Electronics and Electrical Books

I read this straight through, cover to cover. I have found Lyons's discussion to be illuminating and intuitive on a number of points, but this book is not for everyone.

Lyons doesn't major on long equations and proofs the way most DSP books do (e.g, he omits the actual algorithm for Remez exchange and suggests the reader use an existing implementation in his favorite software package instead). The math is simpler here because he is aiming for intuition and understanding, not algorithmic mastery or mathematical rigor. That can be a good thing, depending on what one wants out of a DSP book.

The single most helpful chapter compiles and updates the author's DSP Tips and Tricks columns from an IEEE DSP magazine. One trick therein (computing a 2N-length real FFT as an N-length complex FFT) found immediate application at my workplace and provided significant speed-up in our application -- even more than he predicted because of the optimizations in our FFT library. Even so, it seemed to me that most of these 30-odd tricks could have been incorporated into the relevant chapters, perhaps in a "Tips and Tricks" section at the end of each. It was a little awkward at times to have some trick for an algorithm discussed four chapters ago.

One of the least helpful chapters to me was on specialized FIR filters. It seemed (particularly first half on frequency-sampled filters) like a more advanced and optional topic than its placement in the book indicated, and after it, the discussion returned to more fundamental matters. I understand that the author wanted to put the filter design chapters together, but it seemed to me like a diversion from the main flow of the book into unnecessary complexity. If the chapter had appeared at the end of the book, it probably would have been better for me, and, according to an email, the author may remove it from the next edition. (Since you know now what I didn't know then, just skip that section until later if you prefer.)

The reader should look elsewhere if he wants problems to work out at the end of each chapter or if he seeks to grasp the deep theoretical details of signal processing. And I don't think this is a good book for introducing DSP to someone who has no schooling in or on-the-job experience with it because it assumes some background knowledge that the neophyte just wouldn't have. (My boss, who has a degree in mathematics and has been doing software engineering for 20 years or so, confirms this opinion from when he tried to read it. Now that he has more hands-on experience with DSP thanks to a project we've been on, it is more useful and comprehensible for him.)

But for a refresher or for getting some math and theory to back up real-world experience, it's a good place to look -- perhaps the best place.

I had seen the book "Understanding Digital Signal Processing" by Richard G. Lyons advertised on the internet. I have also seen and read several technical articles authored by Lyons scattered around the internet. I was interested in the book but I didn't want to purchase it before I could thumb through it and get an idea of the quality of its content. I paid a visit to the well stocked library at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and found it sitting on the shelf in the signal processing section. I checked the book out and had three weeks to read and evaluate it. I was not able to read the entire book in the three week period but I read enough in about two weeks to determine that it was a well written book so I ordered a copy from Amazon.

Lyons states in the book's introduction "I've attempted to avoid the traditional instructor-student relationship, but rather make reading this book like talking to a friend while walking in the park". I believe Lyons has achieved his goals in this respect.

In my grad and under grad days, in order to gain some understanding of the subject at hand, I spent many an hour reading and then re-reading course assigned engineering texts in an effort to fill in the many technical blanks left by the authors. A large majority of these texts took a stuffed shirt approach in what seemed to be a pompous attempt by the author to demonstrate his intelligence. They rarely connected all the technical dots. Now that I think about it, a bunch of the dots were missing too!

Attitudes like this seem to changing with modern day authors like Lyons. He makes a noticeable effort to keep the material informative and interesting. I really appreciate the fact that Lyons takes his time and thoroughly explains each subject. He uses a lot of text to walk the reader through each topic.

In his presentation he fills in the critical blanks and eliminates a great deal of the classical stumbling blocks that usually led to student head scratching, wall pounding , and dog kicking, which was a common reaction to the older generation texts.

This is definitely a good book for engineering students who have just begun their journey into the world of Digital Signal Processing. This is definitely a good book for practicing engineers who feel the need to clear up some of the gray areas in their DSP knowledge.

The title of the book "Understanding Digital Signal Processing" pretty much lets the buyer know right from the start that the content of the book is targeted at engineers with a beginning to intermediate knowledge of DSP. This book is probably not suited for the engineering guru's with 20 or 30 years experience in the field of DSP. However, I bet there is some information contained in Lyons work that will clear a few of the technical cobwebs from even these people's heads.

Lyons starts off with a few chapters on the Discrete and Fast Fourier Transform, and finite impulse response and infinite impulse response filters just like most DSP texts. Then he departs from the normal course DSP texts seem to pursue and he takes a step towards real world DSP applications with chapters on quadrature signals, the discrete Hilbert transform, sample rate conversion and signal averaging. He spends a chapter on data formats and their corresponding attributes, which sounds dull until the day you find yourself tasked to design a digital processor that performs high speed digital computations. He then spends more than 100 pages on tips and tricks that are useful in many common signal processing applications.

I received my copy of Lyons book from Amazon last week and am in the process of reading the remainder of the book. When I am done this book will occupy a prime space in my office book case, right at eye level, for an easy grab when needed.

After having read much of the book, would I spend the money to purchase it again if necessary? The answer is a definite yes. This is money well spent.

This book presents the fundamental and most important concepts of DSP without the rigors of mathematics so that any working engineer and developer can understand them. Mr. Lyon's writing style is excellent and his knowledge in the area of DSP pours out of each chapter. Highly recommended for anyone using DSP techniques in their product development!!!

This book is well titled. It does what it claims to do - give you an understanding of DSP. It's not a cookbook. You won't find code snippets to play with. Look elsewhere for that. But it will take you from the continuous signal analog world into the wonders of the digital realm and then further, into the frequency domain. The style is mathematically rigorous yet relaxed. It won't leave you stranded with vague concepts, nor gloss over important detail as so many introductory books tend to. This is the real deal.

I am a PhD student working on Wireless communications and I wanted to get a better understanding of DFT. There is a million books out there which will tell you what DFT does, but only very few will teach you 'how' it does it. After years reading through many technical books, I decided to pick this book up. And I haven't been able to put it down since. This is not your every-day text book. This will not feel like reading one of your general technical books. This book will not tire you down. Where other books try to give complex equations, this book gives a series of figures to explain what is happening. Even at this level of my studies, I still find it very easy to understand it than trying to go over an equation.

When I bought this book, I was only to read the chapter on DFT because other DSP topics aren't really important to me, or atleast I thought so. I especially wanted to learn about "DFT Leakage", which I didn't find in many of the other text books. Before jumping to the DFT chapter, I just had a peek in the opening of the book, and since that, I have read every word upto ch.12 by now (except for IIR filters, for which I will come to later).

The thing is, although I am not really working in the area of DSP itself, the concepts given in this book are something every one working with 'digital signals' MUST learn. I learned so much from this book so far and I simply can't imagine graduating and going to work without knowing these DSP concepts.

If you are like me and not researching directly in DSP (but something with signals), you might think that it's not very important to learn these technologies and will skim through when you come across DSP concepts in other texts or papers, but believe me, you need to know these stuff.

The other reason I am very happy with this book because it made me look into different aspects on my research and opened up different research topics. One last thing, don't think this book is for beginners. Beginners can and MUST (in my opinion) start here, but there are lots of advanced topics covered in this book too. For example ch.13 will provide very useful techniques for somebody working hands on with DSP. And I also need to add this. Number of books I have read introduces a concept and then mentions a feature of it and says, "this is a trivial exercise for the reader", or "the reader should derive" or something of the sort. I always found that these "exericses to the reader" are somewhat the important parts that must have been explained in the book. And this book, even the obvious is well explained to ensure that you grasp the concept from the root, not from the equation. This is something I really admire.

To sum up, this is an exceptional book, which clearly stands out from the rest of the books for the way the author has presented the contents and the type of contents in this. I regret not picking this book up years earlier.

This book is a bible for anyone who does their own maintenance on their boats. It's written so that you can easily understand it. Will save you lots of money in repairs.

Kudos to the author. Best book, I saved thousands on repairs. Though I no longer own a boat, the electrical stuff covers my RV!

Get it, you won't be sorry.

I have a 17" fishing boat with an outboard motor. It's a good informative books, but not for outboard motors. This book is for big inboard boats like yahts and sailboats with complex electrical wiring ann inboard motors.

Excellent reference for boat owners, especially sailboat owners, who like to maintain their boats themselves.

Everything you ever wanted to know about your boat but were afraid to ask. Nigel sets out to put tehnical data into laymans terms. A must have book for your ship's library.

This book is not in depth as it is supposed to be. There is alot of information, but to be used as a textbook, it is not totally useful. My teacher had to pull out different books in order to explain things that this book did not go in detail about. Overall, this book is full of redundancies.

The Architect of Light is a great lighting reference for anyone interested in designing a space that creates emotion through the maximum effect of light. The five step process tought by Sage Russell will definitely benefit me as a future Interior Designer!

Rich with colorful images, this is a five star lighting text that offers a creative logic to lighting design. I have successfully used this book as the introduction to lighting in a pre-architecture and interior design course at the sophomore level. My course used many of the available PowerPoint presentation slides, instructor's notes, and assignments provided by the author. Because of the practical approach taken by the text, I was able to match weekly assignments to each weekly lecture and students built a course portfolio of lighting exercises that will be useful in additional studio work. When technical information is so easily accessible online, I particularly appreciate the author's balanced perspective that honors the aesthetics of architectural lighting and helps students become intrigued with its magic.

Great resource for understanding the principles of lighting design, great explanation of lighting techniques and methods, and most important easy to read and follow... If you are a student is a great book to have!

As a practicing architect, I find this book to be spot on. I appreciate the author's focus on providing concise explanation of lighting techniques and methods. I also find his suggested design process to be very effective as well as efficient. Finally, as a lighting designer, he offers many valuable tips along the way on how to avoid pitfalls in typical lighting solutions. My lighting designs have improved significantly.

If you want a very, very basic introduction to Economics, this book is a good one. However, as an Economics major in college, I was looking more for a reference book to refresh my fading knowledge. This book doesn't have that level of detail.

I gave it five stars, because it's not the book's fault that I wanted something different.

The text is excellent and is suitable for any type of introductary Ecnonomics class. It can be used in a tough course or an easy course, as it provides a great level of organization so that the instructor may choose the material at his discretion depending on his course lay out.

Among all the textbooks I have seen in economics, I have found Mankiw's to be the best. It is clear and concise, addressing all the important intermediate issues in macroeconomics. The description of concepts is simple, and the book benefits from a three pronged approach to teaching - graphical, mathematical, and anecdotal. The student is free to choose whichever one he feels most comfortable learning from.

I'd recommend this along w/ "The Economic Way of Thinking" by Heyne, as the two best Econ textbooks I've read. Mankiw's book is fair and balanced, he is not a frothing at the mouth partisan, and it is a straightforward explanation of basic economic terms. However, he establishes a handful of core truths that anyone who wishes to understand economics must accept, and if not accept, explain as to why these certain truths don't apply. For example, Mankiw establishes that 1.) free markets work better than regulated markets, 2.) private property and incentives are necessary for productivity 3.) trade makes everyone wealthier.

He does not explain these in a polemical way, but he calmly establishes a solid case for these (and other principles), and despite being fairly standard in economic circles, they are fairly contentious in the realm of political economics and discourse (particularly on the collegiete level, where English Major Marxists think they know more about the social order than those who study the social order). This makes the book more persuasive than a fire and brimstone screed from an Ann Coulter type. Books like this need to be read by all to improve the Economical I.Q. of the voting public.

As an instructor of introductory macroeconomics, I often rue the fact that we do not utilize this textbook. I borrow material from it INCESSANTLY and without shame.

It presents the "Keynesian" viewpoint on macroeconomics in an extraordinarily clear and interesting fashion. Frankly, I consider the introductory (read literally - first semester macro books) texts to be a waste of time. There is absolutely no reason this textbook should not be used for a first semester macroeconomics course (assuming one has already taken an introductory microeconomics course).

Suggested plan of study for those interested in a fairly serious study of macroeconomics (without an INSANE amount of mathematical preparation): this book and Barro's book with the same title. Barro's book presents the real business cycle theory approach in a clear manner (though the book is somewhat dull in comparison)...then decide for yourself which 'camp' is making the most sense.

Regarding the content, I'm still reading the book but it is very interesting, I bought this book because it is a very good reference as far as the power supply design is concerned

Quick delivery. Quality product. Very informative. Very wide scope of design information, Very happy with purchase.

A very good book that covers most of the power converter architectures. An excellent addition to your personal library.

I recently graduated from Virginia Tech (undergrad), and I had only two classes that focused on power supply design/analysis. As an extension to what I learned in those classes (basics about buck/boost/flyback design and fabrication), this book is fantastic.

The book assumes you have a basic knowledge of EE principles, but nearly everything is explained in great detail. Topologies are examined one by one, and the author includes ALL of the derivations that lead to his design equations, which leaves very little room for misunderstanding. Each section contains pros/cons to using that particular topology, how to remedy common problems, and even talks a little about component selection (although since this book is years old, there are probably better components out there).

I haven't spent much time looking at the magnetics design section; however, it seems as though it would be useful. The chapter on loop compensation is excellent as well, offering a complete refresher of control theory and the design/analysis/use of Type 2 and 3 controllers. As I said before, the author assumes you're starting with very minimal knowledge of power supplies, so every equation and assumption is clearly justified in writing.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this text to anyone who is interested in power supply design or has to gain a quick understanding of something in the workplace since it not only includes the "quick and easy" design equations but also how to get there if you really care to know.

Although a good primer on the basic switching topologies, with an excellent chapter on inductor and transformer design, I couldn't help but feel that this book is more than a little outdated (which it is, at nine years old). There was no mention of synchronous or polyphase switchers, inductorless converters, charge pumps, high-frequency designs...and the section on MOSFETs left out what I feel was a great deal of information about paralleling and load sharing. Many of Linear Technology's app notes go above and beyond the material presented in this book...and they're free.

Unfortunately there are a few typos with equations but I ditched our WVU university book and used this one and was able to easily follow the examples and to the hw problems and understand everything I needed to know. Very very clear and easy to read, well refined, and meant to let the student teach himself/herself. I've had a lot of college classes and this is one of the 2 most impressive books I've used. Despite the typos it's a great book.

Great service, prompt and friendly. Book came fasterthan expected delivery date and was new- as promised.

probably the best book on the topic!
If you are looking for electric circuits, this should be number one on your list along with the schaums outline by edminister

This book is pretty good...little or no mistakes. However, the authors could have gone into a little more detail in explaining basic concepts. All in all, this book is a must-have.

Overall this is a really great book with lots of examples and good problems, however my complaint is that some of the problems haven't been covered in the examples and so they are too difficult to solve. For instance, in the chapter on node voltages, none of the examples covers floating voltage sources that have other components like resistors in series with them, yet a number of the problems involve such floating voltage sources. I had to refer to the Schaum's Outline of Basic Circuit Analysis (another very good book, btw) to find an example problem for that.
If you're looking for books on electric circuits, however, I would definitely recommend this one along with the Schaum's Outline book I mentioned above.

I had next to zero knowledge about electricity. This book completely changed that. It showed me the importance of mapping out electrical requirements, how amps are affected by wire lengths and how to determine wire sized needed for jobs. All of these were completely foreign to me before reading this book. You'll be surprised at the brevity of the descriptions of things and how they all inter-relate. I now feel comfortable tackling the wiring of my 28' foot.

The reviews did not disappoint. This book has very clear illustrations and covers all of the essential information to understand boat electrical systems. I have not read the AC sections since that does not apply to my single engine outboard powerboat, but the DC information is very good.

Sailboat Electrics Simplified
This is a very good book. I recently bought a small trailer sailor which I wanted to add a stereo to and a new 4 channel distribution panel. The book explained everything in an easy to understand manner from testing and trouble shooting, to theory , wire sizes necessary, and battery selection and maintainance. Even installing solar and wind charging systems. I am glad I got this book.

As usual Don Casey has taken a cryptic topic for many of us and opened up it up into a very clear and easily understood system. Reading what he says about batteries will pay for the book ten times over, and reading the rest will save your boat. I will never leave the dock for more than a day sail without his complete library.

Execlent Manual
Note: Don't buy if you already have "Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual" as you will find this manual inside the "big" one.

In his book, "Information Security Intelligence", Professor Thomas Calabrese grants his audience two things of note. First, he discusses the topic of Information Security with great passion and loads each chapter, topic, and subtopic with key facts, historical insight, and real world application. Second, he writes with a clarity and expertise that I could only posit as unrivaled; this man's education, life, and professional experiences have obviously lent him a great deal of information on Information Security which he gladly presents to us simply and directly, and without beating any topic into the ground.

'Information Security Intelligence' articulately and clearly discusses the major issues of Information Security. The book keeps the reader engaged with challenging and interesting labs. The author's background as a professor comes through in his ability to cleary express the complex issues surrounding Information Security. A very informative and useful book.

Mr. Calabrese has written a wonderful book. Complete with examples and in an easy to understand format. The mathematical principles behind cryptography were a lot easier to understand than other books I have read on the subject. The CD is very helpful and the personal touch where you can see and hear Mr. Calabrese answers questions was very helpful. If you are interested in information security or cryptography this book is a must have.

'Information Security Intelligence' by Thomas Calabrese is a very informative and interesting book. The author has done a superb job of explaining principles and illustrating his points through easily understood examples. This book does a great job of presenting the issues that organizations face and the importance of securing their information. I would highly recommend this book.

"Information Security Intelligence" by Thomas Calabrese is a very easy read for the non-infomation security professional reader. Although, very detailed and analytical when working through the cryptography algorythms, the first and third sections are very readable and provide a thorough understanding of how organizations can protect their most important asset!! I would highly recommend this "how-to-book" to any IT professional tasked with protecting their business' information.

NEW CONDITION AND SHORTEST DELEVERY TIME EVER ENCOUNTERED. I WILL DEFINATELY USE THIS SELLER AGAIN ***** !

I am pleased to find the book in better condition then I expected, and it has all the information needed for me to apply in whatever wiring I may become involved in.

Great book, has alot of stuff in it for the do-it yourselfer kind of person.

This was purchased as a gift. It looked like it was comprehensive, but I haven't heard back yet. The price and delivery were excellent.

I picked up this book from the library a few months back, and I was a bit disappointed with it because it really didn't tell me much that I didn't already know. (I'm a trade school student of electrical installation with 1 year experience)

I'm not saying this is a bad book, not at all. It's a great reference book for the person who wants to do some of the most basic work in the electrical field.

I actually own this advanced level of this book Stanley Advanced Wiring: Pro Tips and Simple Steps (ISBN 0696213184)

That books is for the person who doesn't mind cutting holes in their walls and getting their hands dirty.

Great book for reference and self study if you remember your circuit analysis and laplace transforms. Very detailed with out making ones eyes gloss over. Do wish it had a few more d examples but overall cant complain.

Mulling through some old reviews, I noticed that I left a technical error (more of a technical glossing-over) in my review of Franco's opus. It's high time I corrected it, since it's been there for more than a year, no doubt befuddling readers who thought they knew something about analog electronics. Specifically, I had said that the designation of the input terminals as '+' and '-' really made no difference: it's more reflective of convention, sciz. (assuming something other than a difference amplifier), the significant input network is attached to '-'--with '+' grounded--if the configuration is inverting, but to '+' (with '-' grounded) if the configuration is non-inverting. That's the truth, but it isn't the whole truth. When we examine border cases--those that tax the operational limits of the device, straying outside the "passband," analogically speaking (yes, I know, that typically refers to a frequency range, but here I use it to address an input voltage difference range)--the otherwise cosmetic or mnemonic choice of '+' or '-' terminal becomes rather more manifest. Remember that the amplifier actually amplifies the input voltage difference in the microscopic sense--even though it implements a semantically notable linear operation in the macroscopic sense--relying upon the feedback network to remanufacture an appropriate input voltage difference that maintains the nominal purpose of the circuit. When things go ape and the input voltage difference is much too high or, alternatively, much too low (and that may be a tough nut to crack), the output characteristic will be dependent upon what was connected to '+' and what, to '-'.

Now, wasn't that as clear as mud? Remember, I'm constrained to use words, and words alone, as my medium of communication, and, since I have only a fraction of a thousand words, I have only a fraction of a picture!

This book can be an excellent resource for any Analog Integrated Circuit Design Electrical Engineering student or practicing engineer. The book can assist in the modeling of IC devices such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. It also sensibly covers the building blocks of analog integrated circuits: gain stages, output stages, level shifters, current sources and mirrors.

The reader is expected to have a general understanding of electronics, frequency-domain analysis procedures, and understand basic Pspice operations. The book generally covers enough material for a half-year of courses at the upper-division/graduate level although the book could certainly be useful for a single class.

The material generally starts out as basic and proceeds to a complex level. There are helpful figures and diagrams on nearly every page and the organization is generally sensible and intuitive. There are many worked examples and hundreds of end-of-chapter problems. The text is supported by a website that offers downloadable design projects, additional examples, and design software. Franco has done an admiral job at presenting a complicated subject.

Here's a brief description of SOME of the topics found in each chapter:

1) Basic amplifier concepts and arrangements are explored. Also covers negative feedback, the loop gain, and basic circuit analysis.

2) Current-to-Voltage & Voltage-to-Current Converters, Current, Difference, Instrumentation, and Transducer Bridge Amplifiers.

3) Active Filters. Transfer Function, 1st order, KRC, multiple-feedback, state-variable, audio, and biquad filters.

4) Filter Approximations, switched-capacitor, universal sc filters, and cascade design.

5) Low-input bias-current Op amps, low-input-offset-voltage Op Amps, Op Amp Circuit Diagrams, and Input offset Voltage.

6) Open and Closed loop response. Transient Response, Input and Output Impedances, and effect of Finite GBP on Filters and Integrator Circuits.

7) Noise Dynamics and Properties. Sources of Noise and Low-Noise Op Amps.

8) Stability problems. Stability of CFA Circuits and in Constant-GBP Op Amp Circuits. Internal and External Frequency Compensation.

9) Schmitt Triggers, analog switches, voltage comparators, and precision rectifiers.

10) Sine, Triangular, Sawtooth, and Monolithic Wave Generators. Also Multivibrators and V-F and F-V Converters.

11) Voltage References and Regulators. Switching, linear, and monolithic switching regulators.

12) Performance Specifications, D-A and A-D Conversion Techniques. Oversampling Converters and Multiplying DAC Applications.

13) Nonlinear Amplifiers. Phase-Locked Loops, Monolithic PLLs, Analog Multipliers. Log/Antilog and Operational Transconductance Amplifiers.

This is an excellent book on linear circuit design, the best I have read to-date. It covers feedback theory, ideal op amps, active filter design & most importantly practical op amp limitations. It also covers voltage regulators, voltage references, ADCs, DACs, op amp noise & more. What I liked most was the combination of mathematical circuit analysis & practical design. Too many books show useful circuits without bothering to explain anything about how they work. It also has plenty of exercises to tax the brain.

Really a top notch book on op-amps and almost anything you'd ever do with them. Has math where it's needed and rules of thumb where it isn't. Actually is just a great analog design book altogether. Really the definative text on the subject of designing with op-amps.