The comment about "For Dummies" irks me. I was the main author on a For Dummies book and the whole point is to provide step by step actions to guide a complete

The comment about "For Dummies" irks me. I was the main author on a For Dummies book and the whole point is to provide step by step actions to guide a complete newbie through the procedure. It's intentionally done that way because that's what the audience wants. They don't want to read it cover to cover, they want to pick up the book, open it to the section called "Installing a wireless network card for Windows Vista" and follow the instructions. When they want to read sections, they want to read something that speaks to them, not something that assumes they've read it all up to that point. Technical books may have failed a certain segment of the population (I agree with many of his points if I look at it from my own perspective), but I know a lot of technical authors who make a fine living writing books, which means that people are buying them.