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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Technical Writing / Technical Writing for Dummies. Krista Van Laan and Catherine Julian. 2001. Indianapolis: Alpha Books. [ISBN 0-02-864146-9. 333 pages, including index. $16.95 USD (softcover).]
Technical Writing for Dummies
Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts. 2001. Foster City, CA: Hungry Minds. [ISBN 0-7645-5308-9. 310 pages, including index. $19.99 USD (softcover).]
Despite their self-deprecating titles (or quite possibly because of those titles), the books published under the trademarked "For dummies" and "Complete idiot's guide" series names have been fabulously successful publishing ventures. Each series has distributed hundreds of millions of books, covering hundreds of technical and general interest topics, to "dummies" and "idiots" all over the world.
I cringe a little whenever I add another yellow-covered "Dummies" book or an orange-covered "Idiot's guide" to my collection-but I do buy these books when I'm seeking a quick, comprehensive, inexpensive introduction to a new topic, and I'm generally satisfied with the information that is provided.
Both The complete idiot's guide to technical writing and Technical writing for dummies give useful starting points for understanding some key work products and work processes of technical writers. Neither book is a replacement for a comprehensive education or on-the-job experience, and neither book is an all-encompassing summary of everything a professional technical communicator needs to know to succeed. But each book certainly has merits.
The complete idiot's guide to technical writing is intended primarily as a career guide for "people who would be good tech writers . . . but simply don't know how to start" (p. xvi). The book presents a view of the profession that will seem familiar to many STC members, with an emphasis (clearly identified on page 4) on what it's like to be a technical writer in the computer industry. The Idiot's guide has other obvious STC connections, too, including a Foreword written by past International STC President JoAnn Hackos and many references to STC and its chapters, conferences, and resources strewn throughout the book. One of the authors, Krista Van Laan, identifies herself as an STC Annual Conference speaker and an STC Publications Competition award winner.
The 25 chapters of the Idiot's guide are organized in five major parts. Part 1, "Is this job for me?" introduces the field, promotes "booming" career opportunities, and...