Books: DOS for Dummies

Computer software tends to crib ideas from older media. The practice pervades even the language of computing (why else would we call files "files"?). Sometimes, though, books, TV, and movies grab things from the world of ones and zeros. The "For Dummies" series of instructional books is one such instance; the series started out with "DOS For Dummies" by Dan Gookin, a primer on how to use MS-DOS (the creaky command-line-based operating system that paved the way for Windows).

Here's an indicator of what a geek I am - when I was in elementary school, I read "DOS For Dummies" for fun. There's some snarky humor in the book, even if you don't count the cartoons by Rich Tennant. It's never directed at the newbie reader, of course, but rather at the infernal minds who created MS-DOS (mostly Tim Paterson, I guess, but I like to blame Bill Gates for good measure).

Unlike a lot of computer books from the '90s, this one is still relevant, because even the fanciest version of Windows still has the command prompt available for old diehards or old programs. So, the next time you type "dir /o /p" at a lonely monochrome screen, spare a thought for all the tech writers like Dan Gookin, showing users the way of the system while poking fun at it all the way.