I'm a girl geek, the only one in my family. I hate to say it, but my sisters are definitely the target market for this book.

The book sounds pretty stupid, but you don't need to be sensitive about it. If there was a book that was condescending to men like "How to teach men how to be organized" or something, I don't think most men would care. Don't be so sensitive, there are stupid people out there.

Royal

well said royal.

Let me tell you a story...

One day while leaving a job site heading home I got a call from the office. There was a problem with some new computers we installed about two weeks prior. Seems they wouldn't turn on. Being that I was only a few miles away I stopped by to check it out.

I enter the office, there are three desks in a row along one wall. At the first desk is a blonde lady who is finishing up with her client. She waves and directs me to the desk behind her. "That's the one with the problem, I'll be with you shortly" she says. So, I walk over and first thing I notice is the amber light on the monitor. I glance down and see there aren't any lights on on the tower. I reach down and push the big, silver power button... The PC buzzes to life and loads up fine. By this time the blonde walks over and says "OMG! What did you DO!?" I said, "umm, I turned it on..." She said "OMG! HOW!?" "erm, with the power button" I replied. "OMG! Show ME!" "uhh, ok" and I pointed to the big, shiny, silver power button.

She quickly turned and left the room only to return with a brunette lady. It went down like this...

Blonde: Look! He got it working!
Brunette: OMG! WHAT DID HE DO!?
Blonde: He turned it on!
Brunette: OMG! HOW!?
Blonde: With that button! Show her!

I proceeded to go through the motions...

Brunette: Well come here and look at mine, it was having the same problem!

So I walk over and see the same amber light on the monitor, no lights on the tower... pushed the power button... and, I shit you not, this is what happened next.

Blonde/Brunette: OMG! What did you DO!?
Me: *scratching my head* erm, I turned it on.
Blonde/Brunette: OMG! HOW!?
Me: *almost in tears* I...I turned it on...
Blonde/Brunette: OMG! SHOW US!

I pointed once again to the big, shiny, silver power button.

After several minutes of them chirping and whatnot to each other I started to get up to leave. The blond quickly stopped me. "Wait! We have to show *somelady* what you did!"
Me: uhh, sure ok.

The blonde runs into another room and comes back with another blonde lady.

Blonde 1: Look! he fixed the computers!
Blonde 2: OMFG! What did he do!?
Brunette: He TURNED it ON!
Blonde 2: OMFG! HOW!?
Blonde 1: With that button!
Blonde 2: OMFG! Show me now!

We all pointed to the power button...

Blonde 1: Must be a blonde thing! haha!

That statement set the second blonde into a rage! She promptly went to her computer and began to LOOK for something wrong, ANYTHING wrong!

The three ladies began to picker and shout at each other and I took that as my que to exit the twilight zone.

To break it down... 3 ladies, 2 blondes, 1 brunette, 2 computers turned off and not a single one of them could find the f**king power button!!!

I bet that if that power button had been pink and fuzzy there wouldn't have been a problem!

I like the idea of the book but I agree it is a slightly off stereotype.

The book is really going to appeal to only a percentage of women which the book would be helpful.

This sounds like it is a book for some women (and some men) who are NOT tech oriented. It is sad that it is targeted only at women tho'. It would be nice to add in the non-geek guys. How come guys are not stereotyped as much as women are?

Hey, JC, you probably could have fucked all three of those girls no problem. Good job failing.

I would suggest the authors of this article chill a bit. The book is being written towards a certain demographic of women of which you too obviously aren't, but to take it as some kind of direct insult is a bit silly.

There are literally 1000s of book out there that tell a guy how to get fit, or pick up women. I don't take this as them saying that all guys suck at said skills, but simply that many would like to improve upon these skills.

So basically, take a chill pill :) Oh grats on getting on front page of Digg though!

Hey jon, While two of them were "doable" it would have been like raping the mentally handicap... No thanks, I'd rather stick my dick in dirt. I have self-respect.

Yeah.

I wonder how many men are going to buy the book for their S.O. just so they can read it on the sly. The book is not just condescending, it's sexist. It's dumbed down and aimed specifically at women as though women are the only ones who would benefit from this powerful magic.

I would be much angrier if the rest of society hadn't already dumbed down so many women by shutting us out of math, science, and trying to block our way into computer technology. Because of the constant attacks on education for women and girls, this book will probably help some women, who aren't stupid, overcome their fear of technology. Unfortunately, the residue will be that the women will probably not realize that they could have learned everything without being patronized and their feelings of technical inferiority will continue.

OMG! Instead of shoring up your sense of superiority, JC, with a story about how three women did not receive adequate training, why don't you rage against a disgraceful system that treats women like mushrooms?

AJ,

Sense of superiority? Training? Are you daft? Who needs to be trianed to push a simple f**king button!? Should they call for help (or training) when they walk into a dark room? The way I see it, if they can make it to work they should be able to find a god damn power button. It's not like computers just came out...

And to be honest, 80% of my daily workload is dealing with women with a serious lack of common sense. Get in the IT world and you'll see it. I was just telling a story that happens to be oh so very true. So... blow it out your ass you.

P.s. What's wrong with mushrooms? I love mushrooms!

AJ,

Society bends over backwards to try to get girls and women into technology courses. My college had a lower GPA for women for admission to the engineering school, for instance, under an affirmative action program (although women had better grades generally than men and there were far more women in general at the university).

Please stop it with the victimhood. It's not even true.

Another girl geek here. Gotta say, this looks more like the kind of stuff my dad needs to learn than what I'm interested in learning. I mean, I really doubt this book includes any of the stuff I've been studying lately, like shortest path algorithms or pushdown automata. I also doubt it includes anything on the list of things I'd like to know more about, like reverse engineering x86 binaries and writing Linux kernel drivers. My (female) roommate would probably agree, but she just went to sleep. I think she's more interested in remote exploits, though.

BB:
The reason women generally have better grades in CS departments is low self esteem. If they change majors out of CS citing the belief that they are doing poorly and would do better elsewhere, they have a B on average. For guys citing the same reasoning, it's a B-. Socially, guys are taught to be over-confident or at least sound very confident even when they don't know what they're doing. This makes the women feel like they must be dumb if they're not as confident as those guys, and then they quit.

I've been there on the overconfident boys trickery. There's a group of guys I didn't talk to for a year because they seemed so much smarter than me, I was sure they'd consider me an idiot. Eventually we started talking. When I told one that I avoided him because I thought that way, he told me he'd only been pretending to understand me when I was talking about technical subjects. He used Wikipedia after every conversation.

Oh look, the neaderthals have arrived from digg.

Now, dear JC let me tell you a story... oh wait, I need to shift to smaller words with fewer syllables.

There once was this woman called Ada Lovelace. She was not a man and so probably really stupid like all women but this really nice man named Charles Babbage took pity on her and let her right the first actual computer programs.

Then there was this other woman called Grace Hopper. She was not a man and so probably really stupid like all women but some really nice man let her in the U.S. Navy. Since she was clearly a token female, they let her do all kinds of fun things like developing the first actual compiler, coming up with the concept behind COBOL, and working on the Mark I writing programs.
Later, some really nifty men let her do fun things like pioneer all sorts of computer developments.

I'm sure both women probably needed big strong men like you to show them where the power buttons were. Phew! Disaster averted!

Thank goodness no on asked those silly women what color to make those early computers or we'd probably have ended up with pink fuzzy ones back then instead.

[/sarcasm]

Grow up you moron. Until you do? You're only chance of ever getting laid is finding women stupider than you are and that will be hard to do - since the one time you found 3 in one place you weren't smart enough to realize it was probably your only shot at procreating with your underachieving sperm.

Mackenzie,

Oh, OK, I knew there was going to be a reason why women were oppressed and victims.

I just can't hear it anymore. If you want to take technical courses at college, take them. If you don't, don't. If you want to slave away in a dopey IT position, do it. If you want to be a housewife and leech off a man, do THAT.

If you think boys are "tricking" you by being overconfident, stay away from them.

Bejeeezus, I can't even hear this victimhood anymore.

What you don't realize is that women in America right now are the most pampered, spoiled, entitled group of people who have ever lived on the face of the earth. Women aren't viewed as "mushrooms", like another poster stated. If you want to see objectification, look to the objectification of men as "wallets" and ATM machines for women. Thank God for men's chivalry, right? Because you can just make up stuff to be a victim, it doesn't really matter, and men will swoop in to "save" you. Or if that fails, just manipulate with sex.

GeekierThanThou:

You forgot to say that he probably has a small penis.

Do you realize that almost ALL women fall back on the "he can't get laid" line to put men in their place?

And YOU'RE complaining about sexism? LOL

Sounds like a mouthy high school student to me. Or are you already a fresh(wo)man in college? In any case, grow up a little.

It's a marketing ploy. No need to get all up in arms over something that was made to sell to a particular demographic.

By demographic, I don't mean stupid women. I mean women who don't have the desire to wade through other computer books and have been fooled into thinking they'll never understand that stuff. They'll see this yellow thing on a table in borders and be like "Oh, it's perfect for me!".

Bam. Sold.

Blah blah blah.The guy above was right.Women in this country are very spoiled and still play the victim.I don't wanna hear any goddamned whining,really.We got female ceo's and a black president.So everyone shut the hell up and do your thang.Nobody is stopping you.Yes we can..... mofo's.
Now if anyone should be complaining it should be female iraqi,midget,sex slaves.Now THEY have it rough...ha ha

Blah blah blah.The guy above was right.Women in this country are very spoiled and still play the victim.I don't wanna hear any goddamned whining,really.We got female ceo's and a black president.So everyone shut the hell up and do your thang.Nobody is stopping you.Yes we can..... mofo's.
Now if anyone should be complaining it should be female iraqi,midget,sex slaves.Now THEY have it rough...ha ha

Wow, makes perfect sense to me now.

jess
http://www.privacy.es.tc

Getting back to the TOPIC...? I think the authors had a decent idea, but got very cutesy and condescending in its execution.

Fact is, there are a LOT of women - particularly over 40 - who are not "geeky" and have overly depended on husbands/SOs/techies at work to keep things running. I know - I've done tech support for 25 years, and I see this all the time.

However, some day, some of these women may find themselves "in transition". Husbands divorce or pass away, SOs leave, they'll lose a job, etc. Perhaps they want to start a business or move up in their current position, but for whatever reason, they suddenly find themselves behind the knowledge curve. Point is, there IS a market for a book (or several) that can handhold, impart the necessary knowledge to get out the gate running, instill confidence, etc.

Perhaps that book still needs to be written. Time will tell.

The authors would love this 1983 book;
Computer Confidence: A Woman's Guide
http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkvision/98103740/

Amazing that in trying to complain about how sexist and stereotypical a book is that the reviewers managed to sound like every catty female from every movie made.

For whats its worth... if my fiance, my mother or sister #2 were going to read a book on "tech", this would have a good shot at reaching them. If my other two sisters (#1 & #3) saw it on the counter they would, most likely, sniff at it before finding a wobbly table in the house that might need a little something stuffed under its shortest leg. To each her own.
Something else to consider... in my experience women ( who arent tech savvy) rarely take issue with reaching out to other people or sources for assistance on the subject. They are very comfortable with the fact that they are techtarded.
Most men carry an innate understanding that they are expected to know this stuff and when confronted with blind spots (or black holes) in their technological field of view they are more prone to...
A) making shit up (this is a survival skill we learned in grade school while trying to demonstrate our mastery of all subjects sexual to our equally uninformed pre-pubic peers)
B) Succumbing to the ego-affirming false flattery of sales people who talk them into buying things many fold more expensive than their need actually requires.

I could go on.
ill admit that my lack of offense towards this book may having something to do with my having testicles and never having been condescended to on this subject.

Understanding technology is not the only way to go through life. I am a geek male, or at least a mini geek, but I don't think that any woman, or man or child needs to be an expert at electronics or spout Star Trek. I do it cos I love it. JC, I am sure the three women who couldn't press the power button could tell you three million things about make up or hair. I do not mean this condescendingly. You wouldn't care about that cos it's not important to you right ? Well this wasn't important to them. A person doesn't become dumb just because a subject does not fall under their area of expertise.

I agree. Books are dumb.

I am offended as a geek. It takes a lot of studying and hard work to half-way retain my title of geek and know far too many people who know far more then me in terms of computer knowledge. The fact that being able to check your email and shop on amazon makes you a "geek goddess" offends me. There are points I agree with above, but I have dealt with enough geniuses and idiots to generalize a group as large as an entire sex.

Hey, what the heck. You can have it BOTH ways. For example, my Asus EEE runs Linux (yeah, I figured out how to use the terminal. Smart girl me) - and it's PINK with a matching carrying bag. You can be an air-head and a geeky-content-manager-site-builder-gadget-nerd woman all at the same time.

Obviously it's a marketing ploy, but one that will end up cutting out large segments of the market—everyone who isn't a female in a certain age range who considers herself a girly girl.

I have to agree with JC. Idiots are out there, and plenty of the people who take pride in their ignorance just happen to be female.

I've worked in schools for quite a while. The problem in schools isn't that girls are discouraged from taking math and computer courses. The problem is that students of both genders are permitted to coast through math classes if they think they're too hard. While a few more females than males slip through the cracks in this way, remedial programs need to target both genders.

But when the computer classes come up in high school, even though there are as many qualified girls as boys, the boys sign up 10 to 1. No one is discouraging the girls from signing up.

I am a semi-geeky girl (not at all talented, but I have worked very hard at it) who codes websites by hand. My sister the doctor and her husband can barely turn on their computers.

Angela:
Of course no teachers are telling them "you can't take this class," but when I took a computer science class in high school, the boys asked what I was doing there. I've heard from plenty of other women too that the same thing happened in their high schools and colleges. One said she showed up wearing a, I think a DEFCON shirt, and they told her "Home Ec's that way." Not cool. They assume that since there are mostly no girls, the ones that do show up need to GTFO. I've got an extremely girly roommate, also a CS major, loves physics...she wanted to drop a class because the first day was spent having every student stare at her. It can be an extremely uncomfortable situation.

And well, then you also get into peer pressure and things. I mean, as a culture we (for some stupid reason) try to convince girls that we all need to do x, y, and z, and well, being a geek doesn't fit in to how girls are "supposed" to be.

Guys, I didn't mean it to sound like guys trick girls *on purpose.* Duh, they don't. I just mean that the group dynamics are very different, and it can make girls alienated. There are two ways of discouraging a group from doing some activity. The first is to tell them "you can't." The more subtle one that authority figures are less likely to notice is to make them feel alienated. And that's what usually happens. Sociologists have studied it.

Did anyone read the book? It looks silly but not exactly offensive... I read the sample chapter. Nothing interesting (beyond a list of links for shopping websites). Maybe it is targeted at an older demographic? There are many, and much worse, condescending books out there-- this just seems like an author trying to get her name out there (I'm guessing her first book)

And Bonnie, what is particularly wrong about being educated in style and grace? We are, obviously, not born with style and grace-- basic manners, tact, and the gracefulness to make other people feel comfortable? Those are things I learn about and certainly appreciate in others-- the point is, I'm not sure how that is the "worst part". Shouldn't every man and woman be educated in the basic customs and grace of their respective culture? Not to mention other cultures...

Anyway, the "worst part" of that book seems that it's not targeted to my (or your) demographic; and as a result I find the writing somewhat bland and unengaging... I feel the same way about golf magazines yet don't feel the need to be upset about it

Mackenzie:

Yeah, and then there are girls who ask "what the F are you talking about". You just get in there and do it.

Maybe your expectations are bringing about the reality. Read a book on anxiety management (I'm serious). Maybe the Evil Patriarchy isn't the problem, maybe YOU are the problem.

is it just me thats figured it out yet?

1 woman is not the same as every woman on earth. why is it everyone is so slow that you cant grasp this?

some women are tech retarded, this book is for them. other women are not, this book isnt for them.

working in the IT field i have to agree, however, women suck at tech. it isnt that you arent capable, just that you dont try. they are happy to give up from the get go, ignoring all logical things like "well, its supposed to be easy to use, so i must have overlooked something". that said, there are many guys with the same problem too.

This is the type of book I would buy for my mom and sister because they aren't just technologically illiterate, they are scared of technology.

Having said that though, I also have 2 very close lady friends, one is a gamer and has all tech knowledge that goes with that and the other is a web developer. My boss, who is also a lady, develops GIS programs. Those women are not who this book is for.

get back in the kitchen.

Even though I'm generally all girl power about these kinds of things, I think this is a slight over-reaction. I've known enough women in my lifetime- and some of them aren't that old- who had troubles with computers. It's not a bad idea for a woman who's just gonna shop online and check her email to know what she's looking for in a computer, because she just doesn't NEED much of computer.

The truth is, the book isn't pointed at the women it would seem to condescend to. I know what I need in a computer, I wouldn't by the book. If someone bought the book for me, I'd throw it at them, most likely, or laugh at it for the joke it was. Depends on who got it for me.

It's not condescension if you actually need the help.

From what I understand, the idea that women are completely incapable of understanding modern technology is quite common, especially in American culture.

I work for a call center that does the outsourced tech support for American ISPs. At least once a week I get someone saying to me "thank god you're man, the last woman I spoke to didn't know what the hell she was doing" or something similar. I go strait to the call history and always find that the customer called in minutes before refusing to co-operate because the previous tech was female. I usually end up repeating to the customer the exactly same thing the previous tech just told them but since it's coming from a man this time they never argue.

Psychomech:

Baloney.

Absolute baloney. You don't know exactly what the previous (female) tech said (although you claim you repeated the same thing - how do you know what she said, you dick?). I worked in that same function when I was right out of college and never saw anything remotely like that.

And I am absolutely sure you are stirring the pot. You are either a feminist or a true-blue mangina.

The problem is that chivalristic men just accept these made-up statements and feel guilty. So women get more stuff.

I had a problem on the phone that still sticks in my mind:

I bought a computer long ago (15 years ago?) from a small family business that built them by hand (husband and wife and a couple of workers).

I wanted extra memory and happened to get the husband on the phone. He said to come in and he would install it. I also had some other minor problem that I don't remember and he fixed it.

When I got the computer home, I pressed the start button and it beeped twice and then refused to go further.

I called the company and got the wife on the phone. I told her what was happening. She said it was normal that a computer beeped as it booted up. I said I know that, but it was not the usual beeping (LOL). It made two audible sounds and then stopped booting. She repeated that it was normal that a computer made that sound.

I said that her husband had installed memory and asked if he was available.

She blew up, literally blew up, on me on the phone. She said that she was also a qualified technician and that I just wanted to talk to a man because I was sexist. She got more and more heated as she yelled at me.

I honestly thought that the man might have a better idea because he had JUST WORKED ON THE COMPUTER and she wasn't giving me any kind of answer.

The end of the story: The extra memory was of a different type, with a slightly faster response speed than what was in the computer, so there was a conflict. That was the problem. And the man instantly knew what the problem was and fixed it.

Oh, Psychomech:

I think it's baloney too.

At least say something plausible if you are going to completely make up stories.

You aren't cool.

Meat by product:

Try reading everything. Psychomech checked the call history. Technology is wonderful in that you can record and process phone conversations into text files.

Perhaps you should check this book out yourself?

Quote from the article: "are you over the age of 60?".

Wow. The authors of this article seem outraged about someone stereotyping them, but they have absolutly no hesitation about stereotyping others (that is, people over 60). Or perhaps they don't even realize they're doing the stereotyping, because they deeply believe that people over 60 have a harder time with technology than the authors do.

You want a really good story about female lack of
technology skills/brains? Read this:

I have been planning to attendant The Swedish Institute of Massage therapy, and acting on my dream of becoming a licensed massage therapist, and opening up my own spa. This dream has slowly cultivated it's self ever since I was a child, fully realizing this was my path a few years ago. Some of the reasons are as follows. I am a physical person, and any the career for me will be one of physical work. I believe that is it noble work to help people feel better, and because it's my purpose. Long ago I knew that the right career path for me was one that utilized my mind and body. Typing on a computer and talking on the phone have been the only way I have been 'utilizing my body' in my current career, leaving me unfulfilled. A healthy life and career is one that is challenging mentally and physically; one that utilizes the cerebral and the palpable One of the the factors leading me to massage therapy is my belief it it being a noble profession. At its most basic, it is helping people feel better. At it's most advanced, it is healing, physically and mentally. It is the hard science of the most basic healing remedy of them all, touch. This is noble. The most important reason for me choosing massage therapy for my career, is that it seams to have chosen me. I am not sure how one backs up, supports, or defends their purpose on paper. I believe though that we are all born with a purpose, a path laid out before us. I have been searching for mine for many years now. Though hard to describe, we know without a doubt when our purpose is discovered. I know, without a doubt, that massage therapy is my purpose. Work that unitizes both my mind and body, that is noble, and most importantly, that follows my purpose in life. This is why I am pursuing a career in massage therapy. Through much research, I have concluded that The Swedish Institute offers the best tools for me to realise my dream of becoming a Massage Therapist, and opening up my own spa.

Great article. Thanks for the information.

God bless teh internets. How else could we have access to such blatant sexism?
"What you don't realize is that women in America right now are the most pampered, spoiled, entitled group of people who have ever lived on the face of the earth."

Dude, it's true. My life is fucking awesome now that men have all the babies and are generally the primary caretakers of children, make 77 cents to my dollar, own 1% of all property in the world, and hold 14% of the elected legislative positions in the US government. Now I get to anonymously insult men over the internet for what I perceive as their inherent stupidity and aversion to advancement while simultaneously reinforcing my own delusional superiority. Sweet deal.

But seriously~ back to the article. I do take some comfort in the fact that, from what I can tell, the book doesn't imply that ALL women need watered-down information about technology. That would be a problem.
So, do women need books like this because some avoid becoming comfortable with technology or do some avoid becoming comfortable with technology because of books like this? Or are the two ideas not mutually exclusive?

Anita:
Actually, I didn't believe sexism still existed until about a year ago. I've argued with feminists many times about how sexism is a thing of the past. It took until last year for me to think back and go "ooo...that's what that was." Most of what I mention didn't affect me directly. I've seen friends go through that sort of stuff. I had to explain to one that the group of guys that makes her feel dumb is actually bluffing, and with her 4.0 GPA there was no way she could feel dumb compared to them. She was ready to leave CS and become a math major because of a combination of that and the hostility she felt being the only girl in her class. By hostility, I mean nobody would talk to her, but they'd eye her up and down.

Me, though? I'm not going to let some guy's inability to socialize with females stop me from studying what I'm interested in. I got over the only-girl-in-the-room thing in high school. I had two years of computer science in high school during which I got to learn how to act like one of the boys. Girls who can't figure out how to be one of the boys are the ones that are going to run into trouble, though. Nevermind that part about why the hell should we *have* to learn to act like a guy to stay in the field?

Ok, let me get this straight, it's somehow guys fault that women make themselves insecure?! Don't give me that victim BS story of what society does to women, this isn't the 1960s. I grew up a geek/nerd and never, EVER, got up the courage to talk to "hot girls", but I'm not going to dodge my inability by saying it's THEIR fault, like it's somehow their job to be approachable so I can have some self confidence. No, it's my fault, I'm not some pathetic loser crying about how it's unfair it is, I took it upon myself to build up my self esteem.

Also, being a geek, I now work in IT, and have met plenty of women that aren't afraid of technology. But for every one of them, I have met 10 others that are scared to touch something electronic unless they are told what to press by someone else. Of course, that doesn't stop them from loading up 8 different background PROGRAMS, screen savers, change the pointer to a cute daisy, etc etc. Whine and complain about this book all you want, but it's more on point than you are, you are a (very appreciated) minority, get over it. At this time in america, having common sense makes you a minority.

It's like my girlfriend complaining about how men perpetuate the whole "girls need to be skinny" thing. Me and my friends like women ranging from thin to thick, to downright fat, so who really cares how skinny women are? Women. I am tired of being blamed for women perpetuating their own insecuritues. If you want to get THIS OUTRAGEOUSLY UPSET over something, get upset about the women out there that fit the target demographic of this book, because theres more of that type of women than the crybaby authors of this article. Being extremely anti-football/baseball, should I get personally offended everytime a publication or book uses sports references..? Cause, ya know, thats condecending bullshit, saying every guy is a meat head, face painted sports fan right? No, not at all, but then again, it's just like a women to get personally offended by something that doesn't pertain to them, so again, good job at perpetuating that which you claim to hate.

What I dont understand is:

1. How do these girls not realize that the stereotype being played up here is REAL?! Seriously, branch out.

2. Why do you think this stereotype is being directed only at them?!

Look, like I said earlier, am I supposed to get all offended every time I see an example of the stereotype "all guys love sports"?

Also, why can't girls like frilly, pink computers?! Who are you to tell these women that there is something wrong with them for wanting a computer that matches their home decor?! I SMELL BIGOTRY. Coincidentally, it's male bigots that feel that women should be kept in the kitchen. Maybe we should all go be bigots like the authors of this blog, which means I guess I'll have to go home and beat my g/f...

Is every one of the Dummies books insulting to everyone who is not a dummy? What about the Complete Idiot's series? Are they calling me an idiot? No. They're selling a promise; an idea. As a reader, I either respond to that idea or I don't. I can make the distinction.

Of course, not one person posting here has read How To Be a Geek Goddess, but the concept seems quite clear. This is NOT a book for true geeks; geek books are for geeks. Is anyone assuming that there are not female geeks in the world? Of course there are. In fact, several of the smartest geeks that I know are female. But this is not a book for them.

This is a book for the person who is the farthest thing from a geek but who wants to feel like they can master technology, just like the people around them. Do you really think that someone (male or female) who feels left behind by technology is going to start with a book on hacking, assembly, or computer architecture? No, and why should they even bother? But it sounds to me like this gives them a place to start Then they can go as far as the wind will take them.

Nice move No Starch. And I love the rest of your books, too.

Is every one of the Dummies books insulting to everyone who is not a dummy? What about the Complete Idiot's series? Are they calling me an idiot? No. They're selling a promise; an idea. As a reader, I either respond to that idea or I don't. I can make the distinction.

Of course, not one person posting here has read How To Be a Geek Goddess, but the concept seems quite clear. This is NOT a book for true geeks; geek books are for geeks. Is anyone assuming that there are not female geeks in the world? Of course there are. In fact, several of the smartest geeks that I know are female. But this is not a book for them.

This is a book for the person who is the farthest thing from a geek but who wants to feel like they can master technology, just like the people around them. Do you really think that someone (male or female) who feels left behind by technology is going to start with a book on hacking, assembly, or computer architecture? No, and why should they even bother? But it sounds to me like this gives them a place to start Then they can go as far as the wind will take them.

Nice move No Starch. And I love the rest of your books, too.

Is every one of the Dummies books insulting to everyone who is not a dummy? What about the Complete Idiot's series? Are they calling me an idiot? No. They're selling a promise; an idea. As a reader, I either respond to that idea or I don't. I can make the distinction.

Of course, not one person posting here has read How To Be a Geek Goddess, but the concept seems quite clear. This is NOT a book for true geeks; geek books are for geeks. Is anyone assuming that there are not female geeks in the world? Of course there are. In fact, several of the smartest geeks that I know are female. But this is not a book for them.

This is a book for the person who is the farthest thing from a geek but who wants to feel like they can master technology, just like the people around them. Do you really think that someone (male or female) who feels left behind by technology is going to start with a book on hacking, assembly, or computer architecture? No, and why should they even bother? But it sounds to me like this gives them a place to start Then they can go as far as the wind will take them.

Nice move No Starch. And I love the rest of your books, too.

i know more about software than my brothers, and that's b/c im really interested in computers. but my brothers somehow naturally pick up tech info just because guys talk about it more. i dont think i have ever discussed technology with a girl before... haha. maybe the book IS useful.

Perhaps the writers of this article should try reading the actual book, instead of just breezing the press release? Certainly the book may not be suited for women who are in the IT industry, but there are alot of women (and men) out there who do other things for a living, and some of the advice is practical.

I mean, if you are going to post comments on Digg, shouldn't you actually do the research first?