On Wed, 29 Sep 2004, Jack Gill wrote:
I'm new to LyX and LaTeX. I searched Amazon.com for books on both subjects, and found none listed for LyX. For LaTeX, however, Amazon.com shows a list of several books available.
Do you have a recommendation for a first book on LaTeX?
Jack,
There used to be a few introductions and tutorials available on the Web; I don't know if they are still there.
Several years ago I read almost all the main books on LaTeX. The two that I have left are "LaTeX for Linux" by Beatrice Sachs Lipkin and "The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Edition" by Mittlebach and Goossens. I recommend them both.
Lipkin's book is a very good introduction that puts things in context. TLC2 is a fantastic reference for the details of how to do almost anything.
To supplement these, I suggest that you read the LyX Tutorial and familiarize yourself with the Users Guide and Advanced Features texts. Then start using LyX to write. The most effective way to learn is to bump against a problem and learn how to solve it by looking in the help documents, the books you have on your desk, then asking for help from the group here. Reading Lipkin's book from start to finish will give you a good overview but you'll probably forget almost all the details. Working with the application will be more effective because the new knowledge will be in the context of what you're writing so you are more likely to remember it.
HTH,
Rich
-- Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM) <http://www.appl-ecosys.com>
