RE: Informal Poll - how many technical books do you buy?

["Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com>]

Rob Domaschuk wrote:
>IMNHO, cookbooks are a great living example of technical writing.

YES. <g> I am so pleased to hear someone else say that! Way back when (I'd
just joined this list) someone asked "Who was the first technical writer?"
and someone else offered to compile a list of early technical writers to go
up on his website. My vote went to Mrs Beeton, whose Household Manual was
not only one of the most influential pieces of technical writing ever
published, but who also invented what we now think of as the "natural"
layout for a recipe: list the ingredients first, then give the method.

But the website compiler seemed to think I wasn't serious: Mrs Beeton was
not included, though Julius Caesar snuck in for some reason.

>The illustrations are
>there to show you how it is supposed to look, so that you know you've
messed
>up when instead of a beautiful, brown cake, you end up with a green,
>gelatinous mound of goop.

<g> Or vice versa... <g>

Jane Carnall
Technical Writer and Compendium
of Arcane and Useless Information


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