Electronics Books

This book is the best damn book in the history of mankind! The level of detail and craftsmanship is not to be believed. I bought fifty and handed them out on the street to change people's lives. There's a rumor that after reading this book, a scientist was inspired and found cures for 4 different diseases!

Actually, I bought the book and it's very cool. "Wild" Bill Abner is a gifted writer and his love of gaming comes through in every page.

Don't let the title of this book fool you, this is not your standard Almanac. Bill Abner has crammed more information into this title then I though possible.

The format is terrific with one page essays on the games of 2005, Closet classic's, older titles and of course my personal favortie the corporate graveyard. Besides being an incredible fun read, this book is informative. The little tid bits at the bottom of each page and the quotes from developer interviews just ads so much to the book.

No matter how much you think you know about games, Abner knows more and he will pass these gems of knowledge on to you in this title.

Sticking a date and the word "almanac" on this really does a bit of a disservice to this fine collection of essays. The word conjures images of data and trivia when in reality Bill Abner has provided nothing less than a compelling piece of gaming literature. This work functions as so many things: a state-of-gaming address, an introduction to gaming sub-genres, a guide to classic gaming and, as they say, "much, much more."

The unifying thread which keeps this collection from disorder and disorganization is the lively and straightforward writing of Bill Abner. Abner is an absolute authority on gaming who couples his knowledge with a witty and direct writing style that never threatens to get geeky or preachy. The enthusiasm and energy Abner brought to this project is palpable not only in his writing but in the breadth, and sometimes obscurity, of the topics covered. He places games into the context of the greater gaming world, extending back to its obscure origins in the late 70's and early 80's, rather than simply reviewing 2005. Best of all for the reader, his enthusiasm is contagious and will leave you smiling, reminiscing and certainly searching out several new games.

I was introduced to gaming in 1994 when my wife bought me a bargin bin PC football game at Target. The game was Front Page Sports Football Pro, and it led me to start playing PC and then console games. Along the way, I read Bill Abner's reviews and thoughts in the form of website or magazine reviews or usenet posts and message board comments. His thoughts were always well written and intelligent. If he liked a game, chances are it was a good game.

One game in particular was High Heat 2000. I had been on the outs with baseball after the last big strike and had not given much of a thought to baseball - real or in a game - for several years. Bill's reviews of High Heat 1999 and comments on the upcoming 2000 version made me interested in a game that apparently had depth and a lot to offer, and eventually that game even brought me back to the real game on the field. After taking that good advice, I started following his reviews closely. He always gives his honest opinions and never tries to oversell or undersell a game. When there were bugs in High Heat, he pointed them out. When the AI was questionable in a game, he made that clear in his review -even if he understood that his audience might not care as much as he did about the dropped passes in NCAA 2005. There were games that Bill disliked but that I ended up playing and liking, but that did not stop me from enjoying his perspective.

He does the same thing in this book. He gives his honest thoughts about the games he has played. In fact, the best thing I can say about this book is that there are pages about games that I could care less about and will never play - but I read them anyway. I am a limited gamer - mostly sports games with an occasional FPS thrown in for variety. But that did not stop me from enjoying his essays on adventure games or puzzle games or even children's games.

The reason is that he is a good writer. These essays and reviews are written by someone who is passionate about gaming and has the knowledge and imagination to convey his thoughts and opinions. He was faced with a difficult task - writing about a subject that moves faster than the speed of the internet and games that are old news a week after release. But what he writes is not old news. The games may be months or even years old, but the essays hold up. I have no doubt that I will discover a game from the pages of this book that I would not have played otherwise. It might be an old game I pick up in a bargin bin, or it may be a new game by a developer he brings to my attention in this book.

If you like playing computer or video games and you like good writing, this book is for you. If you want to learn about video games this is a great place to start. The book is well written and well edited. It is easy on the eyes - not an issue to many gamers but an old timer like me appreciates publishers who use a good font/font size and utilize intelligent layout and production values. It is also well priced. While you are waiting for that new game to appear on the shelves, you can spend your time reading this book.

I bought this for my dad, who loves games but doesn't really know what's out there. I can tell him what I think he should buy, but this book was a perfect read for him. There was a lot of stuff I hadn't even heard of like the game Fate. Great stuff. Dad particularly liked the Bargain Bin stuff (good games for $20 or less.) It's a pretty big book but it's a very very easy, fast, and fun read. It's a very unique book. I dont know of anything else like it.

I personally enjoyed the grab bag essays and even though I already know most of the games discussed in the book, for a newbie gamer or for someone just getting back into the hobby this is A+ material.

A word of warning: this is NOT a book to buy if you want to dig deep into each game. Each game gets 1 page but there's SO much content in it I think it makes it a faster and better read. Plua you can go online if you want to get more info.

Also, this is not a book for people wanting all the dirt on the PS3. It's barely covered. Still, I think it's worth getting, particularly if you're not a super hardcore gamer.

I bought this book a week ago. Although I haven't had time to study it all in depth, I already like it more than my other opening books. I already played the accelerated Dragon, without knowing a lot of theory.

Many Whites play some sort of move order to reach the Yugoslav variation of the Dragon. That's not possible against the Accelerated, since Black can play ...d5!. But there are many tactical points in those lines to make Black equalize or win a pawn right away, and I always missed them. This book will allow me to punish mistakes every White seems to make, and I like that most :).

Furthermore, this is an opening book with quite a lot of text. It starts out with an overview of typical plans for both sides, and in the analysis chapters, many moves are accompanied with a small line saying what the idea is. I know I played many moves from other books not knowing why...

And it is complete. Aside from the main Accelerated e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 cxd4 Nxd4 g6, it also covers lines like the hyper-accelerated (e4 c5 Nf3 g6) which I sometimes like to play to avoid 3.Bb5, in 23 pages!, and things like the dubious e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 cxd4 Nxd4 Nf6 Nc3 g6.

The authors are absolute Accelerated enthusiasts so maybe there is a small Black bias, but I think most people who want to buy this book play it as Black anyway. The opening is completely playable.

I am one of those people who doesn't play the Sicilian often, because of how sharp and bookish it can be. In particular, the Sicilian Dragon is something I play only in the least important blitz games, as there are so many variations, and one's king gets stormed so darn often. From hard experience, I'd known that the Yugoslav variation stuff doesn't work against the accelerated dragon, but I'd never known the move sequences nor how to deal with all those c4 Maroczy Bind situations. This book capably tells you how to play the Accelerated, how to turn back white's efforts to try the Yugoslav Attack, and how to deal with the bind. It has a nice chapter on the Hyper Accelerated, and a mildly throwaway chapter on the Semi Accelerated system with ...Nc6 and ....g6. This is a good book, easily understandable by a B player like myself. Well done.

This book supplied lots of practical information. A "must have" for the dedicated chess player.

The Sicilian Dragon is an exciting opening to play as black but dangerous too. This is an excellent book for those who love to play the Dragon. Dragon players should add this one to their opening collections. It contains some tactical themes too. Shows how to play against whites setups, including the Maroczy Bind. Very solid and theoretical. Advanced players will find this one useful too.

In an earlier review about "Chess Openings for Black, Explained (A Complete Repertoire) by Lev Alburt", I've stated that GM Dzindzichashvili left out the line starting with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 Qa5 as on his 4th DVD of "Roman's Encyclopedia of 40 Essential Chess Openings" featuring also the Accelerated Dragon. Instead, he only treats the main line where Black plays 7...0-0, not 7...Qa5 (assuming that it was him who wrote the part on the Accelerated Dragon - read my review there if you wonna know why I think this is so).

For people who have this DVD, I've got good news: the book "Accelerated Dragons" (Everyman Chess - by J.Silman and J.Donaldson - first published 1998 and reprinted 2004) contains 38 pages (!) devoted to this particular line. Note: instead of 13.a3 a5 (Dzindzi's recommendation) they only mention 13...b4 and 13...a6, so maybe 13...a5 really is part of Dzindzichashvili's (later?) revelation on this line...

Accelerated Dragons also spends 22 pages on the Hyper Acc. Dragon (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6) although there's one little error on page 296; the authors mixed up two games. They wrote: (after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 Bg7) "4.dxc5 Na6? 5.Bxa6 bxa6 6.Qd5 Rb8 7.Qe5 and Black resigned in a few more moves in Braley-Pupols, Match 1970", but this way White simply drops his queen to the bishop on g7! The actual move order came from a Smith-Morra Gambit (in a friendly reply from J. Silman regarding this matter, he didn't mention which game exactly though): 1.e4 c5 2.d4 g6 3.dxc5 Na6 4.Bxa6 bxa6 5.Qd5 Rb8 Qe5.

Summarizing: in the book "Chess Openings for Black,explained" the "Anti-Yugoslav Variation" (with 7.Bc4 Qa5) is lacking completely, although on DVD 4 of "Roman's Encyclopedia of 40 Essential Chess Openings", GM Dzindzichashvili recommends this line to be used as a major weapon for Black after White plays 7.Bc4.

One thing Dzindzichashvili and Silman/Donaldson have in common: they both give the line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 (2...g6, Dzindzi, but this transposes) 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 0-0 8.f3? (their evaluation) Qb6 9.Bb3 Nxe4 which, according to them, wins a pawn for Black after White plays 10.Nxe4 Bxd4 (Dzindzi, page 62) or 10.fxe4 Bxd4 (Silman/Donaldson, page 11).

This assessment is probably wrong (I've read this in a review on "Chess Openings for Black, Explained (A Complete Repertoire)" written by "A.J. Goldsby I "A.J.G."". He says:

'Also - on page 62, there is another oversight. After 8.f3?, Qb6!; our team of authors provide the following comment: "Black threatens ...Nxe4 and ...Qxb2. White does not have an adequate defense - for example: 9.Bb3, Nxe4!; 10.Nxe4, Bxd4; and Black wins a Pawn." All this might be true, but 10.Nxe4? is a terrible move, ('??'); White has to play 10.Nd5!, with a fairly good game. Play could then continue: 10...Qa5+[]; 11.c3 Nc5; 12.Nxc6 dxc6; 13.Nxe7+ Kh8; 14.Nxc8 Raxc8; (Fritz confirms that this is Black's most solid move in this position.) 15.0-0. ("+/=") White is slightly better due to the two Bishops, the computer confirms that Black cannot play ...Nxb3; anytime soon, as this releases the WR on a1. (Bobby Fischer reached this position as early as 1958!!!) See the contest: GM W. Watson - GM M. Chandler; ICT / Lloyds Bank (Open) / London, ENG/UK; 1984. (All this was adequately covered in a book on the Accelerated Dragon - published a few years ago, written by IM's John Donaldson and IM J. Silman. There was also a good book on this opening by GM's P.H. Nielsen and C. Hansen, published in 1998, I believe.)'

This reviewer obviously skipped page 11 of "Accelerated Dragons", but I do get the impression he knows what he's talking about concerning White's refutation of 8.f3 Qb6 9.Nxe4 (by playing 10.Nd5 instead of 10.Nxe4 or 10.fxe4).

So, except for a few minor errors in "Accelerated Dragons" and the inconsistency between Dzindzi's DVD featuring the Accelerated Dragon and his new book (as I've explained above), the two books "Accelerated Dragons" and "Chess Openings for Black, Explained" together should provide a pretty thorough guide to the (Hyper) Accelerated Dragon.

The design of electronic filters is usually seen as a complex and difficult task, best handled by specialists. Don Lancaster, with this durable treatise, has written a clear and easy to follow guide. The principles and mathematics at the root of this subject are not trivialised but are explained in such a way that the non-specialist will have little trouble achieving success.

Owners of Lancaster's original Active Filter Cookbook: read on. I just bought Lancaster's Active Filter Cookbook, Second Edition. For years I have owned a copy of the original (1975) edition (mine is the 17th (1992) SAMS reprinting). Based on a cursory inspection, I can find no difference between the 1992 reprinting of the original edition and the so-called second edition. The Preface, the Table of Contents, the page numbering, the contents of numerous pages I examined, the List of References, the Index, are all identical, as far as I can tell. There is no new preface to the second edition. There is no description, either inside or on the outside cover, of what has been changed in the second edition. Based on my examination, I would recommend that, if you already own a copy of the first edition, there is no reason to buy the second.

A great book for filter design and analysis. This book has been a great help in understanding the detailed aspects of multiple filter types.

I bought the second edition cookbook in the early '90s. I have used Mr. Lancasters' book to design many audio active filters. I am ordering another copy of the "Active Filter Cookbook" because I gave away my other copy to an engineer in Asia (while on a business trip) who desparately needed it. The math is kept to a minimum, but very accurate if good quality parts (Op-Amps, resistors, caps etc) are used. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific topic, which makes reading very easy. Mr. Lancaster arms the reader with the tools neccessary to understand, build and/or modify existing designs. I would only recommend this book to readers who have built previous projects, as Mr. Lancaster does not go into any construction details/techniques.

Owners of Lancaster's original Active Filter Cookbook: read on. I just bought Lancaster's Active Filter Cookbook, Second Edition. For years I have owned a copy of the original (1975) edition (mine is the 17th (1992) SAMS reprinting). Based on a cursory inspection, I can find no difference between the 1992 reprinting of the original edition and the so-called second edition. The Preface, the Table of Contents, the page numbering, the contents of numerous pages I examined, the List of References, the Index, are all identical, as far as I can tell. There is no new preface to the second edition. There is no description, either inside or on the outside cover, of what has been changed in the second edition. Based on my examination, I would recommend that, if you already own a copy of the first edition, there is no reason to buy the second.