Welcome to the Head First Triathlon
By Caitrin McCullough
For a while now, we've been taking submissions for titles you think we should publish. But to put out great titles, we need great authors... and even though you don't know it, you may be just the Head First author we're looking for. Over the next few weeks, we're going to challenge you to take part in a Head First triathlon.
For now, don't worry about if you really would write an entire book, or get stressed out about contracts or anything like that. Just work through the exercises on the next few pages. Even if you're not interested in authoring, you'll learn more about what makes Head First unique, and how we've been making Head First unique. So without further ado...
It's not a popularity contest
We want people to like us. We want people to love us. Heck, we want people to wear us out, and write on us, and kiss on us in front of their significant others... well, maybe not us, but at least our books. But how do we do that? What makes people so crazy about Head First books? It's time for you to start figuring that out for yourself.
Open up your favorite web browser, and surf on over to Amazon.com. Your job is to read 5 or 10 customer reviews for several Head First books, and then read the reviews for books that compete with the Head First series. What's different about the Head First reviews? Are there some common elements to the reviews for Head First books? Click on the Exercise icon to get to the rest of this post, and we'll tell you what you need to do...
Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML versus
HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide
Read 5 reviews of Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML (try and focus on 4-star and 5-star reviews). Then read 5 reviews of Elizabeth Castro's HTML Visual QuickStart Guide (also focus on 4-star and 5-star reviews). Make a list of 5 common themes you see in the Head First reviews. For each of the common themes, also note if you see the same theme appear in the reviews of the Visual QuickStart Guide. If you have any ideas about why the reviews are different, note those as well.
Head First Design Patterns versus
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Design Patterns by the Gang of Four (which is what the group of authors for this book are nicknamed) is one of the classic texts in software design. It's been around for a decade, and is a one-of-a-kind book. What do people think about the book? Do they like it? Love it? What made it a classic?
Now check out reviews of Head First Design Patterns, which addresses the same patterns that are covered in the classic Design Patterns text. Why are people buying the Head First book? Write down the 5 biggest differences you see between the two sets of reviews. Also make notes on why you think these differences exist. Are the audiences for the books different? Is it the authors? The material? What do you think?
Send your entry to us at contest@headfirstlabs.com. Be sure and send in whatever you come up with. If we like your submission, you might be hearing from us about being the next member of the Head First author team!
Starting this week, we'll have a new thread on the Book Discussion forum up and running, called simply Head First Triathlon. That's where you can ask questions, share thoughts and opinions with other Head First fans, and submit your answers.
And stay tuned to Head First Labs, because next week, we'll be posting the next event: the great Head First element identification race.
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Head First Servlets & JSP, Second Edition, Head First JavaScript, and Head First Software Development are now available.
Buy 2 Books, Get the 3rd FREE! Use the discount code OPC10 when you buy direct from O'Reilly.
Hi, I've bought the Head First Design Patterns book, and I would like to receive the pages(cutted from the book) containing the Patterns Death Match.
On page 499 the book instructs to send an email asking for those pages, so here I am, requesting them.
Thanks.