Laura Lemay (born August 1, 1967) is an American author of technical books, most notably starting the SAMS Publishing "Teach Yourself" series.
Biography
Lemay works as a freelance technical writer. Beginning in the 1990s, she authored a series of instructional texts on web publishing, HTML, and Java.[1][2] Her first book, Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML in a Week, demonstrated that HTML could be learned easily[3] and was the second guide on HTML to appear on the market. Her second book, Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days, promised to do the same for prospective Java users, and her 1997 book The Official Guide to Marimba's Castanet focused on push media.[1] 1997's Laura Lemay's Web Workshop: Javascript received positive reviews, and was praised as a "fine book" that came with helpful software.[4]
Andrew Leonard, writing for Salon.com, noted that Lemay's books (by the time of his 1997 article he counted 23) were an example of "Beta books", books about software that come bundled with software, and are regularly updated.[1]
Personal life
Lemay lives in the Santa Cruz hills with her husband Eric. On December 19, 2022, she announced on her blog lauralemay.com that she had throat cancer.[5]
Books
2010 – Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML and CSS in One Hour a Day, Sixth Edition – ISBN0672330962
2007 – Sams Teach Yourself Java 6 in 21 Days – ISBN0672329433
2006 – Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML and CSS in One Hour a Day – ISBN0672328860
2004 – Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 21 Days – ISBN0672326280
2003 – Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML & XHTML in 21 Days – ISBN0672325195
2003 – Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing With HTML and XHTML – ISBN9780672325199
2002 – Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days – ISBN0672320355
2001 – Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML and XHTML in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition – ISBN0672320770
2000 – Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition, Second Edition – ISBN0672318385