Hey Marlene! We only *just* learned, by the way, that you did not get a draft copy of the book. They decided to wait until the *real* printed book was out, so yours should be arriving shortly
OK, now to your questions...
Yes, there will definitely be plenty of people who believe that if is isn't dry, it isn't serious. We hope that if they secretly would *enjoy* the nature of this book, that they will be persuaded by the *serious* endorsements of the book from top technial gurus (the IBM guy, Ken Arnold, etc.)
We also hope that some people will take the time to explore or at least read about the learning principles behind it, so that even if they didn't believe it could be serious, they will see that the *fun* was used for a specific learning purpose, and not just for the sake of fun.
But there will be some who will simply HATE it, even if they believe that it would work better than the alternatives. Not everyone will appreciate the style, and some people will probably even be offended by a little bit of it.
We believe that if you try to be all things to all people, and please everyone, that you will lose most of the life in the book. And it is that life that means so much to whether you learn or not.
So, we're hoping to get not just the people who read the comics first, but even the ones who don't... if they are willing to give it a try, we're fairly confident that they will learn from it. Again, unless they hate it. It is certainly for a younger audience than some text books -- although a few 'oldsters' (and I'm afraid that Bert and I are edging toward that category) may like it, it is more geared towards the under-35 group who are much more visually sensitive and attuned because of the way visual media has changed so dramatically over the last 20 years. Also, it has a fair amount of 'attitude'.
The people in the photos are mostly from stock collections, but also some from our own photography. The artwork is primarily custom painted/drawn.
As Bert said, we had full 100% control over the layout, and designed it from scratch. First, we had to design (with O'Reilly) what the actual format would be, and most Head First books will be pretty similar. Although we have had to come up with some new things for the Head First books that will also be certification study guides (as our
EJB book will be).
We did the graphics ourselve, except for the outside cover. The handwriting font is from a wonderful font designer named Chank Diesel. He sells a lot of very cool fonts.
The interesting challenge for us now is to work with other authors who want to do a book in the Head First series. Most authors will *not* necessarily be able or prepared to do the graphics themselves, so we will probably partner / co-author with authors at first to help them get going. Some authors will find their own graphic designer to work with, but since the artwork is designed to support the learning, an author would not be able to do a Head First book unless they can at least come up with the visual *ideas*. In other words, an author won't necessarily have to create the graphics themselves, or do the actual layout, but they WILL have to come up with the ideas, since a graphic designer who does not understand the topic would not know what to put.
What we do NOT want is a book that has pasted-on graphics, just for decoration. They are crucial to the learning, so it is the subject-matter expert who needs to come up with the ideas. But then it is easy for someone else to 'render' the artwork.
The conversational style and attitude are both crucial for the learning, so we are, in some ways, limiting the internationalization of the book as a tradeoff to making it a more powerful experience. But we hope that people will benefit anyway, just as people benefit from javaranch even if they do not understand all of the cowboy themes, or the jokes and terminology that people use.
You know, when Walt Disney makes a kids' film, they deliberately put a lot of references in that ONLY adults would understand. They do this so the adults who have to sit through the film can have some fun to. The fact that the kids do not understand these jokes or references (or so the parents think
) does not hurt their ability to benefit from the film. By the way, we just saw "Finding Nemo" (went will all adults), and it's wonderful.
But it has a whole running storyline about Alcoholics Anonymous...
We will have some very interesting challenges and issues about localization, that we and O'Reilly are only just barely beginning to look at. For now, we are going to let the readers tell us what they really need.
But you just gave me an idea, Pauline -- perhaps we need a 'translation' guide on our web site
That would be pretty fun, to have people from other languages and cultures explain what 'I'm toast' means! Or all of the other references that are more culturally (and sometimes AGE) specific.
Anyway, once again, if anybody out there has an interest in doing a Head First book, on something very technical (there won't be any "Head First Word" books, for example), please let us know! People are already asking O'Reilly, "So when are you going to do Head First <insert topic> ?"
cheers,
Kathy
) . Did it feel like a big risk to aim only for the rest of us, the ones who read the comics page of the newspaper first? 
