Industrial Books

A review of this book can really only be given in comparison to the only other book on the subject at this time, "Fiber Bragg Gratings," by Kashyap.

The book has a wonderful balance between the theory and applications of Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs), something that is lacking in Kashyap's book. The first 4 chapters (not including the introduction) give a nicely detailed theory for FBGs, including several sections in the "Properties of Fiber Bragg Gratings" (chapter 3) that are not covered in Kashyap's treatment. The book then contains two relatively large chapters on the applications of FBGs, the first on "Applications of Bragg Gratings in Communications" (chapter 6), and "Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors" (chapter 7). FBG sensors are completely omitted by Kashyap, so this book is far more useful to those working in the area (as the reviewer is). Although this book does not includes as much in the way of "Apodization", "Band-pass Filters", and "Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings", as Kashyap does. Kashyap also has an extensive chapter on "Fiber Grating Lasers and Amplifiers", which is a small section in this book.

Overall I would say 4.5, but I had to choose 4 or 5, so I went with 5, as this book has been a great help to me. Conversely I gave Kashyap a 3.

So, if you can only buy one FBG book, I think this is it. But check the tables of content for both books and compare them, as Kashyap may be of more use to some.

My final though is that this book does have the feel of an edited collection of some 700+ references, were as Kashyap does appear to have written a book which feels more like a text book. But as a reference book I personally prefer the first.

Regards,

Dear Professor:

Befor a few months, I read this book in MIT durring I do visit professor research,It is an excellent book. Now I came back China,I want to buy it, but I don't know how to buy it, and how to pay it. Would you please tell me for it, I will very appreciate your help.

Dr. Xueguang Qiao

It is an excellent book in the optical fiber communication and sensing!

It is an excellent book in the optical fiber communication and sensing!

I knew nothing about fiber Bragg gratings before I picked up this book. Othonos and Kalli cover just about everything you would want to know about fiber Bragg gratings, from the physics of the fiber itself and how the gratings are created, to applications (including some of the more exotic ones). The material is presented in an understandable manner, with sufficient text descriptions - not just equations that you have to figure out yourself. If you're just beginning to learn about fiber Bragg gratings, I recommend this book highly.

This is a book that should be in the library of anyone interested in (or working with) fireworks, pyrotechnics, colored flame compositions, rocketry, or any other combustion-related aspect of chemistry.

It's definitely not the slickest presentation, nor is it full of color pictures. The text looks like it came out of a standard typewriter, rather than being typeset, and the illustrations are primarily hand-drawn. Instead of "glitz", what this book gives you is simple, practical information about the chemistry of fireworks, the art and techniques needed to produce various effects cleanly and effectively, and the safety precautions needed to do so safely.

Takeo Shimizu is an expert (possibly *the* expert) in this field, and his writing reflects a long career full of practical experience. You will not go wrong by adding this book to your library. It is an invaluable reference book, and widely considered to be one of the few standard texts (along with Lancaster's book Fireworks Principles and Practice) in this industry.

Dit is echt een goed boek! Een uitgebreide beschrijving van de verschillende chemicalien en veel composities. Alleen de tekeningen zijn wat eenvoudig.Ook aandacht voor de veiligheid. Een echte aanrader voor elke pyrotechnicien!

It was years ago when the tradition of me making fireworks for newyearseve started.I always combined existing pieces of firework. As an result i became interested in making the real stuff, so i turned too books (i advise for you to doo the same ),this book was recommended by someone who was active in the trade.

Its a book that gives you an insight in all the facets of fireworks. It sometimes however does not go as deep into subjects as i would have liked ,but its probably a pleasant too read masterpiece by not doing so. It explanes a lot and in regard of safety features it scores very high in my book. So if you are interestit in firework the art the science or the technique this is the book too buy,i at least can safely work on somewhat nicer projects for next newyears in a safe setting .

be safe , greatings, arjan

Shimizu is a true pyrotechnic master and gives a view of the Japanese Pyrotechnics technique.

For a long time getting of this book was my dream of life, because it is extremely difficult in Russia to get any information about pyrotechnics. (The Internet is only possibility). After I have received this book as gift from my American friend I felt actual happiness. As far as I feel, this book is the best for anyone who know that fireworks are great art like classic baroque music or paintings...

My sincerely thanks to Dr. Shimizu for this beautiful book

In order to properly motivate employees, it's good to have a basic understanding of human psychology and how it operates in the business environment: linking these two disciplines is From Difficult to Disturbed: Understanding and Managing Dysfunctional Employees. Here are applied principles of psychology at their best, pairing real-world people-problems offices face with tips on how the manage issues. Psychological types are placed into categories for this purpose ("Emoters and Reactors", "Oddballs and Spoilers", "Preeners and Predators") with specific tips on handling each type. Any business library - and many a general lending collection - will find this an important acquisition.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The section concerning the personality types is most valueable and the accompanying case studies make it all the more real.

I have found over the years that it is not fellow employees but supervisors, managers, and administrators that were the source of most if not all workplace difficulties. Elevated to supervisory positions, most were not trained nor, frankly, did they have the temperment or skill to manage others. I didn't think this book would be helpful for me until I browsed it. It looks hard at "bosses" too with the same sharp lens. Dr. Miller writes with humor and verve. He is grounded in the science and the art.
A great read!

From Difficult to Disturbed: Understanding and Managing Dysfunctional Employees

The only book that explains the root causes of employee's problems.

As any difficulty, you cannot find an effective solution if you don't understand what is really happening. This lucid work will be your best friend and save you tons of heartache.

Dr. Miller has succeeded in writing a book that is relevant to every manager
and every business that employs people! It would be impossible not to find a description of your staff member in this book. Almost every described employee type will ring a bell to most managers.I have shown this book to a number of managers working in my university and each responded the same way-"..hey the dr. is describing my problem employee!.." It is also fun to read as the dr's writing style reflects both his knowledge and sense of humor.
The book is written in "plain english" and is successful in its attempt to communicate and educate managers about dealing with their problem employees. The analysis and advice is clear,concise and helpful.Dr. Miller's book should be required reading for all managers and we are in fact considering using the book, "From Difficult to Disturbed" as a key text in our managerial training programs here. Your company should too!

I work on 802.11b and 802.11a/OFDM modems and was looking for some kind of coherent text on decision feedback equalization and other tracking schemes when I stumbled upon this book. I'm deep into chapter three and I can already draw the following conclusions.

There are two things that make this book really great.
1) The teaching style. Besides having a wonderful way with words, the author uses plenty of subtle teaching principles that help in the understanding of the material like frequent repetition of the main concepts and slowly building up examples over different sections inside each chapter.

2) Content !!!! Its hard to assimilate abstract material like estimation theory without at the end having some type of useful application or algorithm to show for. The author's examples and computer projects on channel estimation, channel equalization, maximum ratio combining and Rake receivers are very popular building blocks for a variety of modems. It is very motivating to know that after labouring through the chapter the authors feels that you are now ready to understand decision feedback equalizers and so he presents you with a nice DFE computer project.

Difficult topics require competent teaching approaches and that is exactly what you will find in this book.

The only thing that would make this book even better would be a very brief introductory chapter on statistics and linear algebra. So if you are going through the book and you want to quickly revisit the definition of covariance or hermetian transpose there is one centralized section that has all the useful mathematical tools nicely listed.

As a practising engineer, I highly recommend this book.
Andreas S.

In this book, the ideas and formulas are well presented to the readers. Notations are very consistent throughout the entire book. I have enjoyed reading this book.

This is the best textbook I've ever read. The mix of theory and practice, examples and math, and the ordered introduction of concepts flows so well it reads like a treasure quest. Everything has its place, and the place is known - you just have to follow the signs and keep an eye out for those which are subtler than others, just to keep things alive and interesting. It's indicative of the clarity of thinking and broad sweep of this work that you would refer to it (I do and other students I know as well), for other subject matter such as communications, linear algebra, digital filters, probability and control theory. The homework problems are not just a series of one-liners as in most graduate level text books, but well-marked road maps addressing points discussed in the text and opening up new possibilities. The computer projects are very well commented and the results analysed. The language is concise yet fluid, and there are extremely few typos of any kind. This is a very, very high quality work.

This book is a true masterpiece. It contains the most complete treatment, theoretical and practical, of adaptive filtering that I've ever seen and I've seen just about every book on this topic on the market. In addition to the detialed theoretical derivations, this book is rich with numerous design examples and computer projects with provided matlab code. This equips the reader with proper tools to quickly understand the concepts and put them to practice with relative ease. I highly recommend this book to anyone serious about understanding adaptive filters.

For all those of us, working in beamforming or OFDM or equalization or noise control, who find Haykin's writing uninspiring, Sayed's work has all the elegance of Prof Kailath's pedagogical style. This is one scrumptious intellectual meal. Every extant variation of the LMS and RLS algorithms is detailed, and some histroical context provided. The mathematical background needed or assumed is rudimentary. The Matlab projects are extensive in scope - yet, like most Matlab sources, they will take work in understanding their nuances.

Having only got through the first few pages I can say that it is well written and written in a style that explains everything clearly.
No complaints at all.

This book is geared towards graduate and upper undergraduate students in physics and engineering. The first nine chapters of the book are restricted to plane waves. Thus the first half of the book introduces the reader to a wide variety of acoustical concepts such as propagation, reflection, transmission, refraction, normal modes, horn theory, absorption, and dispersion. All the while, the first half of the book keeps mathematical complexity to a minimum. The second half of the book relies more on advanced mathematics and is a survey of advanced topics dependent on the reader understanding the first nine chapters of the book. For the second half of the book, it will be helpful if you know calculus as well as differential equations. Each chapter has plenty of exercises so you can practice what you've learned.

Although the coverage is not as broad as Kinser's book on acoustics, this book does a much better job of explaining the foundations of acoustics including the math, which can get quite involved. I really love how Blackstock makes use of figures when explaining concepts and adding in the mathematics to the figure explanation in a way that you will remember the material. My advice is that if you are looking for a good introduction to acoustics, this is the book to read. Once you conquer this and you want something broader that goes into such topics as nonlinear acoustics and underwater acoustics, you probably want to look at Kinsler's "Fundamentals of Acoustics". The following is the table of contents:

1. Introduction
2. Detailed Development of the Acoustical Wave Equation.
3. Reflection and Transmission of Normally Incident Plane Waves of Arbitrary Waveform.
4. Normal Incidence Continued: Steady-State Analysis.
5. Transmission Phenomena: Oblique Incidence.
6. Normal Modes in Cartesian Coordinates: Strings, Membranes, Rooms, and Rectangular Waveguides.
7. Horns.
8. Propagation in Stratified Media.
9. Propagation in Dissipative Fluids: Absorption and Dispersion.
10. Spherical Waves.
11. Cylindrical Waves.
12. Waveguides.
13. Radiation from a Baffled Piston.
14. Diffraction.
15. Arrays.

I find this book clear and concise. This is the reference I use most often at work when I want insight into the physics behind a noise or vibration problem.

I knew I liked this book when I read section C of the introduction:

"How is the wave equation derived? Three common physical systems that carry waves - the electrical transmission line, the flexible string, and the compressible fluid - are considered in this section."

I needed a practical book to help me when I somehow volunteered myself to perform some acoustic experiments at work. They kind of said "Hey, you're a physicist. Can you do this?" And then I said "Uh... sure." I read through what I could find in Halliday and Resnick, a book I like for its simplicity. But then I needed something more complicated, so I bought Morse and Ingard, which was way too much. Then I found this book.

And its a good thing I did. The book uses the wave equation to solve each of these problems, and if you pay attention, you can assemble a nice, general approach to solving problems of this nature, and you'll have a list of analogous variables when you're done. The whole book is written like this. It's not an ASM Handbook by any means, but it is more practical than Morse and Ingard, has more drawings and diagrams, and I was surprised to find one of the cleanest, simplest descriptions of Bessel functions I've seen yet. The book addresses the complex problems without doing endless integrals, and it whenever possible it works through the problem and doesn't rely on phrases like "the reduction of step X to step Y is left as an exercise for the student" in its derivations. I appreciate this - it makes the book more friendly as a reference text.

Also, when I was a graduate student I never paid attention to literature references in text books because I (naively) considered them to be outdated. But a literature search is one of the best tools I have available to me in the working world - if you have access to a literature database, you will find the literature references at the end of some chapters to be very useful.

Consider it a useful reference text, and probably a practical textbook as well.

I think this is one of the best books on Physical Acoustics.
I would recommend this book to anyone starting to learn acoustics. This statement does not mean that advanced students should not go for this book, as it also covers advanced materials.

My opinion about the book can resumed as follows:

- Clear and concise
- Very good presentation
- Relatively easy to follow
- Very good for self-studying (plan to study the book is recommended by the author)
- There is a derivation (or instructions on how to get) to almost every equation in the book.
- Not too theoretical. Many practical interpretations of the mathematical results are given. (percentage of mathematics well balanced)
- The author makes apparently difficult material simple!

From this book one can jump to more advanced texts (Theoretical Acoustics by Morse and Ingard and Acoustics - An Introduction to its Physical Principles and Applications by Pierce).

Fundamentals of Acoustics by Kinsler et al is also a good book for a beginner, but I think this one is much better.

Moral of the story, I really like this book!

Ps: This is an opinion of a beginner on Physical Acoustics more interested in air applications, that never had lessons about this topic. I don't know if my opinion will change as my knowledge on this field increases:) I doubt it!

For anyone with an interest in the TIGER 1 this book is an invaluable asset.The major part of the book covers the various changes in design throughout the production life of the vehicle accompanied by drawings and photographs.
Anyone wishing to produce an accurate model of a particular Tiger from a particular time in its history will find the book essential.The book also contains a number of excellent scale drawings documenting the major changes in design.

This is purely a technical volume on the development of the Tiger I, but it is extreme in its detail and analysis. This took an extraordinary amount of research and effort. If you're into Tiger tanks, all three of Jentz's books in this series MUST be in your library.

This is about previous Tiger I tanks from official information. The book needs more wide information about the aspects than it study but includes a lot of tables, informataion and detailed pics about the Tiger I. It's not about operations or battles; only about production and design works. So, it's very good for people than keen on the Tiger and need more information than the "traditional", so don't expect for fighting.

This book is very much about the technical aspects of the tank. It includes a comprehensive list of the physical changes made to the vehicle during its production run, with every change dated and explained in detail. This list was painstakingly compiled from original German sources only.
The 7 sets of multi-view drawings of complete vehicles (including the underneath views) were prepared by Hilary Doyle from thorough surveys of surviving Tigers, and they correct the numerous small errors in all previous work. They are complemented by many original German technical drawings of parts of the tank, often unpublished before.
This book has a narrow focus, but in its field it is definitely the leader.

Typical of Mr. Jentz's work, the book is derived only from original sources, so he avoids repeating old errors that have percolated from book to book over the last 55 years. Hilary Louis Doyle does his usual superb job on the 1/35th scale drawings which cover all major production variants of the standard gun tank, as well as the prototypes (for a history of the failed Porsche prototype, see the same authors' book now available from Panzer Tracts). This is the first set of published drawings that accurately depicts the asymmetrical shape of the Tiger I turret (it bulges out slightly on the left, so the gun is mounted off-center in the mantlet to bring it back to the centerline of the turret). This is one volume of a three-volume series, the other titles covering the development of the Tiger II and the operations of the Tiger battalions. Jentz's book concentrates on the vehicle's general interior and exterior layout, but doesn't go into the technical depth of Walter Spielberger's books (most readers don't plan to actually rebuild a Tiger transmission anytime soon).

Business changes and influences are happening faster and faster, requiring the successful company to be more responsive and anticipatory than ever. For a guide which teaches managers and owners how to predict demand and handle it correctly, Getting It Right The First Time: How Innovative Companies Anticipate Demand is essential. Examples of real-life lucrative successes and missed opportunities alike offer lessons for all, and John Katsaros and Peter Christy have gathered a representative sampling of these case histories to work into a general company plan for marketing and advancement. Recommended for any entrepreneur interested in innovation.

This book was written for me. I have lived through the technology area of the 70's, 80's and 90's. Yes, I'm over 50 years old. Technology marketing and launching new products today is very different from my previous 30 years of experience. The markets today require focus, research and insight of the market dynamics. "Getting It Right the First Time" is for individuals and organizations who want to make their dreams become a reality. John Katsaros and Peter Christy's knowledge and insight comes from their experience. Their book has had a tremendous and positive impact on our organization. Dean Westbrook, Mount Angel, Oregon

John and Peter have brought a wealth of personal experience to the problem of bringing innovative products to market. Millions of dollars chase new ideas that have no hope of success.

Entrepreneurs, product planners and managers, business strategists will all be well served by the insight and by following the guidance inside this book.

If you've got a great idea for a revolutionary product - read this book.

Well-organized, clearly written and very enjoyable. Most importantly, this book lays out the basic, but absolutely critical things you must take care of if you are going to start any venture and provide excellent insight into solving the special problems that come with venturing into emerging hi-tech markets. Highly recommended.

I very much enjoyed reading this book. It is well-written and didn't take too long to finish. I loved the little story about the entrepreneur who made a bundle cleaning hard drives. I recommend entrepreneurs/business strategists read this book. I suspect it will keep them on track in their pursuit of being successful.

The authors' message is that entrepreneurs should use market research to improve and refine their business strategy. They point out that it is crucial to business success to consider how large a product's market is and how fast that market is growing BEFORE spending time and money to actually develop the product. It's a waste of time and money to create a product for a small market that is not going to grow.

The authors are advocates of planning and avoiding trial and error. They believe in knowing what they are getting into, documenting a plan in writing, and then implementing the plan that logically will be successful. They go a step further than this, however. They also suggest that the market researcher enlist the help of experts who are interviewed during the marketing research.

The funny thing about this book is that most successful companies already do what the authors preach. The ones that don't were the Internet companies that went bust 5 or 6 years ago, and the millions of entrepreneurs that account for failed businesses year in and year out.

I would have liked this book better if it had been written by someone who did not have a background in Silicon Valley. Maybe someone from the automotive industry or financial services industry would have been great? But we are stuck with some computer guys. The book is still worth the read.

I was curious about the nearly unanimous 5-star rating given this book by other reviewers. After picking up a copy from Amazon and reading it, let me join the chorus with my own 5-star rating! What a find! Murstein seems to cover nearly everything you would want to know about the market in a succinct and humorous manner, remarkable for a volume of only 350 pages. Of particular and topical interest: it has been published recently enough to discuss the impact of the Enron scandal and how investors should approach the market in these times. It is scholarly without being stodgy. Murstein evaluates the great variety of strategies, schemes, systems and newsletters out there with a very critical eye. He names names and doesn't pull any punches. While the book is oriented mainly toward the individual securities investor, he does have a useful section on mutual funds (my special interest). There's one outstanding chapter near the end (alone worth the price of the book) called "Maxims, Adages and Suggestions" - over 70 of these, many of which are very useful. One last word: I'm familiar with and rely on the Lynch and Zweig investment books; the Murstein volume beats them both hands down!

This book is a must for every serious investor. It is informative and based on research findings, but humorous and easy to read. I especially liked the chapters showing that serious individual investors can outperform professional money managers, and how to do it.

I REALLY enjoyed the history of investing in the introduction.

Afterward, I found certain sections to be particularly illuminating with regard to my personal efforts to increase my assets via the markets, but the numerous graphs often left me, neither a psychologist nor a financial professional, wondering.

SO, I've given a copy of this book to my broker, and I hope that SHE will use it to enrich us both.

Getting Psyched For Wall Street: A Rational Approach To An Irrational Market by psychology and behavioral finance expert Bernard Murstein is a superb blend of psychology and finance. Specifically written to help ordinary investors of all background better understand the interaction between human psychology and the ups and downs of Wall Street, Getting Psyched For Wall Street covers everything from why so many people were blind to Enron's problems to why stocks sometimes go up on bad news and down on good news. Getting Psyched For Wall Street is a unique, inherently fascinating, "reader friendly", practical work that should be read by any investor seeking to understand how market forces function and are influenced.

Finally! A book every individual investor can understand and use immediately. Murstein is both lucid and witty. His analyses are scholarly but clearly presented. Practical? Check his chapter on a rational approach to selecting stocks. My own investment strategies will never be the same. Professor Murstein, where were you when we needed you at the beginning of our investment rollercoaster?

I was often puzzled by employees in their early 20s. They brought different values, expectations and skills to the workplace. My job was to teach them the service ethic, to keep them long enough to get the benefit of my training efforts and keep them motivated to put in a good day's work.
This book addresses those issues. Any employer today needs to inform themselves on how to deal with this age group.

Answers to the, "What's in it for me?" question are relevant to more than just Chester's "Kidployees" - youth who have come of age in the late 90' and beyond; these answers are required for virtually every employee and this book delivers practical, relevant, everyday applicable, ways to answer that question with your employees. Reflecting common sense, as well as a sense of humor, Chester delivers means and methods to address front-line worker's all important needs for purpose, identity, and accountability. From CEO to front-line supervisor, this easy to read, enjoyable book will provide countless ideas for making that all important, bottom-line, performance connection with your staff.

From the section on "How to Attract Them", to "How to Keep Them", to "How to Connect with Them", Chester will hold your interest with his logic, humor, and common sense ideas for respecting, motivating, and holding them accountable. If you are responsible for managing more than one (yourself) employee, give this book a try. I highly recommend it.

Dennis DeWilde, author of
"The Performance Connection"

If you employ a team or are looking to employ (and retain) a team that includes anyone in the 15 to 25 age bracket, this book is an absolute MUST READ.

Several very good examples of what other successful operators are doing and plenty of food for thought that can lead to real application in your business.

A great investment and a very good read!

Eric Chester's Getting Them To Give A Damn: How To Get Your Front Line To Care About Your Bottom Line provides an excellent key to turning uncaring employees into performers and innovators. The latest generation shares a new set of values and won't blindly conform to company policy - but they can be motivated, and 'Generation Y expect' author Eric Chester shows how. From recruiting the best new employees to using different types of training to make them loyal, this is a 'must' for any member of the 'next generation employer'.

Eric Chester's Getting Them To Give A Damn: How To Get Your Front Line To Care About Your Bottom Line provides an excellent key to turning uncaring employees into performers and innovators. The latest generation shares a new set of values and won't blindly conform to company policy - but they can be motivated, and 'Generation Y expect' author Eric Chester shows how. From recruiting the best new employees to using different types of training to make them loyal, this is a 'must' for any member of the 'next generation employer'.

I purchased this book when first released and utilized the techniques to assist in solving some performance issues at the office. I've seen some amazing results. So amazing, I purchased copies for my management team and we're working our way through the book now. Tremendous results. Kudos to Douglas Walker!!

I loved reading "A-ha Performance" and can definitely use all the wisdom in it to motivate not only my employees, but myself. I learned so much about management and my workplace environment and can see the positive results already.
Choose to Be Happy: A Guide to Total Happiness

Using this as a textbook in Managerial Motivation Class at local college. Interesting format with logical real life scenerios. Great discussion forum.

A-HA! Performance provides a very clear method for understanding what makes your employees tick and how to manage the process so that you end up with a win-win situation. This book is great for new managers and a wake-up call for those of us managing for many years who thought we already knew how to manage. I will keep this book behind me at work to refer to regularly and to help remind me what type of manager I want to be. Good stuff!

Before reading A-HA! Performance, we focused on motivating the workforce based on what the company thought employees should be motivated by. Now that we understand how to find their Intrinsic Motivation Points, it gives us tremendous insight about what Really motivates each individual. We have magnetized employees to the company's goals.