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Long before I ever had the privilege of working with Robin Williams, I felt as though I knew her -- as if I'd known her all my life. I worked my way through college as a typesetter, proofreader, and layout artist, and I took great pride in knowing how to create professional-quality publications. Then came the Mac, and I felt so incredibly stupid. All of us in publishing, type, and printing shops had to scramble to become Mac-literate, while watching our customers gleefully creating some of the worst-looking documents on the planet. But really, who could blame them? Almost overnight the Mac had democratized publishing tools. Suddenly, anyone who could type and owned a Mac could be a desktop publisher. We were all itching to learn how the tools could save us time and money. Most of all, we were all itching to stop feeling stupid and start being creative. Then, out of the blue one day, someone handed us The Little Mac Book. I say "us" because to this day, ten years after I was handed my first copy, people are still telling me --and with as much pride as I tell my story -- how they were first introduced to Robin's Little Mac Book. Our stories are astonishingly similar: A friend helping us plug in our first Mac shared her copy; a work colleague slipped it to us over the cubicle wall; our boss gave us the first-day-on-the-job "read-this" routine. People not only recommend it, but they physically hand it to new users. We who were once nervous new users ourselves are confident, and pleased to reassure those who come after us, "Don't worry, everything will make sense once you read this little book" -- just as Robin reassured her students back when she first got the idea to write this book. Little did she know that her self-published classroom textbook would turn into a million-plus bestseller that's still going strong ten years later! The Little Mac Book was the first book, and to this day still is the only book, to integrate commonsense, jargon-free teaching to show you how to get on friendly terms with your computer, with basic desktop-publishing do's and don'ts. It's not just the book that's still going strong. Robin's come a long way since the days when she was raising three young children and teaching graphics classes at Santa Rosa Junior College. She's become an icon in the Mac community. An internationally recognized expert on graphics, desktop publishing and Web publishing, Robin has earned countless awards, attracted legions of fans, and launched several successful series of books, including The Non-Designer's series, the Little Book series, as well as desktop publishing classics such as The Mac is not a typewriter, The Little iMac Book, and one of her latest, Windows for Mac Users. If I know Robin, right about now she's starting to get embarrassed. She feels more comfortable teaching and nurturing others than fielding praise, which is why her readers come to view her as a friend. Her advice resonates as much for those who don't know an operating system from a sound system as for the folks who don't know a typeface from a smiley face. And when we learn it from Robin, we don't feel stupid or ashamed. As Robin's readers, we are a part of a much larger community -- a community that has survived Apple's ups and downs, and a community that cares about quality and creativity. Nothing can ever diminish the community feeling among Mac users that Robin first sparked with this book. Robin, I'm honored to speak on behalf of all your readers: Thank you for this little book. Thanks for your insights, your warmth, your wit, and your friendship. But above all, thanks for your hard work and commitment to your readers. Peachpit is honored to be your publisher and we want to congratulate you for ten amazing years of writing great books. We look forward to the next ten! Nancy Aldrich-Ruenzel
Publisher P.S. Dear reader: Take my word for it -- everything WILL make sense once you read this little book. |
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This
little book has enriched so many lives, mine included.