For Dummies

For Dummies is an extensive series of instructional reference books that strive to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered. The series has been a worldwide success, with editions in numerous 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—indicate particularly important passages.

History

The first "...for Dummies" titled book was Plumbing for Dummies by Don Fredriksson, published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1983. The first book in the on-going series was DOS For Dummies,Template:R written by Dan Gookin and published by IDG Books in November 1991. DOS For Dummies became popular due to the rarity of beginner-friendly materials for learning to use the MS-DOS operating system. The publisher soon released a Windows title written by Andy Rathbone. Initially, the series focused solely on software and technology, but later branched out to more general-interest titles—with topics as diverse as Acne For Dummies, Chess For Dummies, Fishing For Dummies and many other topics. The series is now published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., which acquired Hungry Minds (the new name for IDG Books as of 2000) in early 2001.Template:R

File:Dummies (2973280850).jpg

Various books in the series

Notable For Dummies books include:

• DOS For Dummies, the first, published in 1991, whose first printing was just 7,500 copiesTemplate:RTemplate:R
• Windows 95 for Dummies, the top-selling For Dummies title with 3 million English-language copies sold
• (The History of France for Dummies), the top-selling non-English For Dummies title, with more than 400,000 soldTemplate:R

Vaccines and autism

In 2006, Wiley published Understanding Autism for Dummies, a text about the neurodevelopmental disorder autism. Multiple chapters of the book contained anti-vaccination talking points, including false speculation that autism was caused by certain vaccines (such as the MMR vaccine), certain vaccine ingredients (such as the preservative thiomersal) or too many vaccines given within a short period. In addition to recommending that readers consider an alternative vaccination schedule, the book posited that thiomersal could cause mercury poisoning and suggested chelation therapy as a potential treatment. Those who wrote sections of the book or assisted with its production in other ways included Stephen Shore, Jane El-Dahr, Jeff Bradstreet, Temple Grandin and Bernard Rimland, all of whom have publicly speculated or argued that there is a causal link between vaccines and autism outside the context of the book.

It is scientific consensus that there is no link between any vaccine or vaccine ingredient and autism and that the thiomersal used as a preservative in some vaccines is not harmful. Chelation therapy is unproven as an autism treatment and potentially life-threatening when improperly administered.

Parts

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, though the comics were discontinued in 2012. 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 books where lists of 10 items are included. They are usually resources for further study, and sometimes also include amusing bits of information that do not fit readily elsewhere.

Expansions and alternative 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; and 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.

Wiley has also launched an interactive online course with Learnstreet based on its popular book, Java for Dummies, 5th edition.Template:R

A spin-off board game, Crosswords for Dummies, was produced in the late 1990s.Template:R 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.

In 2004, French publisher Anuman Interactive obtained the digital exploitation rights and launched many applications based on the For Dummies collection, such as Home Design 3D For Dummies and History For Dummies.Template:R

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
• Pour les nuls, the French edition
• Teach Yourself – another similar series published by Hodder Headline
• Very Short Introductions, a series of introductory books on scholarly subjects published by the Oxford University Press
• Introducing... (book series)

External links

• Template:Official website
• Titles and Description of all For Dummies titles (Template:Webarchive)