ascott@gara.une.oz.au (Tony Scott STPG) (09/24/90)
I have recieved unsolicited a flyer concerning a book about typesetting tables within the UNIX system. Since I am in Australia, I don't know how the company concerned, TRILITHON PRESS, Los Altos Ca. got my address. I would like to know if this company is a reputable one and if anyone has actually seen the book concerned. The Title is the title of this mail. For the money they say the book costs It seems good value, but there is no indication of the number of pages, only an outline of the contents. Thanks in advance. regerds Tony Scott ascott@gara.une.oz.au
ray@vantage.UUCP (Ray Liere) (09/25/90)
> Subject: Typesetting Tables on the UNIX system > . > . > . > I would like to know if this company is a reputable one and if anyone > has actually seen the book concerned. The Title is the title of this > mail. We have purchased the book, and I feel it is excellent. It is 280+ pages, and contains a very thorough tutorial on the use of tbl for typesetting tables. I feel that it is clearly written. It has lots of examples (which I find extremely helpful. The lack of meaningful/useful/non-toy examples in many technical texts is one of the areas I feel verrry strongly about. I feel that this book is definitely worth the price paid for it. By the way, the table of contents is good -- actually useful as a post-reading way to dive into the book for reference (versus the too-often used half-page list of chapter titles). Ray Liere Vantage Consulting and Research Corporation voice: (503)657-7294 uucp: uunet!nwnexus.WA.COM!vantage!ray -or- uunet!nwnexus!vantage!ray -or- hplabs!hpubvwa!hpupora!vantage!ray Internet: ray%vantage@nwnexus.WA.COM
lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin) (09/25/90)
[sorry if you see this twice -- we seem to have a C-news config error...] ascott@gara.une.oz.au (Tony Scott STPG) writes: > I have recieved unsolicited a flyer concerning a book about >typesetting tables within the UNIX system. > >I would like to know if [the publisher] is a reputable one and if anyone >has actually seen the book concerned. The Title is the title of this mail. I have a copy of the book. It's by Henry McGilton and Mary McNabb. It's also by far the best reference on tbl I have ever seen. Now, you might well wonder whether you _want_ some 280+ pages about typesetting tables, but if this is something you do, the book certainly seems worth it to me. I might even go so far as to say that most troff users should at least have access to a copy. There are lots of well-thought-out examples, and the book gets as complex as tables that include diagrams generated with pic and eqn (and diagrams with tables within them), but does so very gently. If I were to make a single criticism of the book, it would be that perhaps it goes a little _too_ gently in places, but I've been using nroff/troff/tbl for some eight or more years now, so perhaps that's unfair. Oh, and it doesn't talk very much about the proprietary versions (Elan, SoftQuad, Xroff, etc) of DWB very much. But I'm a little biased there :-) The full address is Trilithon Press, 333 State Street, Suite 106, Los Altos, California 94022 and the price in the order form at the back of the book is $20 per copy, with $2.40 shipping and handling, although I expect that your local bookshop could order it just as easily. The ISBN is 0-9626289-0-5 and it's dated 1990. I have no connection with Trilithon Press, if anyone cares. Lee -- Liam R. E. Quin, lee@sq.com, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, +1 (416) 963-8337 "[...] you cannot sustain adult, probing, meaningful drama when the proceedings are interrupted every twelve minutes by a dozen dancing rabbits with toilet paper." [Melinda Snodgrass, quoted by Evelyn C. Leeper]
fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) (09/25/90)
In article <3863@gara.une.oz.au>, ascott@gara.une.oz.au (Tony Scott STPG) writes: > I have recieved unsolicited a flyer concerning a book about > typesetting tables within the UNIX system. > > Since I am in Australia, I don't know how the company concerned, > TRILITHON PRESS, Los Altos Ca. > got my address. > > I would like to know if this company is a reputable one and if anyone > has actually seen the book concerned. The Title is the title of this > mail. > > For the money they say the book costs It seems good value, but there > is no indication of the number of pages, only an outline of the > contents. I just received a review copy of this book. (We get lots of stuff like this as we publish a series of pocket-sized references and tutorials for UNIX.) The authors are Henry McGilton and Mary McNabb. Henry has written other books on UNIX that are considered excellent. I haven't had time to read all of _Typesetting Tables on the UNIX System_ but from what I have looked at it appears to be very well done. It starts from the basics and covers everything imaginable about tbl. Too bad this book didn't exist when I was discovering how to use tbl about 8 years ago. :-) Its 282 pages. And, of course, has lots of tables in it. The ISBN is 0-9626289-0-5, cover price is $20. If you can't find it in a bookstore, it is available from the publisher, Trilithon Press, 334 State Street, Suite 106, Los Altos, CA 94022. $2.40 shipping & handling (domestic I assume) plus $1.40 tax for California residents. Anyway, consider this a plug for Henry's work. If you want to know how to use tbl, this is the book for you. -- Phil Hughes, SSC, Inc. P.O. Box 55549, Seattle, WA 98155 (206)FOR-UNIX uunet!pilchuck!ssc!fyl or attmail!ssc!fyl (206)527-3385