Customer Reviews

Computers & Typesetting, Volume A: The TeXbook

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought the TeXbook two years ago, but finally spent a few days reading it cover to cover -- and I am impressed. As many others, I started exploring plain TeX because I wanted more from LaTeX. I was surprised to find how simple and, yes, *elegant* TeX is in comparison. I guess TeX is to LaTeX as C is to C++. Certainly do not buy this book if you just want to use LaTeX!

The writing is superb, full of fine detail and more than a few clever jokes. Why can't recent books about modern systems be so delightful? Maybe David Pogue's Missing Manual series comes close, but the topics are not quite as technical.

As a reference, the TeXbook is weak because each command or concept is scattered across so many places: one introductory chapter, one summary chapter, in exercises, in "dangerous bend" passages, and so on. I believe the book is best organized for front to back reading, although probably in two or three passes if you include the dangerous bends. For reference, I prefer TeX by Topic by Victor Eijkhout. It is out of print, but available for download on his web site.

The paperback edition of the TeXbook is spiral bound. I appreciate that it lays flat, but the back pages are always falling out of the binding!

While I have to give this book a 10, it is only fair to mention that there are many who find it impossible to read. Knuth wrote three books simultaneously: a guide to TeX for the nontechnical (typesetters, academic department secretaries), for the technical (computer scientists, mathematicians), and for the expert (Knuth himself).

II you are coming to this book for the first time, follow Knuth's advice and ignore the "dangerous bends."

Knuth is one of the world's leading computer scientists and TeX is his most famous program. It is extremely rare for a programmer at Knuth's level to write the documentation -- and rarer still for him to succeed.

However, after you've read this book, and before you decide that you know everything there is to know about design and typography, please read "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst

I'm feeling kind of stupid that I spent time reading other books about TeX. I assumed that this one would be incomprehensible, but nothing is further from the truth. It's readable, yet precise. The exercises are helpful. The jokes really are funny, and not distracting. It's amazing that computer science's most brilliant mind is also it's most brilliant writer (that I have run across, anyway).

I agree with the one reviewer that the organzation is imperfect. But, I can't say I've found a book about TeX that does a better job.

Whatever you might think of TeX (work of genius to heinous hack seems to be roughly the range of common views), this is the definitive work by the designer of the system. It also contains jokes, which is good.

It is also a good expose of the warped and perfectionist mind of Don Knuth, but that's a separate matter.

LaTeX that most peoples prefer to TeX is useful for reams of technical paper where quality doesn't matter (reports, notes, thesis), but without turning to a professional typesetter, you cannot attain good results without a serious commitment to the study of TeX.

The TeXbook is what you need for this purpose. If you do not intend to go beyond the dangerous bend, you may find LaTeX more suited to your needs.

Secondary, it can serves as a model for writers of technical books, with its index, clarity and organization (Knuth's style put apart, of course--for this one being sometime excessive, I would rate this book only 4.9/5)

If you really want to know TeX, this is the book to have. However, if you are a complete beginner, I'd recommend you first look at Michael Doob's A Gentle Introduction to Tex. It will get you off to a running start and prepare you to profitably read Knuth's book.

If you are fairly sophisticated, you can learn TeX from scratch reading this book. I managed this, whilst at the same time mastering the vagaries of UNIX running on a vax and taking the (old version) of the vi bull by the horns. It was difficult. But you won't likely be facing the daunting technological obstacles I described today.

Dump that hapless Word equation editor and become a TeXpert. Happy TeXing!

This is a must have if you are a serious TeX/LaTeX user. Knuth, the creator of TeX, discusses the concepts (eg. boxes and glue) and algorithms (line breaking, page breaking, spacing in equations) underlying the program and discusses tips, tricks and pitfalls.

Even if you have no wish to poke into TeX's internals, the TeXbook is worth reading as a masterpiece of technical writing. Knuth asks you to solve exercises and tackle difficult passages marked with "dangerous bend" signs. He rewards you with witty epigraphs and in-jokes. (Regarding the pronunciation of TeX: "When you say it correctly to your computer, the terminal may become slightly moist"). Realizing how much thought Knuth has put into the design of TeX will make it harder for you to cut corners the next time you start a creative project. Among programming books I have read, only K&R has helped me more in improving myself intellectually.

The TeXbook was a great read. I was amazed by what TeX could do in the hands of a skilled user. The quiz questions were challenging and informative (solutions were in the back of the book). I plan to use TeX wherever I can.

While this book is fairly detailed, and covers the method TeX processes lines completely, it is for the most part poorly organized. It seems to be intended more as a tutorial than as a reference.

The more advanced methods are interspersed in an almost haphazard way with the beginning techniques. Simple typesetting problems like creating multiple columns, changing margins, and using a different font size are covered very obliquely, and it takes multiple readings to figure out how to do such things.

However, the section on creating mathematical equations is very well done, and I was soon able to master very complicated formatting. The book also talks about "proper" typesetting--the three different dashes and when to use them, the difference between spacing after an abreviation and a sentence-ending period, etc. I only wish Knuth had included all those great tidbits in a table somewhere--sometimes it can take quite a long time to hunt down the information.

TeX is a wonderful typestting language that is great for anything from math reports to psychology research papers, to book typesetting. Unfortunately this book does a poor job of explaining the language, and is not a good reference for someone who is familiar with it.

For someone who wishes to make TeX a way of life, ok, this book is probably great. But if you are trying to learn LaTeX so you can typeset a doc the way everyone else does it, check out Lamport's book on LaTeX, and also Goossens. This book is written like a textbook, bringing up everything and never getting to "So you want to do this? Ok, here's how." F'get about it!