The LaTeX Companion (Tools and Techniques for Computer Typesetting)

First off, this book is great and up-to-date expansion of the 1st edition, but I'll agree with some other posters who maintain that the book is difficult to navigate... unless you already have a pretty good idea of what you are looking for. It contains clear descriptions and short examples for nearly every topic discussed, but very few longer examples. This book is definitely not for those that have never used LaTeX and are trying to learn the basics for the first time and/or want lots of long, complete, and well commented examples.To be fair, that's not what this book is about. It is definitely targeted at those with some LaTeX experience. However, it would be a 5 star book with the simple addition of separate indexes for "commands" and "concepts" (which are combined into one 96 page index) and the addition of a few pages devoted to a basic "getting started" chapter with some longer and complete document examples.That being said; there are a number of very good online "getting started" materials available (and/or linked) from the authors web site as well as from numerous other web sites and user groups. It would just be nice to have some of those materials included in the text for completeness. However, once the basics are learned, I don't think there is anything LaTeX related that I would ever need that's missing from this text (aside from some brief coverage of metafont/metapost perhaps -- just in an appendix or something -- but I know that's probably getting way out scope).UPDATE: I've since purchased: Guide to LaTeX (4th Edition) by Helmut Kopka and Patrick W. Daly which makes the perfect accompaniment to this book. The Guide to LaTeX covers all of the "basics" that are left out of The LaTeX Companion (which covers more advanced topics). Even though they are by different authors, they work very well together. I'm currently writing my doctoral dissertation and -- as a pair -- they're the only LaTeX documentation I really ever use.

I'm in the throes of writing a large report and decided to use LaTeX to handle the document processing for me. (Yes, I should be working, but I decided to take a respite and write this review!) I use LaTeX all the time to produce the short documents necessary for teaching classes, so I'm literate. But this is the first large writing project I've managed entirely in LaTeX.This review refers to the second edition of "The LaTeX Companion."It's difficult to write a review beyond "This is a great book--buy it!" There is so much contained within The Companion that any review will fall short. So, allow me to take a slightly different tack. I have two books on my desk right next to my workstation. Lamport's "LaTeX: A Document Preparation Guide, 2nd Edition" and Mittelbach, et al.'s "The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Edition." (My discipline-specific texts and papers are scattered all over everywhere--typical professor mode.) I use Lamport's book for quick reference for math symbols and table setup (Lamport is much less hefty...) and The Companion for reference on everything else. The Companion is full of details necessary to get "the details" right.The Companion is well-written, well-indexed, well-organized, and contains a compilation of information not available anywhere else for users of LaTeX. You will not be able to use the packages and extensions necessary to make the writing job easier without The Companion. Trust me--if you are writing using LaTeX, then you need this text for access to instructions for using the packages necessary, and desirable, for production of technical text.I cannot imagine developing another complex document without LaTeX and the two texts I use. A actually have two copies of both texts (LaTeX and The Companion), one at the office and one at home. I can't imagine writing in LaTeX without them both. But, if I had to chose just one book, I'd have to chose The Companion. It's that simple and that necessary.

The LaTeX Companion was my primary reference while teaching myself LaTeX over the course of two weekends. Normally I'd just find information on the web to learn a tool like this; for LaTeX, I think it was a good call to use the book. Within a couple of days of playing with it, I'd selected and learned the key packages I needed to use and assembled a document style appropriate to my needs.Two minor nits bump it down to four stars:1. I found it moderately difficult to get started, because the early chapters are organized oddly (to my mind). A quarter or so of the basics that I needed up front required jumping to arbitrary future chapters. I don't expect a beginner's tutorial, as the web provides ample examples, just a more logical progression without sacrificing reference value.2. TeX and LaTeX are exemplars of stability, so I'm sure most of the information in the book remains relevant and current 9 years after issue. Still, I can't help wondering if I'm missing newer and better packages or approaches which I would know about if I'd learned from an constantly-updated source on the internet.

the next level of detail on latex. I think that the first level book will satisfy most users. Markdown is the next step now, but dvi is a better looking output still

I bought this book, along with two other LaTeX books (namely Lamport's  LATEX: a Document Preparation System : User's Guide and Reference Manual (Addison-Wesley Series on Tools and Techniques for Computer T)  and Kopka & Daly's  A Guide to LATEX: Tools and Technologies for Computer Typesetting ) in order to give me more details on some of the more basic operations and commands of LaTeX as well as more complicated issues, such as fonts and packages, to help me type up a maths project for my degree. It looks like I should really have bought this book alone!Because it contains details about all the packages, its a useful encyclopaedia for LaTeX. However, the book is also structured by the type of output of commands and packages. For example, there's a section on fonts, a section on typing mathematics etc. The result is that you're able to compare and contrast the use of different commands and packages which produce similar results.I think of it as a must for any regular LaTeX user, or even anyone with a fairly limited knowledge of LaTeX to begin with, because it answers the questions about details which other books can't. My only reservation on it is that it might not be suitable for near-novices & complete beginners. Its large size (over 1000 pages) may frighten, but it is intended to be used as a reference than as a manual you read from cover to cover. In this instance the other two books cited above may prove more useful. However, otherwise this book is very very useful and I would definitely recommend it to users who are familiar with basic LaTeX. LATEX: a Document Preparation System : User's Guide and Reference Manual (Addison-Wesley Series on Tools and Techniques for Computer T)A Guide to LATEX: Tools and Technologies for Computer Typesetting

This book is a new edition of the famous and fantastic reference on LaTex. But unlike the older edition, which is much more accessible and efficient though smaller, this book looks more of a narrated encyclopedia or a very large story, which needs to be read in sequence and completely to be able to make proper use of its contents!Unlike what most of us want from a LaTex reference, this book doesn't allow you to access or delve into a point of interest quickly to get the definite answer you are looking for. If you, for example, try to look for some type of Heading, or a specific command, and have located it in the index, it is most likely that you will not find any defining or useful information by opening to the index suggestions. You will see that most of the places where the index leads you to are points where the command/topic were cited, but will realise that they are not explained there for the first time and they have been in fact rather talked about as if you have known about them already from reading through the whole bulk of text prior to that point! Further, you are most likely to find any data you want amid heaps of other data which are narrated in conjunction with each other, which are usually of no direct use, and of a rather hindering/slowing effect, to the reader who is trying to find his way quickly through!I would have forced myself and read the whole book, had it been a small book, but this is a massive book, which is hardly read in the way it's assumed. Thus, it fails to cover the need for an organised, wise reference that is indispensable for the user. Simply put, it is not a quick reference to LaTex, although it is impressively rich and encompassing. The authors are renowned masters of LaTex, without argument, but they have written something that is solely useful for the professional who would, perhaps, be studying, specialising, or earning a living from LaTex itself, by knowing all its details, but not the common user or advanced user, who are interested in understanding the operation clearly and applying it to their articulate documents.I would recommend buying the older, simpler edition, for most users.

Great as a glossary

What I liked the most is the clear explanation given to emphasise the expected outcome, this book combines clarity with precision. The delivery as well as the quality of the book is also impressive. I would also recommend the bookstore, absolutely good quality and worth the value. All and all, great team work by all the involved parties including amazon.