TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Best Technical books From:Michael Smith <smith -at- IO -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 16 Feb 1999 01:40:32 -0600
Howard Kaikow <kaikow -at- standards -dot- com> asked:
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 01:40:32 -0600
Sender: smith -at- schultz -dot- io -dot- com
>Does any body a list of the alleged best books in various subject
>areas, e.g., Visual Basic, Database, Word, Access, Excel, etc.?
If you're not familiar with O'Reilly, I recommend taking a look at
the list of titles on their website <http://www.ora.com>. Many of
their books are widely acknowledged as the standard references in
the subject areas they treat -- their book "Programming Perl", for
example, or their "Mastering Regular Expressions". They consistently
meet high standards -- very few clunkers.
There are many people out there who will suggest looking no further
if O'Reilly has a title on the subject you need. I'm not sure I'd
agree, but I don't think you could go too far wrong with that plan.
I've found the reader-posted reviews at Amazon.com to be a great
resource for honest opinions on tech books. They've often steered me
clear of bad books I might've otherwise been suckered into buying --
and toward sleepers I might not otherwise have considered picking up.