About Andy Rathbone and his books
Feel free to contact Eric Holmgren, publicity manager at Wiley Publishing, to schedule any media appearances, lectures, or private jet tours. Feel free to contact me directly, as well.My Bio
I began fiddling around with computers in the early eighties as a Comparative Literature major at San Diego State University. Because of all the writing involved, I bought a Kaypro 2X computer and a WordStar word processing program. When the professor asked for an eight-page term paper and I could only muster up six, I'd subtly adjust the margins of my word processor, squeezing the words into eight pages.After graduating I began freelancing for a local computer magazine. The magazine had trouble finding writers because most computer "techies" wrote for other "techies" to read, not beginners. Computer manuals had the same problem; they were aimed at programmers, not beginning users. Since I'm a writer, not a programmer, I write books aimed at the general public.
I wrote "Windows For Dummies" in 1992, back when DOS was the most popular computer operating system. As Windows grew more popular, more beginners began finding my books helpful. My books aren't written for "dummies," they're written for people who feel like dummies when Windows doesn't act the way it should.
Fifteen years after "Windows For Dummies" first hit the shelves, I have more than 15 million books in print. I've been on bestseller lists from the New York Times, USA Today, Publisher's Weekly, and many others.
I've written or updated about 50 "...For Dummies" books, including the best-selling computer book of all time: Windows For Dummies. Windows XP For Dummies 2nd Edition, was the bestselling computer book of 2005 according to sales tracked by Nielsen Bookscan.