Customer Reviews

The Joy of TeX, a Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMSTeX Macro Package, Second Edition

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Spivak's appealing and original book makes learning TeX much more fun than it really should be! If you are already familiar with some flavor of TeX, this is a great book for becoming proficient with AMS-TeX quickly. If not, then there is enough introductory material to make you familiar with the basics of TeX typesetting first. To me AMS-TeX is preferrable to LaTeX (commands are more suggestive and easier to use) and this book is the best AMS-TeX handbook available.

Since Spivak macros have been ported to LaTeX (the AMS LaTeX collection), people rarely use AMSTeX. Therefore this book ceased to be important as a primary textbook or a reference. Nevertheless it would be a shame for it to become forgotten. Written with typical Spivak's subtle humor (the book gently mocks both The Joy of Cooking and The Joy of Sex), it introduces important concepts of TeX and mathematical typesetting. It is one of the rare books that explain not just HOW, but also WHY. It would be enjoyable both for a TeX gourmet and a technical writer interested in the way Spivak is able to explain difficult things in simple terms.