for Dummies

My friend, Neil Goldstein, is writing a For Dummies book. I'm not exactly sure what his topic is, I think something to do with computers, but I know when it goes out to print, he'll probably make a couple of sheckels or more. With more than 150 million books in print, covering 1,300+ topics, For Dummies is one of the most widely recognized reference series in the world. It started around 1987, when new technologies were popping up all over the place. Computer manuals were dull, dull, dull and totally incomprehensible. A frustrated customer in a computer store, who knew nothing about computers, was looking for a simple, basic book about the DOS operating system (this is the gran'daddy of all OS!). My understanding is that he suggested something like, “DOS for dummies.” And voilà, welcome to the For Dummies phenom!

From the start, For Dummies was a simple, yet powerful concept: relating to the anxiety and frustration that people felt about technology, by poking fun at it, with books that are insightful and educational and make difficult material interesting and easy. Now, you can find For Dummies brand online, where you’ll find the experts presenting even the most complex subjects in plain English. Published issues include mind-boggling topics like parenting (huge one for me!), horses, dogs, and website development. Everything is simply written, no high falutin' cross-my-eyes-what-did-that-page-say-again text.

Without critics, this would be too boring, so the truth is that I heard my boyfriend complain that the hard copy books are so much better to read than the online version ... oh well ... I'm quite happy to have it either way, thank you! His gripe was that the For Dummies online publisher relied 'way too much on branding power than securing a different (techie) class of For Dummies followers ...