wasn't expecting to be entertained when I picked up Opera for Dummies, but the book is like having a personal stand-up comedian (and one who is well informed in all things operatic) around your house to tell you stories about opera and systematically building up your knowledge in it.
Amazing as it sounds, it *is* the same David Pogue!
ReplyDeleteHe used to be in music on broadway somehow.
"Opera for Dummies" is by the same David Pogue. He's an amazing fellow with an amazing résumé.
ReplyDeleteHe is also responsible for the "Missing Manual" series of books, although he isn't the author of most of them. Every "Missing Manual" I've bought has been excellent, and I've bought quite a few of them.
I first heard of the "... for Dummies" books from a friend who had a pre-Windows PC. He was struggling, as most people do, with all the obtuse commands he had to learn to get the computer to do anything for him.
He went to the bookstore section of a local computer store and flipped through dozens of books that assumed he already knew all the basics he was struggling to learn. Frustrated, he said, "What I need is 'DOS for Dummies'." His girlfriend, standing on the other side of the book rack, laughed and held up DOS for Dummies.
It worked for him because it didn't assume he already knew a lot. Though the title was "for Dummies," it didn't treat him like a dummy for not already being an expert.
I've bought a few of the "for Dummies" books. They're not all good. But I think the series was designed for people who felt left out in a world that seems to cater only to experts.
Ok. It's a go with Pogue opera book.
ReplyDeleteThe Washington Times has recently published a somewhat humorous article about the Dummies guides in Complete idiot's guide for dummies.
150 million dummies guides have been sold since the format was created in 1991. There's a dummies guide for every conceivable subject. If opera isn't your thing, try Breastfeeding for Dummies.
Since I'm a complete idiot, there are several "Dummies" on my bookshelf: Chemistry, Calculus, How to repair a PC, Pilates, Chinese, Algebra, Poker, Consulting, Freelancing, Trading, Stocks, Options, HTRt Financial Reports.
ReplyDeleteAnd each time I turn up at Foyles' and Border's London branch I get greeted "Ey up Idiot pleased to see ya." (This isn't Cockney).
Lol.
Greetings for Dummies
by Monsieur Beep / Gen.
The idea of a line of books which does not take for granted that the reader knows a lot about a specific subject is brilliant, and was sorely needed.
ReplyDeleteEolake wrote: "The idea of a line of books which does not take for granted that the reader knows a lot about a specific subject is brilliant, and was sorely needed."
ReplyDeleteThere have been countless entry level books on all kinds of subjects in the past -- Beginner's Guide to ..., Teach Yourself ..., etc.
The Dummies only became a line of books after the first one's sold so well.
It is obvious that this tongue-in-cheek-insulting title is the trick. Another is the yellow colour. And the combination of the two is the killer that sold 150 million copies.
Anybody know where I can find the "Complete Idiot's Guide to reading and writing for Dummies"?
ReplyDeleteOh, and do I need to give money for it?
I wonder if there is such a thing as the "Complete Guide to acting like an Idiot for Dummies"...
I'd give it a shot. Some hot things ought to be taught, I thought. Whot not?