Dumbing Down for Dummies

Amazon lists 711 titles in the "Dummies" series. The top-selling title for dummies is "Spanish for Dummies." Then Piano, Italian and Home Maintenance.

I have long resented the "Dummies" Series. The first one, 1991's "DOS for Dummies," was brilliant because DOS was arcane and no regular person understood it. So you weren't really a dummy if you bought the book.

But IDG books took the idea too far. Once IDG moved on from the initial concept, it ceased to be cute. Why does one need to call themselves a dummy just because he or she is learning a subject from scratch?

I know, I know, it's supposed to be ironic, but it's just dumb. And dumb is the American way. Read Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, by Richard Hofstadter and you'll know we've been proud to call ourselves dumb for a long time. This Washington Post article calls it anti-rationalism.

Now other books are taking on the same dummy tone. And not just the copycat "Idiots' Guides." I just bought The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. The first sentence reads, "Like moving into a new home, starting a blog is like an adventure." Unless "like moving into a new home" will ignite a light bulb in my head about blogs, the authors should lose the folksy tone.

I don't need an "aw c'mon" approach to a new skill; I just need an easy-to-read manual. I don't want analogies that don't explain any of the concepts in the books. Save that for Garrison Keillor. Folksy doesn't clarify--have you heard Keillor's explanation of String Theory?

After irrelevant analogies, I hate analogies that are hammered into the ground. If the HuffPost Blogging book had gone on about drapes and moving vans, I would have thrown the book out the window.

Here's a great short interview about the origin of the "Dummies Series" at wambooli.com.