(long) Textbooks - the good, the bad, and the ugly

[kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com]

I went back to school in January, and since then I've used four recently
written textbooks, covering algebra, statistics, economics, and calculus.
The last time I was in school was in the mid 90's, prepping for the
beginning of my tech writing career, and now, with 6 years of tech writing
under my ever-expanding belt, I find I look at these textbooks through
different eyes. I'm much more aware now of *bad* tech writing, when the
text in front of me acts as more of a hindrance than a helper.

Earlier this year, I had no complaints about the texts I was using (other
than their ridiculous price tags). Both my algebra and statistics books
explained concepts clearly, and offered progressively difficult examples
and exercises that were pertinent and practical. While I found algebra
hard as hell, it wasn't the textbook's fault. Instead, I blame Joe Algebra
(or whomever that particular form of math is named after - I'm spotty on
my history...).

This term, I've got two textbook lemons, but for different reasons. One is
a content issue, but the other - to my surprise - is a formatting problem.
Yes, it's a case where some font fondling would actually improve it (he
wrote, listening for the sound of Andrew sharpening his claws).

The econ book is a layout disaster, probably the result of somebody with
some background in design but none in usability. It uses what I'd call a
mirrored format: both the left- and right-side pages have wide margins on
the outside, with lots of little bell-and-whistle callouts and text boxes
in those margins, and all body text is pushed towards the center binding
of the book. That's not a problem, but they've done the same with all the
headings. They look fine on the even (left) pages, but they've been placed
on the right side of the odd pages, and each heading is in line with (not
above) the text of the section to which it corresponds, which makes them
appear more as callouts than as beginnings of new sections.

The hierarchical structure of the headings is obscured by the use of
extremely similar fonts, with little or no difference in size, so it's
hard to tell whether you're reading something that falls under the
previous topic, or maybe you've started a new topic entirely.

I have a crappy memory, and rely instead on my ability to *find*
information. This book makes that very difficult, with a needlessly
complex formatting schema that does nothing to make the search for
information easier. I get the distinct impression that somebody tried to
"punch up" a potentially dry topic by using all this layout razzle-dazzle.
The result looks nice, if you just look at the pages from an aesthetic
sense (although they get a bit cluttered). But when you actually try to
*read* this stuff, I feel an almost tangible pull on my senses, as if I'm
wading through literary quicksand. Two thumbs down on whoever is
responsible - no font fondling for two weeks, while you sit there and
think about what you've done!

The calculus book is a nightmare, but for entirely different reasons. This
author has no sense of the users' needs, and even the teacher often
teaches us a different, more efficient approach than the text. In direct
contrast to the algebra text I used, this text features homework questions
for which no good examples have been given, so some questions are simply
impossible to figure out without the teacher's help. And the examples he
does use are ridiculous - one recent example, intended to show us a method
to test for concavity, used a problem so complex that 10 minutes of
calculus had to be done before we even got to the portion of the problem
that demonstrated the new technique we were supposed to be learning. Our
teacher, sensing our confusion, quickly gave us a much simpler problem on
which we could focus more on the new skill we were learning.

I feel a good textbook should allow diligent students to teach themselves
when necessary, but this book repeatedly stymies me (and other students)
with challenges that we can only resolve with the aid of a teacher. I
can't believe this book was ever user-tested. Or if it was, I assume the
author wrote off any complaints as simply the ranting of somebody who
found calculus difficult. Whatever the case, I went out and bought myself
" The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus," which I've just started
reading. So far, I like it.

To add insult to injury, we've been informed that they are replacing this
text soon (hooray), but because of that the school bookstore will NOT be
buying back used copies at the end of the term. So I'm stuck with this
turkey.

Okay, now I've vented. I don't know what I hope to accomplish with this
post, but if nothing else, this experience really plants me thigh-high in
the shoes of a user. It gives me even more incentive to make sure my
writing is clear, and - above all - helpful.



Keith Cronin
e pluribus calculus
I'm pretty sure that means calculus bites the big one, but I'm spotty on
my French...

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