I'm writing a book for a publisher and it promises to be a character-building exercise.
They want chapter introductions that pat the user on the hand and tell them, today class first we're going to X and then we're going to Y and then after that Z but first I'm going to tell you that we're going to do X Y and then Z because before XYZ you need to know that X, Y, Z.
Are you really ready for X? Okay good, because we're going to discuss X before Y. I told you that is all leading up to Z right?
I thought "oh barf I hate those". Seriously, some of the worst books I've read seem to spend half their time warning me about their own outlines and the other half finally proceeding with a few tidbits that I probably already learned about in more depth on someone's blog.
However, as I began pulling books off the shelf, gathering an arsenal of evidence that good books just say what they have to say.
I found the publisher was right.
And so was I.
In the card before this we learned that
XOXO eVERYONE wAS rIGHT!!!! XOXO
In the next card we will all get mad propz and and/or or soy lattes <3
I don't think I like soy lattes. That doesn't sound like something I would order. Hemp* mocha is pretty alright though.
Mad props are a force to be reckoned with. If you are a frozen chicken. But we are not, so we shall take eachother by the hand and forthwards to the card number N+1 where you will have noticed that this card must be number N and having completed the containment testing we are ready to proceed to water ingestion or something with the other prototypes.
* milk; hemp mocha not brownies GETCHER MIND OUTA THE GUTTER.
Now or perhaps in a few minutes you know why they say "build one to throw away".
It didn't look like it at first, but Brooks's The Mythical Man Month often does outline, actually, though usually after an engaging few introductory paragraphs.
Imhof's Cartographic Relief Presentation does dedicate a few sentences towards the beginning of each chapter to the roadmap.
Anderson, et al.'s CouchDB: The Definitive Guide starts each with a brief outline-ish paragraph (nicely cordoned off above the first subhead) then proceeds wholeheartedly with the rest of the chapter.
Hamming's Digital Filters: "The purpose of this chapter…", "This chapter uses…", "The preceding chapter has shown…"
It's actually rather less awkward than the chummy "we have learned" ("it has been learned by us"? "it has been learned upon a time and not unrelated to said learning were the previous chapter and its reader"?)
Norman's Psychology of Everyday Things and Schneier's Secrets and Lies were perhaps the most oblique I found in my small sample. (At least, if I remember correctly. I seem to have misplaced the schn-latter book somewhere between my chair and the bookshelf two half steps away.)
They do not really talk about themselves. On closer inspection though, they do provide engaging quasi-pageturneresque introductions.
There is certainly a spectrum — a corpus analysis looking just for "chapter" or even "we" appearances would certainly be interesting.
There may be some correlation between the hardness/softness of the underlying material and the immodesty of its internal navigation.
— Florman's Existential Pleasures of Engineering: "In the wake of the enivronmental crisis, a reappraisal of the engineer's role in sociey would seem to be in order."
— Beazley's Python Essential Reference: "[…three sentences of facts…] This chapter describes the inner workings of the Python object model and provides an overview of the built-in data types. Chapter 4, […two sentences of forward 'links'…]"
In the end of my not-brief-enough survey
Well I guess it's not the end because I still haven't found that schecurity book back.
it appears that overly conspicuous CLICK HERE–style attempts at dead tree navigation are not actually so much a function of the presence/absence of metastructural expressions
[is he making this incredibly informal pompous crap up as he goes along?]
but rather
CUT DOWN ON THAT FLAT BELLY SIMPLY BY BEING 1 WEIRD EATER THAT A BILLIONAIRE SECRET
a function of the author's knowlege of the subject and talent/restraint in presenting it.
.
Fuuuuuuuu…dge
.
.
.
would be a great comfort food about now.
don't tell that 1 weird old advertisment.
And don't get me started on sidebars.