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 PCs putting TEX on the desks of many people: writers, designers, desktop publishers, engineers, and consequently, the 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 by meaningful examples. This is exactly what S.v. Bechtolsheim's book does. It is a tutorial and guide for the first-time users of TEX, as well as a reference for the most experienced "TEXpert." TEX in Practice will appear as a four volume set, starting with volume 1 Basics, followed by volume 2 Paragraphs, Math and Fonts, volume 3 Tokens, Macros and volume 4 Output Routines,Tables. TEX in Practice will be an indispensable reference for the TEX community and a guide through the first steps for the TEX novice.
