TEX has always been regarded as the most elegant and powerful system for computer typesetting. However, its widespread use beyond academia was hampered by its complexity. Recently, fairly good TEX implementations have come out for PC's putting TEX on the disks of many people including writers, designers, desktop publishers, and engineers. Consequently, interest in TEX has surged. What is needed at this point is a book that teaches step-by-step how to use TEX, illustrating each step with relevant examples. This is exactly what S. v. Bechtolsheim's book does. It is a tutorial and guide for the first-time user of TEX, as well as a reference for the more experienced "TEXpert." TEX in Practice will appear as a four volume set, starting with TEX in Practice, Volume 1: Basics; TEX in Practice, Volume 2: Paragraphs, Math and Fonts; TEX in Practice, Volume 3: Tokens, Macros; TEX in Practice, Volume 4: Output Routines, Tables. TEX in Practice will be an indispensable reference for the TEX community and a guide through the first step for the TEX novice.
