I never liked the idea of the “for Dummies” or the “complete idiot’s guide to” book series’, but their sales success have certainly demonstrated that plenty of people identify with being a dummy or a complete idiot. Self-deprecation is fine, just realize that there’s a dear line between embracing your own ignorance and ensuring a prophesy of certainty.
This extends well beyond the kind of books you’re buying. I’ve met far too many people who seem so certain of their lack of abilities that they curb their chances of success before they’ve walked the first step. While there are probably plenty of geniuses out there, most of the interesting people I’ve talked to are of average intelligence, but above-average aspiration. Stop believing in the myth of triple-A people as a different kind.
Just because you don’t know how to program or design or lead or do anything doesn’t make you a dummy or an idiot. Mastery is probably closer than you think.
I didn’t start programming for real until I was 20-something. Rails was my first project in Ruby. Jason didn’t train to be a designer, but got a degree in finance. The world is filled with people who didn’t know jack not too long ago about whatever it is that they’re doing and are now highly regarded in their fields.
If there’s something you don’t currently know how to do, please decide not to be a dummy or an idiot. You’re as smart as you always were, you’re just looking to learn something new. Set your ambition to that of equality: There’s no reason I couldn’t be as good as that guy or girl doing what I want.
Kevin Kim
on 07 Aug 08Rails was your first Ruby project ?
Ah, now that explains why Rails is so slow and not thread-safe. ...
And why you guys just dropped some crazy cash on upgrading servers, hiring specialized system performance/scaling consultants, and added a middle-tier to your application to help distribute load as talked about in your previous post.
Well, all-in-all, I guess Rails isn’t too bad for your first Ruby project ever. Though, I wouldn’t run my business on it.
Austin Kleon
on 07 Aug 08David Foster Wallace said that reading essays should be like “watching somebody reasonably bright but also reasonably average pay far closer attention and think at far more length about all sorts of different stuff than most of us have a chance to in our daily lives.”
It’s all about where you put your attention.
Eric J. Gruber
on 07 Aug 08David, you’re right on.
I couldn’t get into the “dummies” books for the same reason. I’m not an idiot, I’m just ignorant. There’s a huge difference there. But with enough time and persistence, that barrier can be overcome.
I’m currently “reading” Brian Tracy’s “Goals! How to Get Everything You Want – Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible,” and it touches on this very subject.
People often sell themselves short way too often.
Heck, even Kevin Kim might be able to improve.
Dave!
on 07 Aug 08There’s nothing wrong with admitting you need to start at the beginning to learn something new. The “Dummies” and “Idiots” series are meant to be a playful way of allowing people to learn about a subject that might not be their regular thing. While I might not recommend one of them for someone who wanted to learn how to program seriously, there’s nothing wrong with them for someone who wants to dabble and learn some basic skills without investing a lot of money. And some of them are well written (although, certainly not all of them).
If someone is only buying a Dummies/Idiot's book because they really think that about themselves, they have some serious self-esteem issues. I think the sales success of those books doesn't really say anything about people viewing themselves as "dumb" or "idiotic"... I think it says more about people being able to know what they don't know, wanting to learn something new, and having a sense of humor.Seriously, lighten up!
Kevin Kim
on 07 Aug 08To follow-up on Dave! comment, I personally find the Dummies/Idiots books great guides to the “basics” of a particular subject.
I seriously doubt many people believe they will become an expert by reading one of those books.
The niche it serves is to provide people with the foundational information that intermediate and advanced books assume you already know.
Splashman
on 07 Aug 08Great post, David. While it’s true that not everyone has the personality or basic talent to be a [occupation], it’s also true that way too many people think, for no good reason, that they cannot ever be a [occupation]. You’ll never know for sure until you dive in and try.
Tanner Christensen
on 07 Aug 08You can do anything you want to do, you just have to accept that fact to get started.
Hal Black
on 07 Aug 08Counterpoint: there’s something to be said for having what the Buddhists call “The Beginner’s Mind”. It’s actually quite an effective way to learn new things. If you’re open to learning and not consumed with what you already know, you’re a much more effective learner.
Admitting your lack of knowledge of the topic at hand is a great first step to get in this state and start learning.
Of course, semantically, “idiot” and “dummy” aren’t the same as having an open (or beginner’s) mind, but they’re much more marketable. 8’)
Ben
on 07 Aug 08Thanks for the motivation to not give up on one day becoming on par with you David.
Ben (19)
Brian
on 07 Aug 08Great post, and I agree. I like to put it this way:
You’ll never accomplish anything in this life that you can’t first make yourself believe is possible.
Mark Wilden
on 07 Aug 08By this time, “Dummies” and “Idiots” are just trademarks for (generally) pretty well-written introductory guides. In fact, the books usually fall all over themselves to emphasize that their readers are not stupid. Those words are just brand names and shouldn’t be taken literally.
Adam
on 07 Aug 08I think the Dummies brand is successfully used to convince the customer to buy their book instead of competing publications because of their non-intimidating message, “Even if you have the most basic and embarrassing question about ____, you’ll find it in this book…”
The customer may not be thinking they’re dumb, but they’re intimidated by their lack of knowledge in a particular subject.
Also, I believe that most of my career and life successes have been the results of my ambition as opposed to my WAY average intelligence. Interest and ambition increase intelligence and wisdom.
nhoj
on 08 Aug 08So when is Rails for Dummies comming out? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Oh wait, I just checked Ruby on Rails for Dummies it does exist…lol
Wow. Actually I was going to say amen to what you said David. Rails is quite an accomplishment for a first project. What languages did you use before Ruby?
Chris Chowdhury
on 08 Aug 08Thanks for this post. I’m really encouraged.
Justin French
on 08 Aug 08Couldn’t agree more David. The reason my Dad still can’t program a VCR isn’t because he’s ‘dumb’ (far from it) it’s because he thinks it’ll be hard, believes the stereo types and has somehow convinced himself it’s far too complicated or beyond him.
I’m a graphic designer who ended up as a senior developer and team leader, working with big companies and some of the smartest people in the industry, so I’m pretty happy I stepped outside of design, learnt something new and found out what else I could contribute.
Michael Moncur
on 08 Aug 08I’ve been hearing the same silly complaints from technical people about the “for dummies” books for years, and they’ve always missed the point.
If you read the foreword of any “dummies” book you’ll find something like this: “We know you’re no dummy, but subjects like X can really make everyone feel like a dummy at first. This book will help you quickly get past that frustrating stage and start doing cool things with X.”
The whole series sprang from the ancient tradition of computer books being 400-page-long tomes with titles like “DOS for 386 Hardware Platform Support and Troubleshooting Techniques Desk Reference, 4th Edition”. When someone who feels like a dummy was confronted with that volume and “DOS For Dummies,” it was an easy choice.
Now, as others have said, it’s a brand. If you feel like a dummy about something, look for a yellow-and-black book and they’ll get you sorted.
I’ve been programming for 25 years, published many books myself, and certainly never needed a “Dummies” computer book, but recently I started learning to play the guitar. I found lots of books on the subject, but almost all of them started with lots of assumptions. Some expected me to know a few chords already, others expected me to have chosen a particular musical style, others assumed I knew how to read music. I wanted something more basic – I didn’t even know how to hold the guitar or where to put my fingers.
I realized this is probably how lots of people feel when they’re confronted with the computer bookshelves. Sure enough, I reached for “Guitar for Dummies” and it was exactly what I was looking for.
There was never any self-deprecation involved. I knew I wasn’t a dummy and that I could learn. But what I needed was a book that acknowledged my frustration – yes, we all feel like a dummy sometimes – and started at the very beginning.
The “Dummies” title is meant to be a joke. If they were called “For Clueless Losers Who Will Never Amount to Anything,” I’d say that anyone who bought one needed therapy. But pretty much everyone understands that they mean “For people who are so overwhelmed at an entirely new field of study that they almost feel stupid.” And it’s a feeling we all get sometimes.
Frank
on 08 Aug 08Thank you for this! You guys always keep me motivated and inspired for the future.
Don Schenck
on 08 Aug 08@Gruber: Been through that book three times in the past year, and I’ll be visiting it again the last quarter of 2008. EXCELLENT read.
Quinn Weaver
on 08 Aug 08This is especially true with tools like jQuery and Ruby on Rails that really nail their use cases. Once you know what you want to do, it’s not very hard to figure out how to do it; these tools were designed with your needs in mind.
A lot of (Perl back-end) programmers I know have a mental block about learning Rails or Javascript. Get over it! It’s not that hard.
- Very loose translation of Goethe by John AnsterJimbo
on 08 Aug 08It’s like when Rachel Ray says, “I can’t bake.” It’s a bit insulting. We know she’s a dipshit, but you’d assume a celebrity talkshow host/bestselling author/entrepreneur can follow a cake recipe.
Mason
on 08 Aug 08I doubt David was knocking X for Dummies’ content or approach. Rather, he was driving home the point that, at some level, those books are meant to play to the insecurities of the person potentially buying it, even if it’s only jokingly.
“Sarcasm is hate’s sexy cousin.” – Me, right now. Hating on one’s self is generally seen as unattractive and unhealthy, so we opt for the other option of masking it in sarcasm and hyperbole. While I’m all for being able to laugh at one’s self, if you’re doing it with this underlying mindset, there can be a slow erosion of self image that ultimately leads to what David was getting at – that feeling of, “Oh, I can handle these. But I better not take it any further.”
If you’re going to buy the Dummies books (they really are decent beginner’s material), be sure to approach it with the mindset that this is not your ceiling.
Scott
on 08 Aug 08“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” -—Henry ford.
Chris Mear
on 08 Aug 08I have always loved this advice about learning, from Aaron Hillegass’s Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X:
Mark
on 08 Aug 08I have to agree, David. I started making my own websites in 1995, became the ‘intranet dude’ at the company I was with simply because nobody else knew much about the web. 13 years later and I’m a full-time web developer earning a decent salary; I’m not the best by a long shot, but if I hadn’t given myself a break by allowing myself the chance to try something I wasn’t ‘qualified’ in (and really, who was ‘qualified’ to do web stuff in 1995?:)), or deciding that I should teach myself PHP 5 or 6 years ago, then I would still be doing office admin work somewhere.
David
on 08 Aug 08I’ve always refused to buy the Dummies and Idiots books because I voted for George Bush and don’t think either book series adequately stoops to my level of stupidity. I’m waiting for a series dedicated to people who voted for George Bush.
Julian
on 08 Aug 08People don’t by it because they think they are dummies, they buy it because it says even dummies can learn it. People then think “I’m pretty smart” and that they will learn it definitely with that book.
Steve
on 08 Aug 08On the flip side, there is a certain feeling of liberation when you take a step back and say “right, I know absolutely jack about this particular subject”. The very act of doing that liberates you from having to pretend you do, and the doors of perception suddenly open very wide as you realise you can ask any question you like without betraying how thin your base of knowledge is in a particular field.
A little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing, because sometimes it’s easier to go from “none” to “a lot”, especially once you’re an adult and the old brain receptors are no longer burning with the incandescent electricity of youth….:)
Adam
on 08 Aug 08A For dummies book is what ruined my life 5 – 6 years ago… “php for dummies”.
Went through it, didnt really know what I was doing (How can you in one book?) so I just said crap to this, im going to build something usefull.
Turnt out the application wasnt usefull, it was a pile of crap but I learnt heaps.
rohan dey
on 08 Aug 08who says David is arrogant, his understanding that people can be average and stating that “Just because you don’t know how to program or design or lead or do anything doesn’t make you a dummy or an idiot” is sign of humility.
I belong to the same group of people who are less confident about themselves but then I now work on rails and soon will be releasing my own website, kind of an achievement for me.
I hope someday I can work with David :)
Gayle Bird
on 08 Aug 08Man, I love 37s. You guys always come through with the positivity and self-assurance.
Keith
on 08 Aug 08The best dummies book I ever saw in person was “The Dummies Guide to Depression & Anxiety.” That seemed both hilarious and totally inappropriate all at the same time.
James C
on 08 Aug 08A flip-side to this is: don’t make the common assumption that someone can’t be competent (or can’t have a valid point, etc) just because they don’t have official qualifications in a field, and/or are relatively new to it.
Norman Clarke
on 08 Aug 08Amen. It’s very hard to “know what you know” and too many people fall into either arrogance or self limiting. If you think you know something but really don’t – you’ll never really learn it. If you think you’re too dumb to learn something you never will either. Learning how to look at yourself and your knowledge with some degree of objectivity is an important life skill.
It sounds trite from so much repetition, but the Temple of Apollo really had it nailed when the wrote “Know yourself” at their entrance.
Manuel
on 08 Aug 08Hi David, I agree with your remarks but I think you could have a more balanced view if you read Peter Norvig’s classic article “Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years”.
http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html
George Cave
on 08 Aug 08I was first exposed to ‘Shoshin’ when studying Aikido. As Hal mentions above, ‘Shoshin’ is a concept of Zen Buddhism; the ‘beginner’s mind’.
In our society people are very wary of letting on that they may not know as much as someone else. There is a great deal of ego out there that prevents people from asking questions, or for help when they need it. I suffered from this greatly when studying for my BA in Physics.
I send my kids to a school that teaches children to not be afraid to ask questions or let their ego get in the way of learning.
At the same time, I think David’s post is very valid. There are times when you don’t really need to start at the beginning. You can jump in the middle and start doing. My experience with programming is that the best way to learn is to do, fail, learn, repeat until success. The process of failure, as long as you use it learn, can teach you an enormous amount very quickly.
Morning Toast
on 08 Aug 08I’ve always said to friends that instead of “Dummy” books they need a, “What not to do” series of books.
Instead of telling people what they should do to solve their problems, tell them what they shouldn’t do and let them otherwise solve the problem themselves. Ideally, “what not to do” would be safety issues and things that would really mess you up, but it wouldn’t tell you exactly how to do anything.
Instead of “Electricity for Dummies,” you have “What not to do with Electricity.” Instead of saying, “use a potato to remove a broken light bulb,” you have “don’t use metal to take out the bulb.”
Help people find their own best methods while keeping them safe by avoiding irreversible consequences.
Matt Gorecki
on 08 Aug 08When I onsite internet service repairs, I got really tired of hearing people tell me that they were computer stupid. I had never met most of these people and the first words out of their mouth were: I’m stupid. First Why would you tell a stranger that? And second, once they said the words, it was like a free pass to be ignorant of the situation.
Very rarely was somebody truly interested in watching and learning what I was doing to fix a problem.
Is this a common reaction for other areas? I would guess that auto mechanics probably go through the same process.
Scott Purdie
on 08 Aug 08I love the little troll symbol at the top. Where do these people come from, they read an exceptional blog, clearly to learn from great people and then have a pop.
Keep up the great posts guys!
S
Vicky H
on 08 Aug 08While I’m not 100% disagreeing with David, I have a different perspective.
First, not everything I need to know a ‘little’ about do I have an interest in delving in to. I personally love these books, because getting basic and general knowledge of a topic you need for something quick is many times what I need and I like a book without all the chapters to read to get me to the ‘meat’ of the information I really want. I don’t want to blow through pages 30-48 in paragraph fashion to find the one fact I want to know, or worse yet, not find it and go read another book.
I also like the way they use graphics for tips, definitions and other things. Personally I did a trip or tip at times and I must say that in reading the Rails book with if I remember correctly had a graphic of DHH saying something like “David says…” was helpful because I wanted to know what David thinks.
There comes a time when it’s like I don’t want to have to run to the store, buy bacon, cook bacon, just to have a ppiecee of bacon. Maybe I want to just head to a restaurant and say ‘side of bacon’. I The second point is that many times as you become an expert, you miss the simple little things. When you learn, you never get all of it, so I think the Dummies book serve a purpose of getting down to the most basic. I look at it more as a “How do non experts view this topic” and I embrace my own geek and the Dummies name.
For instance, on my desk is a mini-book Success for Dummies, and I’ve also gotten a mini- Sex for Dummies, just to see if I’m missing anything :-)
I have fun with it. Just my 2 cents worth.
Martin
on 08 Aug 08Ignorance and stupidity are not the same thing.
I am certainly ignorant when it comes to a large number of subjects, but I don’t consider myself to be stupid. If sufficiently motivated, I’m confident that I could correct my ignorance.
This fundamental point is missed, and even obscured, by the “Dummies/Idiots” titles. I would much rather buy something called “The Beginner’s Guide to X”, “The ABCs of X”, or equivalent.
For a good example of how to do it right, look at “The Economist”. The reader is treated as an intelligent layman, who is not usually presumed to know all that much about the subject of a given article, but is not condescended to either. (Contrast that with “Time”, which appears to be written for not especially bright children…)
Martin
on 08 Aug 08Vicky H: I’ve seen those “Sex for Dummies” books in the stores too. My first thought was, “No!!! Surely we have enough already. Please don’t encourage them to reproduce!”
Adam
on 08 Aug 08“You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggonit, 37Signals likes you.”
danadecaf
on 08 Aug 08David, will you marry me?
eric g
on 08 Aug 08JF and DHH,
any comments on http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=30529
“We’ve been growing really fast, and I don’t have the expertise to (run) the company,” said co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Jake Nickell, who will move a portion of SkinnyCorp to Colorado in October. “I never finished college. I’m a creative person.”
Bob Moore
on 08 Aug 08Back in 1979 I remember reading a magazine called Kilobaud and Byte … and I felt really stupid because I didn’t understand any of it. Then I thought, hold it … I’m really a smart guy. At that point I decided computers were the coolest machines man ever developed and that I had to learn everything I could about them. I’m still learning and it’s been a great ride!
Ernie
on 08 Aug 08Well said. Every time I’ve accomplished anything worth accomplishing it’s been because I didn’t spend so long in the “think about it” stage that I talked myself out of starting. People would be surprised just how much they could accomplish if they’d just choose to be willfully ignorant about what “can’t be done.”
Richard Bird
on 08 Aug 08I like the “for Dummies” series. That’s not a confession.
I like them as a very simple way to skim the surface of something I’m interested in.
I know that I’m going to need to go much deeper, but welcome the quick, down-and-dirty option to start.
In fact, today and right in front of me, I have a copy of XML for Dummies.
Adrian
on 08 Aug 08“don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. did someone say that already?
Richard Bird
on 08 Aug 08Ha! Just thought of it…
Getting Real: 37signals for Dummies
Surfer Gurl
on 08 Aug 08Eh, I don’t know if it’s because people are embracing their ignorance (at least as far as books titled “For Dummies” are concerned) or if it’s because of some trend somebody started.
I was just on amazon.com purchasing a book called “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot,” which was published in 1969 and is probably the first book geared toward idiots.
I think it’s a retro thing that took on a life of its own…
Richard Walker
on 09 Aug 08danadecaf and David, can I be “best man” or is that “best moron”?
Denis Paraschy
on 09 Aug 08Thanks.
wisdom
on 09 Aug 08I have seen some pretty good for dummies books in my day. I think they make idiots guides these days too.
Vic
on 10 Aug 08Interesting post, the “dummies” books were most likely developed as a marketing tactic to engage people. If you would like to learn about a topic that someone else has expertise in you can go out and buy a book that may present information in a simplistic way. I personally never purchased any of these books yet, I am sure there is something that I could learn about a subject that I no little about. If you work hard and learn from your mistakes anything can be accomplished. What about books like, “Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple” which summarize content that you will use in specific situations like board examinations. People have many different aptitudes a good programmer may not be a very good nuclear engineer, but if turns her/his focus to mechanical engineering he/she might see things others would never see.
Noam Almosnino
on 10 Aug 08I agree with some of the above comments, the “dummies” books are fine for getting a taste of something, and then moving on to the more serious books.
They provide an entry point that might appear less intimidating than other books. As mentioned the name is more of a trick than a call out to tell you how smart (or not) you are.
Simon Nielsen
on 10 Aug 08wow very inspirational ! good post
Chris Carter
on 10 Aug 08I agree that people shouldn’t confuse ignorance with stupidity. That goes for both self-analysis AND your treatment of other people.
On the flip side, I don’t think the term “mastery is easier than you think” is accurate. I think that’s just the kind of thinking that has lead to so many incompetent slackers in our industry whose crappy code I end up fixing later on. I think there are very few “masters” in our industry. Mastery is something that takes years and years of study and practical experience. I know with the ubiquitous access to computer science knowledge on the internet, we like to think we can become masters on the fly, like some get rich quick scheme, but that’s just delusional.
Steve Yegge and other folks have some really good reading in regards to this topic. My point is that the folks who bring up the Beginner’s Mind concept hit the nail on the head with regards to mastery – those who assume the role of the student in their mind and pursue mastery even when they’ve achieved it are the true masters.
Josh
on 11 Aug 08I totally agree, David. And I’ve never liked the “for Dummies” or “Idiot’s guide” books either. I’ve decided never to pick up one of those books because I’m not a dummy or an idiot – I just happen to know very little or nothing about a particular topic.
I agree with the others who have said there’s a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is fine to embrace; stupidity is not. Ignorance says I haven’t learned something; stupidity says I can’t learn it.
Adam
on 11 Aug 08Nice post. Someone said to me very early on in my career, “Most people severely over-estimate everyone else’s ability and severely underestimate their own.” It isn’t about being arrogant, simply aware that we quite often assume others have it all figured out when in fact we are all capable of big things.
Jean-Remy Duboc
on 12 Aug 08Kevin, what is your first Ruby project ? Or, since you don’t seem to like Ruby or Rails so much, what is the latest project you did that led to a success comparable to Rails ? And since Rails sucks so much, why don’t you just improve it ? Hellooo, the thing is open-source ! God I hate when people criticize other’s work without any real argument OR anything better (and constructive) to propose to the community. But, hey, it’s a troll, what can you do…
Mokokoma
on 12 Aug 08While I agree with not accepting or defining yourself as a dummy simply ‘cos you lack knowledge on some subject or software…
I think all the publisher wanted to achieve with their titles is, that the ‘subject’ is so easily explained that even a ‘dummy’ would be able to learn from the book, so it’s not that the buyer is dumb, the publishers are just using the lesson’s simplicity as their USP.
Rhonda Michelle
on 12 Aug 08Thanks for a great post David – it really made me smile. Like Jason I got my degree in finance and am now a graphic designer. For the longest time I thought I “wasn’t creative”. It took alot of energy & persistence to reprogram my thinking and realize that everyone is creative – just in different ways. I am once again in a huge learning curve and taking my business to a new place so this mindset is critical in order to do that.
Someone mentioned beginner’s mind – when I was in the beginning of my career I thought that it was ok to be “openly still learning” but that, hey, at some point along the way you become an expert. Maybe you still do actually master something but beginner’s mind allows us to stay open to the possibility that there’s still so much more to learn. Which, I’ve found, is even more important the longer you hang around on this planet.
Drew
on 13 Aug 08Modern man finds it hard to make an honest self-appraisal. The slide into either egotism or low self-esteem is an easy one. In that context, I certainly agree that the underlying message of a “for dummies” title is problematic.
However, I think the comment that “mastery” may be closer than you think is a loaded one that bears looking at. So few of us are “masters” at any discipline, that we seem to be socially lowering the bar for application of the term. “Mastery” of a skill takes time proportional (or is it exponential) to the difficulty of the discipline. One can “master” opening a bag of chips much more quickly than one can “master” olympic diving.
Similarly, the concept that one “can do anything” is a comforting falsehood which produces a lot of disillusioned young adults who find that, in fact, they can’t do “anything”. It conveniently also allows us to condemn others for failure because by that logic, if they’d simply tried harder, they could have done “anything”. The hard reality is that we have what tools we have, mentally and physically. We live in the world we live in with whatever constraints it imposes on us. Rather than telling the reassuring lie, perhaps a better message is something like “few people know their true limits, and those limits can only be found by continually striving towards one’s ideals. A life spent sincerely striving to improve is a life well-lived, even if the ideal is never attained.”. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s an improvement over the standard message. No doubt others here can come up with something better.
ptdorf
on 13 Aug 08“Sucess (can) be your worst enemy”
In the beginning, after watching some podcasts and reading some rants against java and php, I was concerned about what could be a called an over-confident/arrogant tone that i decided to stick with the good humble php workhorse.
But with posts like this, its almost gone that phase! Now am a 99% ruby/ror convert.
This discussion is closed.