[Haskell-cafe] Writing "Haskell For Dummies Or At Least For People Who Feel Like Dummies When They See The Word 'Monad'"

[Kirsten Chevalier]

It's not as if this is the first time that this has been suggested,
but some people have suggested that a practical book about Haskell
would be a good idea. I agree. Some people have also suggested that
the right moment for this hasn't arrived yet, and I see that as a
challenge.

I'm willing to take the lead in at least thinking about what such a
book might look like. I'm potentially about to have some free time for
such things, and am still young and foolish enough to think that
writing a book would be a good idea.

Of course, there are many good Haskell books out there already, but
many of them are intended as class textbooks or are aimed at more
theoretical-minded people. There's nothing wrong with that, but I
think that it would be nice if a friendly, conversational, informal
book about Haskell existed, since after all this is such a friendly
and informal community. (If there already is a book like this, point
it out, but I get the impression there's not.)

There's also excellent Haskell documentation available on the web
already, but people like to buy books and they like to have an
artifact that they can hold in their hands without getting laser
printer toner all over themselves.

But if I were going to do this, I'd need all the help I could get, so
if you're interested in working with me on this, email me off-list and
we'll talk. Don't feel like you need to be named "Simon" for this; I
don't think you need to be a Haskell guru to contribute to a book like
this (I know I'm not one), though it wouldn't hurt. Being interested
in good writing and explaining things to a wider audience is more
important. And, the more people who are interested in working on this,
the more we can all pool our various talents to create something
awesome.

Cheers,
Kirsten

-- 
Kirsten Chevalier* chevalier at alum.wellesley.edu *Often in error, never in doubt
"Everyone's too stupid." -- _Ghost World_