\title{Book Reviews} {\sl \TeX\ Applications, Uses, Methods}. Edited by Malcolm Clark. Published by Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1990. ISBN 0-13-912296-6. \smallskip \noindent This is the Proceedings of \TeX88, held at the University of Exeter. At least, it is as much of the proceedings as the editor and conference organiser, Malcolm Clark, was able to obtain; certainly all papers are represented by at least an abstract and the paper by three Polish authors, who were not able to be at the conference, is included. As one would expect, many of the papers are directed at matters of interest to those who use \TeX{} and that is not to devalue them in any sense. That \TeX{} is a very powerful typesetting language is known to anyone with an interest in this field and the new effects which people achieve never cease to amaze. However, fascinating as these matters are, I found other parts of the book even more interesting. The first three chapters provide an introduction to \TeX{} and a critique of where \TeX{} stands today (or at least stood three years ago). Anyone who wants to understand what \TeX{} is about and discover where \TeX{} stands {\it vis a vis} DTP systems should read these chapters. And they contain material which is not just true of \TeX{}. Hoenig in chapter~1 uses as his example theorem: `There is no royal road to typesetting. Typesetting is an inherently difficult and time consuming occupation', while Noble and Ganz in chapter~2 suggest that `Authors and good design -- are they compatible?' would make a good paper title. These are both aspects which are often overlooked when DTP and related areas are discussed. The third chapter, {\sl Whither \TeX?}, examining the present role and future of \TeX\ was co-authored by Cathy Booth.\looseness-1 There are other papers in the book which are of interest to more than just `\TeX{}ies'. Sadly the paper on the work at St\"urtz on \TeX{} output in Monotype fonts and that on CUP's implementation of this in the UK are only present as abstracts, as is Francis Cave's paper on the notation and structure of mathematical texts. However, the paper by Tony Norris and A L Oakley on the production of chemical formulae is present in full and makes interesting reading for those working in that area, with some general comments about preprocessors in general (the {\sans troff} rather than the (\La)\TeX{} approach). In summary, this book provides not only a fairly brief, but good, introduction to what \TeX{} is, but it also gives a good cross-section of applications, together with some broader papers, as mentioned. Finally, it should be noted that Cathy Booth was not only a contributor to these proceedings but also local organiser of the Conference. Although the book was published some time before Cathy died, it can in many ways be considered as a tribute to much of the work she did both before and after she became ill. I am sure that Malcolm would be happy to view it in that way.\author{David Penfold} \bigskip \noindent {\sl Desktop Publishing}. By Kirty Wilson-Davies, Joseph St.~John Bate and Michael Barnard; 4th edition revised by Ron Strutt. Published by Blueprint, London, in their Publisher's Guide Series, 1991. ISBN 0-948905-61-1. \smallskip\noindent {\sl Collier's Rules for Desktop Design and Typography}. By David Collier. Published by Addison-Wesley, Wokingham, 1991. ISBN 0-201-54416-4. \smallskip\noindent {\sl Typefaces for Desktop Publishing -- A User Guide}. By Alison Black. Published by Architecture Design and Technology Press, London, 1990. ISBN 1-85454-842-7. \smallskip\noindent {\sl The Writer's Guide to Desktop Publishing}. By Kathy Lang. Published by Academic Press, London, 1987. ISBN 0-12-436275-3. \smallskip \noindent A glance at the titles of these four books would seem to indicate that they all cover the same ground and are aimed at the same market. More detailed perusal indicates that this is not the case. They are, in fact, all aimed at different readers, although there will be some overlap. {\sl Desktop Publishing\/}, revised by Ron Strutt, is one of a series of guides aimed at publishers and is an introduction to the world of DTP, starting from a background of typesetting and publishing. As such, it is a very good introduction. It is perhaps a pity that the first two illustrations in chapter~1 do DTP very little justice, the first being a comparison of typeset and laserprinter output, not at the original size but enlarged, although the text does not say from what, while the second compares a conventionally produced half-tone with a LaserWriter version, which is apparently not even screened. We all know that there are differences, but these comparisons are hardly fair and will tend to reinforce the prejudices of the traditional typesetter or publishing executive. That having been said, the book gives an excellent history and survey of DTP and its use in publishing. There is one important omission, however, which is that there is no mention at all of \TeX{}. While standard \TeX{} is not strictly DTP (i.e.~there is no screen manipulation), nor strictly speaking is Telos, which is mentioned, and to produce a book for publishers which does not even refer to \TeX{} in passing is an important oversight, particularly when almost all the major scientific and technical publishers are at least looking at \TeX{} and its implications. The book has a good index and a glossary which is fairly complete, except that CALS and RISC, for example, are used in the text without being defined either in the book (as far as I could find) or in the Glossary. I have to admit that the title {\sl Collier's Rules} immediately put me off the next book. Presumably it is modelled on {\sl Hart's Rules}, but I do not think that Hart himself called the latter by this name. The title has implications of hubris. If John Miles had called his book ({\sl Design for Desktop Publishing\/}, which is excellent and still available) {\sl Miles' Rules} (though I am sure he never would have), then people would have perhaps smiled, but accepted it because of his reputation. However, although I have heard of all the other authors of the books under review, I had not come across David Collier. But perhaps I am moving in the wrong world, because Erik Spiekermann has written a glowing Foreword to the book. {\sl Collier's Rules\/} is obviously for the graphic designer. It starts with a chapter on Characters and builds up, through Words and Lines, Punctuation, Paragraphs, Illustrations and Graphics, to Page Layout. Each chapter starts with a few pages of descriptive text, followed by pages which I find difficult to read, although the information on them can be absorbed. The information itself is valuable, if not given equal prominence. For example, notes on negative leading are partly obscured by a graphic (a problem -- for me -- on many pages), while items such as the differences between hyphens and n- or m-dashes receive a disproportionate amount of room. It is interesting that Document Handling does not follow on from Page Layout but comes later (after Printing and Binding and Colour) and even then the documents considered are not books or journals. The information on colour takes up eight pages, which is surely not enough. Ron Strutt in his book says `It is a complex area and one which is not to be approached lightly'; Collier perhaps makes it look too easy, even though the text notes the difficulty. This is definitely a graphic designer's book and I am sure that the presentation will be acceptable to a graphic designer; whether it is good graphic design I am not sure, because some of the information gets lost. It is fun to look at, though difficult to read. It would be useful for someone starting graphic design, but is really too elementary for the practising graphic designer. It might make a useful reference book; it does have an index and a glossary, but the latter is not as complete as Ron Strutt's. If David Collier's book is aimed at the graphic designer, Alison Black's book is very definitely aimed at the book designer. It can be read from cover to cover or just used for reference; it includes much wisdom on choosing typefaces for specific purposes, with many examples. I enjoyed reading it and it would go very well with the book edited by William Foster and reviewed above. Part~1 deals with Criteria for Choosing Typefaces, Part~2 with Typeface Production, Reproduction and Multiplication, and Part~3 with The Technical Description of Typefaces. There is also a list of further reading which is fairly comprehensive, a listing of the sources of the illustrations, nearly all of which are from real publications, and a combined index and glossary, which in a book of this kind seems to work well. Although I enjoyed reading Alison Black's book, I did sometimes get lost, because the illustrations are placed in such a way that it is not always clear where the text continues. And on one other point we obviously disagree. An earlier issue of the BCS EP Newsletter is used as an example on page 45 and Alison says that `Hyphenation would also have helped, here, to give a smoother right-hand margin.' The text of the book is unjustified and hyphenated, so Alison practises what she preaches, although I personally find that there are too many hyphens -- but the book was produced using Quark Xpress, and not the latest version! In spite of these reservations, I would recommend the book to anyone who has to produce (and design) a publication, i.e.~a book or journal. Finally we come to Kathy Lang's book, which is directed very much at the author. For the novice it is really excellent, and not just for the novice, for with the `hypertext-like' approach of printing the abstract of each chapter in the table of contents, it is possible to enter the book at the point matching one's level of expertise. The book covers most (probably all) aspects of technical writing, including such areas as backing up material, electronic mail and organising information, quite apart from the more technical aspects of lay-out and DTP. The only real criticism one could make is that the book is beginning to show its age. I know Kathy is aware of that and, if this review can be used to encourage her and her publishers to produce a new edition, it will have served its purpose. In summary, Ron Strutt's book is a good introduction for those in the publishing and typesetting world, while Kathy Lang's, perhaps with reference to the Hertis book (see above) as well, is ideal for the writer approaching a computer for the first time (or even the second or third time). Alison Black's book is for anyone involved in book design, while David Collier's is definitely for the graphic designer. \author{David Penfold} \bigskip \noindent {\sl Typefaces for Desktop Publishing -- A User Guide}. By Alison Black. Published by Architecture Design and Technology Press, London, 1990. ISBN 1-85454-842-7. \smallskip \noindent My usual concern when I find a contemporary book on typography is to see how \TeX\ fares. But first I have to note that the title of Alison Black's book is something of a misnomer. This is an excellent introduction to many of the practical aspects of document production. It is not particularly locked into typefaces, nor to deskstop publishing. It is though a User Guide. I suspect that the title was inherited from the original working party on desktop publishing which instigated the book. This working party included such \TeX\ luminaries as Catherine Griffin and Richard Southall. And if we read through the list of those thanked, we'll also find Paul Luna, Andrew Boag, Paul Stiff and Rachel Hewson: all typographically `sound' and \TeX\ aware. So we must expect a fair treatment. What we get is a rather matter of fact treatment. \TeX\ and \MF\ are not presented as some highly specialist quirky excrescences, but as ordinary tools in the armoury of the user. It was however sad to note a reference to the `\TeX\ character set' as if Computer Modern was the only one which \TeX\ can use. A common enough misconception. \MF\ is used quite seriously in the text, in its role as a rasteriser -- one in which it has yet to be equalled. Black shows how the same character is rasterised at different resolutions. Reading carefully between the pixels (and referring to the Appendix `List of Illustrations') these are \MF\ generated (as are a number of the other illustrations). Unlike David Penfold, I don't think I ever got lost between illustrations and text. I found the design and layout a pleasure. Paul Stiff did an excellent job on this and I only hope my own book will find such an iconclastic and bold designer. The book is copiously illustrated, and all those illustrations benefit the text. In short, a good text, and I think I learned a lot. I hope I put it into practise. And thanks Alison for putting \TeXline\ in the `Further Reading' appendix. That's almost as good as pinning a used fiver to my review copy! \author{Malcolm Clark} \bigskip \goodbreak\noindent {\sl The Joy of \TeX, second ed.: a gourmet guide to typesetting with the \AmSTeX\ macro package}, M~D Spivak, PhD, American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1990, ISBN 0-8218-2997-1. \smallskip\noindent The review of the first edition of this book provided by Angela Barden in the proceedings of the Cork TUG conference (cf \TUGboat\ Volume 12, No.~1) encourages me to fly to the defense of Mike Spivak. To dismiss this book because it does not define `macro' astounds me. No doubt there are mathematicians (who else would want to use \AmSTeX?) who have yet to encounter the word `macro'. That Barden is no mathematician is confirmed by her difficulty of raising 2 to a power ranging from zero to 3. Unless of course Ireland does indeed contain more than two sexes. But I shall assume that most potential users of this book have probably seen the first edition, and their first question will be `how different is it?'. There is not a great deal of difference between the two editions. The principal difference is a new appendix A {\sl The AMS Preprint Style}. Essentially this is the original chapter 7, expanded and transposed. There are 21 additional pages, but this is partly a result of greater use of white space, rather than rewriting. My tally of changes includes the following: some extension to |\widehat| and |\widetilde|; some extra examples relating to |\xalignat| and |\xxalignat|; chapter~19 has some new or extended sections including details of the use of fonts in maths mode, the use of inserts with captions, new symbols, and vertical spacing. The sections on |\qed| and the use of the tab key with matrices are omitted. In case that worries you, |\qed| is still there, it has just changed its form. The appendix on bibliographies has been extended substantially. I confess that I thought that there would be substantially more change with the introduction of \AmSTeX\ 2. It all seems a bit cosmetic to me. I have no doubt that the macros themselves have become more robust and efficient. But really it could have been covered in a short appendix, rather than a new book. Note that this edition was not written by Spivak~MD~PhD, but by the AMS' Technical Support Group. And that rewrite was chiefly to expand chapter~7 and move it to appendix A. That movement itself has a fascinating and amusing consequence. Spivak, like Knuth, carefully manoevered his appendices so that the inital letter of each appendix title coincided with the alphabetic `number' of the appendix. Appendix A was originally `Answers to all the exercises'. It now becomes `The AMS Preprint Style': so far, so good. But what of `Bibliographies'? Sad to say, it now becomes Appendix C, not the anticipated B. It makes all the effort a bit futile. On the other hand, omitting Appendix \AA\ ensures that the solecism of placing it alphabetically between A and B is also omitted.\author{Malcolm Clark} \endinput