i got bartending for dummies and use it often. it’s downstairs (in my tiny galley kitchen:D) with my cookbooks so it’s handy at all times. excellent for learning about cocktails as obscure as a french 75.
I learned to knit using Knitting for Dummies, and I still refer to it often. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to New Orleans helped make our trip there really fun. I can’t even imagine feeling ashamed of buying one of these. The reference to dumbness/idiocy is clearly humorous shorthand for “beginner level.” Someone starting to knit doesn’t want to pick up Weekend Knitting, because it’s doesn’t introduce you to the stitches, and it has some really hard patterns. I think people appreciate a guide series that makes clear you don’t need any foundation knowledge in the subject to make use of the books. Sure, they could just call them, “Introduction to X,” but it’s less splashy and amusing.
I’ve bought a few over the years. I remember that the first one was for DOS. It was good enough for my purposes. I also picked one up for WIN '95 that was almost as bad as WIN '95 itself.
I’m not sure if it was a “For Dummies” book or not but I was given one on basic home repair that I would consider both childishly simple and ridiculously arcane. Nearly half the book was a list and description of just about every hand and power tool they could think of. In particular I remember a sixteen page discussion on the difference between flat, fillips, hex, torx, nut and square tipped drivers along with their usual applications and comparative advantages. Just show me how to patch the $@%^ing drywall!
Well, I am in the minority with Arnold; I am repelled by their packaging. I detest the black and yellow graphics and chafe at the thought of buying something specifically made for a dummy.
That said, I do like the idea of concise, straightforward information that doesn’t presume foreknowledge. But why couldn’t they have titled it … for Beginners? :smack:
DISLCAIMER: I have two distinct reasons that I have been turned off the Dummies series. The first was that I was given Marketing for Dummies when I was switched to the marketing department, a move I neither asked for nor wanted. Because I had no desire to market anything, being given a book designed for dummies was just icing on the irritant cake.
The second was at an informal yoga class I attended. We were temporarily without a teacher, and one other participant brought a Yoga for Dummies DVD for us to follow to tide us over. Frequently throughout the exercises and stretches a loud, blaring WARNING foghorn and sign appeared on the screen, warning of potential to do damage to the body in that particular pose. Cripes! Just what I need during my “relaxing” yoga! :dubious:
I never thought much of them until I happened to open up the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Submarines, which is unquestionably the most accurate, highly detailed, highly technical description of modern submarine operations publicly available.
This book brought back enough memories that I could probably requalify as Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW) on a submarine.
Based on the Amazon prices, it looks like it’s out of print now, though.
I have a couple–UNIX, for example. They teach the basics reasonably well, but I don’t find myself going back to them like I do most textbooks or programming guides.
I’ve bought a number of them over the years, with absolutely no qualms whatsoever. The last one I purchased, Football for Dummies should arguably have caused me great shame. I’m a 43-year-old American man; I shouldn’t need a book to know something about football.* I didn’t have any trouble at all buying this book, and I have actually learned quite a bit from it. I actually watch football now, and have come to enjoy the sport.
** Note that I do not actually subscribe to this viewpoint, but I know there are plenty of people in the world who would cast aspersions upon my masculinity for not knowing the difference between a half-back and a corner back.*
A friend of mine at work (male, over 30) had football season tickets for years at the University of Nebraska; since one needs to join a booster club to get tickets, these tickets cost him far more than I care to think about.
One day, he offers to take me to lunch if I’ll give him some pointers on some obscure topic which he doesn’t care to name in the hearing of others. Intrigued, I take him up.
As we leave the building, he begins quizzing me on the working of football. He had no idea what running backs or offensive linemen did, no idea of how defensive positions were differentiated, no idea of how formations worked, nothing beyond the obvious of going down the field and making a touchdown.
To this day, I have no idea what he’d been doing all those years in the stands.
I bought “Windows 3.1 For Dummies” in 1994 shortly after getting my first PC. Not only did it teach me all I needed to know about working the computer, I was able to pass that knowledge on to my parents. I didn’t feel self-conscious about the title at all, because I was indeed a computer “dummy” at the time.
I picked up The Idiot’s Guide to Shakespeare and The Idiot’s Guide to the Great Depression. I’m a high school English teacher. I’ve read quite a bit about Shakespeare, but I can get bogged down in crazy theories or random historical perspectives. The books help me provide some focus for my units on Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, and will be useful if I ever take another Shakespeare course or have to teach another play. I got the Great Depression text for a quick review since I like to discuss To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men in their historical contexts a little bit, and I need a bit of a review since I last formally studied American history in high school.
I’m not insulted by the titles of the series whatsoever. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent, well-read person. These books are convenient, surprisingly well-written aids.
I own:
“Bartending for Dummies”
“Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dating”
I’m with you on this, though I’m not as offended by the colour scheme as you are. But a better title would have been “For Beginners” or “For the Ignorant” or “For N00bs” (except that a lot of people wouldn’t know what N00bs are).
That’s my point! You’re not a dummy. A dummy is a stupid person.
The whole “Complete Idiot’s” guide thing originated with the 1969 book “How to keep your Volkswagen Alive, A Guide for the Complete Idiot” by John Muir, (no, not that John Muir, a different one).
It was written with wit and humor but could actually walk you through rebuilding a VW engine, even if you had no mechanical experience at all. When I was younger, I removed the engine from my VW, carried it into the house and rebulit the thing using only this book and of course the new parts I had to buy.
I had a grease stained copy for years. The best damn tool I ever bought. I gave it away to the person who got the last VW tool I got rid of, I think it was the 22mm flywheel socket.
Anyway, that is where the Complete Idiot’s guide originated. I could be wrong, but the book is mentioned in the Wiki article on Complete Idiot’s books.
I’ve read some articles about their process, and they seem to get good people to write these books.
I have PhotoShop for Dummies, but I seem to be too visually challenged to get that much out of it - but I haven’t had the chance to read it straight through, either.
I got ASP For Dummies many moons ago, and it effectively started my career, moving me from just an HTML Monkey to someone who can do dynamic Web programming. I did get the ASP.NET For Dummies a few years back but it didn’t help me as much as just doing some programming did. I make a lot of money doing programming now.
It’s only an insult if you are a complete idiot.
Dummy here. I’ve owned and read Dummies books on a wide variety of topics, in my lifelong attempt to be a non-Dummy. The sad thing is, some of the books are STILL way over my head. (not the fault of the books, it’s me - I am math impaired and if my life depended on it, I could never advance beyond the easiest algebra problem any 9th grader could handle with ease.)