For Dummies

For Dummies

Cover of Wikis for Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-04399-8
Author	Various
Illustrator	Rich Tennant
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Instructional / reference
Publisher	IDG Books / Hungry Minds. Later John Wiley & Sons.

For Dummies is an extensive series of instructional / reference books which are intended to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered. Despite the title, their publisher has taken great pains to emphasize that the For Dummies books are not literally for dummies. The subtitle for every book is, "A Reference for the Rest of Us!". To date, over 1,600 For Dummies titles have been published.^[1] The series has been a worldwide success with editions in numerous other languages.

The books are an example of a media franchise, consistently sporting a distinctive cover—usually yellow and black with a triangular-headed cartoon figure known as the "Dummies Man", and an informal, blackboard-style logo. Prose is simple and direct; bold icons, such as a piece of string tied around an index finger, are placed in the margin to indicate particularly important passages.

Almost all Dummies books are organized around sections called "parts", which are groups of related chapters. Parts are almost always preceded by a Rich Tennant comic that refers to some part of the subject under discussion. Sometimes the same Tennant drawing reappears in another Dummies book with a new caption.

Another constant in the Dummies series is "The Part of Tens", a section at the end of the book where lists of ten items are published. They are usually resources for further study and sometimes also include amusing bits of information that don't fit readily elsewhere.

History

The For Dummies series began during 1991 with DOS for Dummies,^[2] written by Dan Gookin and published by IDG Books. The book became popular due to the rarity of beginner-friendly materials for using DOS. While initially the series focused on software and technology topics (and still does), it later branched out to more general-interest titles, with topics as diverse as Acne for Dummies, Chess for Dummies, Fishing for Dummies, C for Dummies, and many other topics. The series is now published by John Wiley & Sons, which acquired Hungry Minds (the new name for IDG Books as of 2000) in early 2001.^[3]

Expansions and alternate versions

Several related series have been published, including Dummies 101, with step-by-step tutorials in a large-format book (now discontinued); More ... for Dummies, which are essentially sequels to the first ... For Dummies book on the subject; For Dummies Quick Reference, which is a condensed alphabetical reference to the subject. A larger All-in-One Desk Reference format offers more comprehensive coverage of the subject, normally running about 750 pages. Also, some books in the series are smaller and do not follow the same formatting style as the others.

A spin-off board game, "Crosswords for Dummies", was produced in the late 1990s. The game is similar to Scrabble, but instead of letter tiles, players draw short strips of cardboard containing pre-built English words. The words vary in length from three to seven letters, with more points acquired for playing longer words. Another board game, "SAT Game For Dummies", is used in SAT preparation. A "Chess for Dummies" was made, a black-and-yellow chessboard with a picture of a piece, along with a summary of how the piece moves, printed its starting positions, although there is a book with the same name.

See also

• Complete Idiot's Guides, a similar series of how-to books from Alpha Books.
• FabJob, a similar series of how-to-books for starting a business or dream career.
• Teach Yourself, another similar series published by Hodder Headline.

References

1. ^ Wiley: For Dummies
2. ^ The For Dummies Success Story
3. ^ John Wiley & Sons, Inc. to Complete Acquisition of Hungry Minds, Inc. Wiley, September 21 2001

External links

• Dummies.com (Official website)
  • Titles and Description of all For Dummies titles