The Latex Companion: Amazon.co.uk: Frank Mittelbach, Michel Goossens, Johannes Braams, David Carlisle, Chris Rowley: Books

Product Description

The LaTeX Companion has long been the essential resource for anyone using LaTeX to create high-quality printed documents. This completely updated edition brings you all the latest information about LaTeX and the vast range of add-on packages now available--over 200 are covered! Full of new tips and tricks for using LaTeX in both traditional and modern typesetting, this book will also show you how to customize layout features to your own needs--from phrases and paragraphs to headings, lists, and pages.

Inside, you will find:

Expert advice on using LaTeX's basic formatting tools to create all types of publications--from memos to encyclopedias
In-depth coverage of important extension packages for tabular and technical typesetting, floats and captions, multicolumn layouts--including reference guides and discussions of the underlying typographic and TeXnical concepts
Detailed techniques for generating and typesetting contents lists, bibliographies, indexes, etc.
Tips and tricks for LaTeX programmers and systems support

New to this edition:

Nearly 1,000 fully tested examples that illustrate the text and solve typographical and technical problems--all ready to run!
An additional chapter on citations and bibliographies
Expanded material on the setup and use of fonts to access a huge collection of glyphs, and to typeset text from a wide range of languages and cultures
Major new packages for graphics, "verbatim" listings, floats, and page layout
Full coverage of the latest packages for all types ofdocuments--mathematical, multilingual, and many more
Detailed help on all error messages, including those troublesome low-level TeX errors

Like its predecessor, The LaTeX Companion, Second Edition, is an indispensable reference for anyone wishing to use LaTeX productively.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains a complete plug-and-play LaTeX installation, including all the packages and examples featured in the book.

From the Back Cover

Inside, you will find:

Expert advice on using LaTeX's basic formatting tools to create all types of publications--from memos to encyclopedias
In-depth coverage of important extension packages for tabular and technical typesetting, floats and captions, multicolumn layouts--including reference guides and discussions of the underlying typographic and TeXnical concepts
Detailed techniques for generating and typesetting contents lists, bibliographies, indexes, etc.
Tips and tricks for LaTeX programmers and systems support

New to this edition:

Nearly 1,000 fully tested examples that illustrate the text and solve typographical and technical problems--all ready to run!
An additional chapter on citations and bibliographies
Expanded material on the setup and use of fonts to access a huge collection of glyphs, and to typeset text from a wide range of languages and cultures
Major new packages for graphics, "verbatim" listings, floats, and page layout
Full coverage of the latest packages for all types ofdocuments--mathematical, multilingual, and many more
Detailed help on all error messages, including those troublesome low-level TeX errors

Like its predecessor, The LaTeX Companion, Second Edition, is an indispensable reference for anyone wishing to use LaTeX productively.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains a complete plug-and-play LaTeX installation, including all the packages and examples featured in the book.

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

Ideal desktop reference book 8 Mar 2005

By Specky Bob

Format:Paperback

I have been using LaTeX to write my doctoral thesis for the past few years and have been relying on web-based resources to guide me through various packages and formatting commands. On hearing the news of the release of this second edition, I bought it without hesitation even though I had never seen the first edition. It has proved to be a good investment worth every penny.

I have found so many useful packages I didn't know about. The source text and the output printed side by side allow you to compare and work out what is going on very easily. The index is extensive and adequate.

There is good balance of topics packed in 1090 pages. I work on languages so found the sections on fonts and encodings particularly useful. But there is plenty of stuff for maths, formulas, etc. which should satisfy scientists.

It is concise and comprehensive (for its size) at the same time. It delivers up-to-date information on so many specialised applications of LaTeX in a single book. In short, it is an ideal desktop companion. If you are tired of looking up separate online documentation for each package on your computer screen, you can do a lot worse than buying this book.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

It will get you to the next level 27 Sep 2007

By M. Tsoukalos

This is not a book for first-time LaTeX users. Get "A Guide to LATEX" by Kopka instead.

This is a book for experienced users of LaTeX. It contains information about lots of LaTeX packages and shows you many ways of changing the default LaTeX behaviour and output.
It helped me decorating my book "Programming Dashboard Widgets".

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

A Latex bible... 8 July 2005

By A Customer

For absolute beginners, this might not be the place to start with LaTeX.
However, read through the 'not so short introduction to latex' to get started, and then whatever question you come up with, you'll find help in this book.
This bible will be standing next to my PC for the coming years!