An introductory-level text for students who are not majoring in computer science as well as for computer science majors with no prior programming experience, Simply Scheme teaches computer science from a functional/symbolic point of view. It provides a solid platform from which students can go on to study the seminal work Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Interesting non-mathematical programming examples use words and sentences as data; practical examples are represented by miniature spreadsheet and database programs. Simply Scheme devotes five chapters to recursion, presenting distinct ways for readers to think about this watershed idea. There is also a chapter on file input/output, and students are able to work on substantial, realistic programming projects in the first semester. It also features a series of large sample programs and a series of suggested large programming projects.