Fun_People Archive
28 Jan
Books -- Bulk Over Content?

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 99 15:36:42 -0800
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: Books -- Bulk Over Content?

X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649

From: Todd Larason
On 990122, Christopher R. Maden wrote:
> I have noticed that some publishers seem to value bulk over content.
> In fact, take a look at the paper quality next time: many use thicker
> paper to pump up the width of the book.

Kernighan and Ritchie's _The C Programming Language_, 2/ed, clocks in at a
mere 272 pages, and has been available for the past 10 years as a very thin
book.  The first edition of this book was the definitive guide to the
language prior to the 1989 standard; the 2nd edition is widely regarded as
one of the best 2-3 books on the language (one of the others, Harbison and
Steele's _C: A Reference Manual_ is 455 pages, but also printed on very thin
paper).

The latest printing of K&R was on noticably thicker paper, for no stated
reason.  Dennis Ritchie speculates in
http://x8.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=431062598 that it was a marketing
decision, to stand out better among the current giant books.


-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Steve Lamont
Re:  books by the pound
> It is universally accepted truth in the SA community that once upon a
> time you could buy a new O'Reilly book based simply on the publisher 'cos
> you KNEW it was going to be chock full of usefulness.  NOW you gotta read
> the ToC and selected chunks of text, just like any other publisher.

Since we're ragging on O'Reilly at the moment, let me toss another tome upon
the flames -- _Programming Python_.  Did all the O'Reilly editors go out on
strike or {mat,pat}ernity leave and hand the place over to the gang at
alt.fan.monty-python?  What's with the damned smiley faces and dumb Python
(Monty) ripoffs?  One or two might have been tolerable but the whole book
is stuffed with them.  If I want the Dead Parrot sketch, I'll pop the tape
into the VCR, thank you.

Ah.  All better now.

© 1999 Peter Langston