Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby is sooo not like a typical introductory biology textbook that it's not even a comparison. W(p)GtR is hip, to-the-point, artistic, w

Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby is sooo not like a typical introductory biology textbook that it's not even a comparison. W(p)GtR is hip, to-the-point, artistic, witty, with a distinctive voice, intelligently executed, and actually fun. A typical introductory biology textbook is usually designed by a committee with no actual UI design experience and has all the sex appeal of a fifty-something guy with male pattern baldness and bear belly who wears pleated khakis with a cell phone holster on the belt repeating a few slang phrases he memorized in order to seem cool. It's like Calvin and Hobbes comic vs Microsoft Bob -- sad, really. Basically the lesson is that if you don't know your audience (also when your audience consists of the entire young population of a country as diverse as the U.S., which is the case with textbooks), do not try to pull off cool and fun, because many people's idea of cool and fun is very different from yours. And if you must try to be cool/fun, hire some people who actually know how to be cool/fun in the first place.