Books For ‘Dummies’ Go Beyond Computers
Sticks and stones. Can you take a little taunting? Are you willing to face the fact that the Internet is about as understandable to you as a Fellini film with Swahili subtitles?
More than 30 million people are, and the Dummies’ books, which started as computer and technology guides, have proven it.
OK, now move from the mousepad and into your home, job, even your bedroom.
“Parenting for Dummies,” “Wine for Dummies,” and, yes, “Sex for Dummies,” just to name a few, are now bombarding bookshelves as companions to “DOS for Dummies,” “PCs for Dummies” and “The Internet for Dummies,” etc., as easy-access, contemporary guides to life in the ‘90s.
Really, it’s only the cute packaging that’s entirely new. Such instructional manuals come in more sensitive versions; “Life’s Little Instructions,” “The Guide to Cultural Literacy,” etiquette guides, sex manuals and the most innocuous of self-help books. But never before has it been such a concentrated, in-your-face assault.
Are they the ideal info-fix in a time when food is fast, gratification is instant and time is at a premium? Or are they a dumbed-down, easy way out, indicative of a trend toward de-intellectualization?
Whatever the answer, dummies and idiots are proud to shout out their shortcomings in 30 languages worldwide.
Maybe “dummy” and “idiot” don’t push your buttons, but what about “meathead”?
“Macs for Meatheads” is what one reluctant bookseller suggested John Kilcullen, mastermind behind the Dummies series, label his Macintosh guide.
The reasoning?
Keep the alliteration.
In fact, many booksellers turned down Kilcullen in the beginning, because they were apprehensive about the titles. But Kilcullen and the shrewd marketers at IDG Books Worldwide, of which Kilcullen is president and chief executive officer, pressed on, and the idea that occurred to him in 1987 while playing with ideas over dinner has since ignited an international phenomenon.
The first Dummies’ book, “DOS for Dummies,” appeared on bookshelves in November 1991. “The Complete Idiot” guides came later, and addressed varying and similar topics. The titles, along with being a gimmick, are what Kilcullen, 37, calls a “term of endearment.”
“The chord we’re hitting is people can laugh at themselves,” he said. “People are proud to be dummies at certain things.”
After all, this is a time of hyperspecialization and information overload, and such tongue-in-cheek titles are more likely to relieve than offend.
“The more secure people are in their careers and their lives, the more likely they are to buy these books,” said Theresa Murtha, vice president and publisher of the Macmillan consumer information group, which handles “The Complete Idiot” guides.
Consumers contend the titles are just a marketing mask for tips and advice that may not be as obvious as it seems.
Most people probably know you have to “be careful not to roll over on a baby or small child, or have big pillows and comforters that would smother them” (“Parenting for Dummies,” Page 133), but far fewer know that when a baby starts consuming more than 40 ounces of formula a day, they’re ready for solid food.
The books’ authors, however, are no dummies. They are all “experts” in their fields, whether they hold a degree in speech communications as well as having four sons, like “Parenting for Dummies” author Sandra Hardin Gookin of Coeur d’Alene, or are the queen of carnal knowledge, like Dr. Ruth Westheimer, author of “Sex for Dummies.”
Kilcullen said there eventually will be a Dummies’ guide for every bookstore category. “Religion for Dummies” and topics in “Music for Dummies” are already in the works. “A Complete Idiot’s Guide” on wedding planning is another book sure to win an appreciative audience.