Saturday, August 12, 2006

A book that should be one sentence long


"If you looked at this title and thought 'That's me!', do your child a favor and don't homeschool her."

One dummy in the family should be plenty.

5 comments:

  1. I am in total agreement. Who would buy a book that calls them names and if it is true, then you need more than that book.

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  2. Ugh, I am no fan of the Dummies series in general, but this one takes the cake. Wonder what it would take to get a For Dummies proposal rejected?

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  3. As a librarian, every day I see people who need to learn a little about a subject that is completely new to them. Probate comes to mind. Home repairs.
    In these cases, you want a book that spells things out carefully and without assuming any prior knowledge of, say, law, or plumbing.

    However:
    1. Calling the book "for Dummies" or "for the Complete Idiot" seems unnecessarily judgemental.
    2. Homeschooling is just not one of those subjects.

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  4. i always used to apologize to patrons if i wound up showing them a 'dummies' book.

    perhaps in this title's case, 'for dummies' addressing the readership and the product of their homeschooling efforts....

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  5. I still do. Nobody's ever taken offense though, I guess that's the key to the success of these series.

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