Electronics Books

John Ebert's remarkable book, Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons, does to movies what Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces did to myths. This is a mouthful, I know, but Ebert delivers. Armed with vast knowledge of our cultural past and a profound understanding of our present, he ventures into the world of "celluloid myths" (that Campbell pretty much dismissed until, as pointed out in the book, George Lucas turned him on to his Star Wars trilogy) and comes back with the boon. And what an incredibly rich and enriching boon it is.
Ebert uses his vast knowledge of myths, and practically everything else, to reveal the mythic dimension of some our most popular movies. As he maintains in the book, the first conscious incorporation of myths in movies, what he calls celluloid myths, was initiated by Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which (according to the author) was inspired by Campbell's Hero. All the films discussed in the book are heirs to Kubrick's 1968 masterpiece: "2001 was the first major presentation of a theme that would come to be reiterated in film over and over again, namely that of the battle of an individual human being against an impersonal system that is threatening to dehumanize him, whether that system is defined as the megalopolitan city, the meta-national corporation, or technology in general . . .All are reworkings of Bowman's battle with HAL."
What I really liked about the book is that it doesn't dissect the movies to death, but rather provided enough insight so that I wanted to see many of these movies again. Before finishing the book, I couldn't wait to get the DVD's of the first two covered movies, Apocalypse Now (Redux) and 2001. The "guided tour of the films of David Cronenberg" even got me to the point where I want to take a second look at his movies, which (the ones I saw) I generally find hard to watch. I guess this best describes what the book did for me. Somewhat like the shield in Perseus and the Gorgon Medusa, it functions as a mirror that allows us to see the Mechanical Dragons that have become such a prevalent part of our movies (and our lives) and how they're slain by our Celluloid Heroes. It updates many of our most popular myths as never before.

With a white-hot strike to the center of the frozen, sterile and inert films that typifies modern Hollywood, John David Ebert reignites the passion, grandeur and vision that make film the most compelling, and relevant form of mass entertainment today. By distilling the great films of yesterday and today, Ebert manages in clear, distinct and entertaining prose to explain and explore why film has surpassed the novel as the preeminent purveyor of myth and wonder in our society.

His journey is precise and with an overall purpose, however, one may skip to chapters that hold special interest, for me, I found that reading the entire book was far more satisfying, even when I arrived at dissimilar conclusions than Ebert. For example, Ebert has long been an admirer of David Croenenberg, a director I find distasteful and vulgar in many respects, but in reading Ebert's exploration of Croenenberg's films, I found a new prism in which to view the director, and upon seeing his latest work A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, watched the film with a deeper sense of what he was trying to achieve.

For me, myth has always been the cornerstone of all great art, whether it be visual art (painting), films, novels, I find that all such works are enriched by a foundation that embraces the great mysteries and universal connections which are the lynchpin of myth. Ebert's gift is the uncanny ability to take interesting films and dissect them at a historical, mythological and sociological level, deepening our understanding and appreciation of what makes certain films imprint the mind with images that recur and haunt and amaze us. What's even more interesting is that many of us watch these films with only a subconscious understanding of why they grip us in their web, which is actually the point. Myth is anything but conscious, it's wellspring is the imagination, the realm of dreams and nightmares and visions, and as such, need not be fully understood to be effective. Ebert's gift is to be able to show us all the facets that arise from the world's myths, whether rooted in Western or Eastern culture, his erudition, knowledge and ability to make them all cohesive is amazing. He's a good writer, a better thinker, a good critic, a better scholar.

One would assume that such an examination of myth and films would be dry and turgid, but just take a look at chapter 3, which is an interview Ebert did for a magazine. The discussions range from APOCALYPSE NOW to GODFATHER 3 to 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY, and the way Ebert breaks them down is incredible. On APOCALYPSE NOW, he describes the film as a hero's descent into the underworld, mirroring some of Dante's INFERNO, and then in the same sentence, makes a segue to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, where the sun god Ra, journeys down a river through a kingdom of the dead, encountering obstacles until he reaches the Lord of the Dead, Osiris. Sounds convuluted? You're wrong. Ebert makes the transition so seamless and obvious that I actually started laughing with sheer intellectual enjoyment at what he was saying. In the same chapter, Ebert takes on the notion that many of these mythological symbols are accidental and not planned by the creative artist, and again provided brilliant analysis. For some, Ebert agrees, these symbols are certainly not always intentional, but he goes on to say that they spring for a universal source of creativity that is tied directly into the mythological wonder that occurs when the creative spirit is open to anything. So, though Kubrick certainly knew what he was doing when the ape throws the bone that becomes a spaceship, other artists arrive at the same powerful symbols through their own inward journey, which manifests itself as something that has existed for thousands of years. If you're confused by this, don't worry. Ebert breaks it down far more eloquently than I can, that's why he writes about myth and I try to tap into them in my day-job as a screenwriter.

A few nitpicky comments so as not to give the impression that I agree with EVERYTHING Ebert writes, that would make me a less-than critical thinker, which I hope I will always be. I wish he'd gone more into the Western and its mythic underpinnings, specifically films like THE WILD BUNCH, THE SEARCHERS, RED RIVER, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, all of which seethe with classical mythological symbols and images (John Wayne standing in the open doorway at the end of the Searchers as civilization occurs within the house, while he's forever isolated from such comforts). Also, Ebert has a list of films he considers notable, and while "best ever" lists are always subjective, it's still a fun way to measure your tastes against others to see what you have in common and more importantly, what you don't agree on. Ebert has a top 16 of his generation, topped by 2001, and including JAWS and TITANIC. Every film on the list has been at least tangentially or substantively discussed in the book, but as with any list, there are some head-scratchers for me. I wouldn't include all 3 original STAR WARS films, I would only include EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and leave it at that. I would drop VIDEODROME, AI, and SCHINDLER'S LIST (Ebert has a great affinity for SPIELBERG, a director I think is visually brilliant, but intellectually facile). Other than that, the list isn't bad, considering Ebert limited himself to "my generation" freeing himself from having to go back to a number of other great films. He pretty much starts his list from 1968 and moves forward, leaving the omission of WILD BUNCH (1969) as a puzzler, but subject to lively debate. That's what makes the book great, Ebert lays out the foundation of these visionary films and their directors and then invites you to do your own investigation and arrive at your own conclusions. His, he states with force and logic and conviction, no getting around that. But the whole point is for you to leave the book wanting more and going back to favorite films and having a second, third of fourth look, seeing new symbols, new connections, previously unnoticed.

The idea that visionary films have replaced great novels as the preeminent creative force of our time is one that bears more exploration. In the old days, you had great writers like MANN, JOYCE, PROUST and HESSE. Now, you have prose stylists masquerading as "serious" writers, with nothing visionary and interesting to contribute. they write mostly to impress their brethren, the audience be damned. I'm no Thomas Wolfe fan, but I agree with his manifesto years ago, that today's writers have abandoned great, realist stories in favor of fancy prose and post-modern angst that makes for empty reading. Films admittedly have their share of bad writers and bad directors, but on the other hand, there are more interesting and talented and risk-taking artists in filmmaking today than in literature. You have SPIELBERG, TYWKER, VINTERBERG, CUARON, SALLES, COPPOLA (he has one last masterpiece, trust me), SCORSCESE, JACKSON, CARO, CAMERON, et al. They represent a vital, powerful force that is driving the great films of today and tomorrow. If nothing else, Ebert's book leaves you awaiting the next, great work of these artists, knowing it will draw on symbols and touchstones that go back thousands of years, to our universal connection. And that's all we really care about when we view art. We want to be moved, touched, transported, entertained, frightened.

Awed.

Ebert knows this.

So should you

In the introduction to his "Understanding Media," McLuhan wrote that his editor "noted in dismay that `seventy-five percent of your material is new. A successful book cannot venture to be more than ten percent new.'" Ebert's "Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons" presents a lot of new material, but when the world has changed and few have noticed, there's a lot to cover.

To understand Ebert's book we have to address change, as in technology (biotech, computing, nanotech, quantum theory, etc.) is about to change us as a species. And a lot of the traditions that used to help us with change, like European intellectuals, the literary novel, and academia, are nowhere to be found.

Europe has left the scene. Today, looking at European/American culture wars, one is tempted to think of a quiet retirement community disturbed by rowdy teenagers with noisy motorcycles. The bikers can be dangerous, but we are not going to hear anything new from the retirees.

Academia has collapsed. We might have hoped that in a period of profound change academia would be on the case. Not. The contemporary PhD thesis, article, and book in cultural studies is typically written by putting poststructuralist jargon in a word randomizer and printing out the results to signal that one is a member of the tribe. (One such randomizer, Pixmaven's Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator, is available online) Which leaves it to the nonacademic "independent public intellectual" to analyze our culture. John Ebert is a leading member of this vital group.

And the literary novel has ended. Myers' "A Reader's Manifesto" looks at the state of the contemporary literary novel, the pretentious kind that wins awards and gets reviewed in literary magazines, and finds that it has degenerated into gibberish-"some of the most acclaimed contemporary prose is the product of mediocre writers availing themselves of trendy stylistic gimmicks." Ebert makes a related point at the beginning of "Celluloid Heroes" where he writes: "Surveying at a glace the current states of western literature ... compared to its state in, say the first half of the twentieth century, what strikes one is an appalling decline in overall quality."

Ebert's conclusion? A culture chooses an art form in which to invest its energy. That art form has a period of vitality and then falls into decline. The literary novel has fallen into such a decline, and has been replaced by movies.

Ebert's interest is in what he calls the "visionary movie" since 1968 (think Speilberg, Kubrick, Coppola, Lucas, Cronenberg, Tarkovsky, Scott, Cameron, etc.), and its focus on the impact of technology on our culture and ourselves as human beings. His approach is to treat movies as mythologically informed literature.

Despite the rejection of mythology in much of academia, it appears that our filmmakers have retained their mythological literacy, whether through subliminally absorbing the classics, or actually reading them. Ebert observes that in "Apocalypse Now," Coppola shows Kurtz reading Eliot's "The Hollow Men," which was inspired by Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," also the source of the plot of the movie, while the camera picks up Frazer's "Golden Bough" and Weston's "From Ritual to Romance" on Kurtz's desk.

What do we mean by mythology? We might describe a mythological position, particularly as taken by Joseph Campbell, as the notion that the structures and patterns of the energies of the cosmos that pour into the phenomenal realm are revealed in our myths, literatures, and arts.

Ortega y Gasset wrote:
"[T]he political or cultural aspects of history are... the mere surface of history; that in preference to, and deeper than these, the reality of history lies in biological power, in pure vitality, in what is in man of cosmic energy, not identical with, but related to, the energy which agitates the sea, fecundates the beast, causes the tree to flower and the star to shine."

It is this cosmic energy that Ebert identifies in the great visionary movies of our time. Thus Visionary movies are mythologically based and assume that there are archetypal patterns in the course of empires and nations, in our becoming fully human, in the human/technology interface, and in the cosmos itself. Academia today, with its poststructuralist viewpoint, takes Locke's "tabula rasa" position and is profoundly anti-essentialist, vehemently denying transcendence and archetypal patterns. Ebert's book is a refutation of this position.

From Ebert's point of view, the role of the movie critic becomes to approach movies with a background of literacy adequate to unpacking them and helping us in our readings of them. Ebert does this. Few other movie critics can.

So, should you buy this book? Here is how to decide: Write down a list of your top sixteen films. If five or more overlap with Ebert's list, order the book immediately. Here is Ebert's list.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Apocalypse Now
3. The Star Wars movies
4. The Godfather movies
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
6. Alien
7. Blade Runner
8. Videodrome
9. Raiders of the Lost Ark
10. The Shining
11. The Exorcist
12. A.I,
13. Schindler's List
14. The Road Warrior
15. Titanic
16. Jaws

Another test is that if you enjoy the books of Joseph Campbell or William Irwin Thompson, you will love this book. You can see more of Ebert's work at the website, CinemaDiscourse.

John Ebert's book is essential reading for anyone even slightly interested in "visionary" film-- that genre of film that explores the imaginative and mythic possibilities of film, pioneered all the way back with George Melies, and carried on by such modern proponents as Kubrick, Coppola, Lynch, etc (where Ebert's focus predominates). He offers his keen scholarly insight into the mythic and sociological undercurrents of this still-evolving trend, which I found to be fresh and original. While one will inevitably disagree with some of his assessments ("The Matrix" as garbage?), that's actually some of the fun--and value--of works like this, since it forces one to formulate one's own views in response more clearly, and stimulate one's thinking in ways that straight consensus wouldn't.

There are a few notable omissions from his overview---horror films and experimental cinema surely deserve an seat at this visionary table--but then, a work covering every conceivable facet of this subject would have required a series of volumes rather than just one, so that may actually be a blessing in disguise. All in all, an important work on the premier art of our time--cinema.

most chapter's are only 10 pages or less long so you can sit down for 5 minutes read a chapter then come back and read another chapter later as it helps to read a whole chapter at once

where as some books are like 40 pages per chapter and ya need to sit down with a fair bit of time just to read the chapter

Ben Forta's Certified Coldfusion 5 Developer Study Guide will not teach ColdFusion, but will be a review guide that provides helpful pointers for examinees. The book's look will be non-intimidating yet thorough, and will be highly readable in small bite-sized chunks. Each subject will be presented in a clear and direct language, with useful and well explained code examples. Sample questions will accompany each subject, as will references to recommended reading, product documentation, Macromedia course work, and existing ColdFusion books. 432 pp. Intermediate-Advanced user level.

I have been developing with CF for about 4 years now but there were several features I had never used. I purchased this book and within a week got the nerve to take the exam. The book came with a 15% off coupon for the exam so it about paid for itself with that. I passed the exam today and achieved Certified Advanced status. In a word, Outstanding!

The book was helpful, the chapter formats are short and to the point giving you only what you need to pass the, which is good. Just don't rely only on this book...here is a secret, there is a program called cf_buster that is a great test prep that when used in conjuction with this book simulate a certified test environment. I passed my test today.

One of my criteria for accepting this book was to find a section on Blackman's immittance relation, a powerful but often overlooked circuit analysis technique. Different sections are treated by different authors, providing insight from many different perspectives. With so many topics handled, I was surprised at the thoroughness of the book. Not for a beginner, but can be used by anyone interested in circuit theory.

This book provides a comprehensive work covering the broad spectrum of electrical circuits and filters. It is designed to be used by practicing electrical engineers in industry and academia.

This handbook is not an all-encompassing digest of everything taught within an electrical engineering curriculum on circuits and filters, but rather an engineer's first choice in looking for a solution, standard practices and references to other sources, when needed.

This book provides a comprehensive work covering the broad spectrum of electrical circuits and filters. It is designed to be used by practicing electrical engineers in industry and academia.

This handbook is not an all-encompassing digest of everything taught within an electrical engineering curriculum on circuits and filters, but rather an engineer's first choice in looking for a solution, standard practices and references to other sources, when needed.

The book is divided into different sections, written by different groups of authors. At the end of each section you have a lot of references, so you can follow the topic deeper. These sections (13) cover most of the electronic knowledge you could use as experienced/professional user (feedback, nonlinear, CAD, distributed circuits,FILTERS of course, and many more). The quality of information given is very good, analog electronic design is covered excellently, digital related to analog then little bit worse.
I recommend this book to buy, I just have some comments:
1) The book is strongly theoretical (lots of equations), there is not a lot of examples (if I compare to Horovitz et Hill)
2) Some chapters are just passed very quickly (for example PLDs - 22V10 etcetc, no deep descriptions how to do that, just explanation what it is - the question then is, why they put it into that book)
3) Examples are few and in most of the cases they show just principle of work, so don't expect values of components. (one example for all: design of switched filter - you can see block schematic with a lot of MOS-like switches, but no real implementation of these switches. Then when you want to design this type of filter, you find out that it is not so easy to realize mos-switch because you have to take into account another things like back-injection of the charge, which are not mentioned etcetc) That lack of full examples is pitty, because then you cannot calculate backwards with the theory presented, and check for mistakes in your thinking.
4) Format of the book: the book is large and heavy (~2900pages), so manipulation is unpleasant. Perhaps if the book was divided into 4 thinner.... okay, but this is just my subjective opinion.
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Conclusion:
Although the book has some lacks, I strongly recommend to buy it. I would also recommend to buyer to invest another ~70USD to Horovitz&Hill-The Art of Electronics, because this book is very good complement to the one reviewed here.

Excellent book!!!

I'm one of the macaroons that didn't notice that these two books Fuzz & Feedback, and Echo and Twang are actually older books with brand-spanking new Titles and Covers.

They were originally: Classic Guitars of the '60s, & Classic Guitars of the '50s.

I ordered them from Amazon thinking they were cool new books by Bacon and Company. Bacon's books are usually similar to DK books with great pictures and good text, so I normally just order them when I see them.

I've reported this to Amazon and we'll see if they'll let me exchange them.


(Update: I reported this to Amazon on 12-29-06 and as of 1-5-07 I have heard nothing)

I love this book. The title is misleading however.This book focuses on bitchen electric guitars, their history, the wild and unusual models, the classics, and specific legendary guitars used by the guitar gods like Hendrix, Clapton, etc.. It's full of photos and great facts, and the lineage of models and history of the manufacturers. What is really neat are the photos of all the odd models made by companies other than the big names like Fender and Gibson. Besides all the fine photos and great layout, there is a lot of interesting information about the influence and use of various guitars on different bands and sounds from the sixties. The layout is really something--not only are there photos of cool guitars, there are also photos of vintage magazine ads for various guitar models, photos of rarely seen album covers from obscure sixties guitar bands, etc. Reading is not necessasary to enjoy this book! But there is plenty to read as well. This is a fun book. Anyone who has ever looked longingly at some old electric guitar on stage or hanging on a shop wall is sure to get a kick out of this book. Great gift.

Along with its companion volume 'Twang and Echo: Classic Guitar Music of the '50s', this book provides a richly-illustrated account of electric guitars and their manufacturers from a seminal period in the history of popular music. From the classic to the bizarre, from the familiar to the esoteric, they are all here in big picture and full-colour. Its magazine-type layout and writing approach makes for very easy perusal, providing an entertaining overview of the period and these fascinating time-pieces.
BUT BE WARNED ... this book was previously published in 1996 in hardcover under the title 'Classic Guitars of the '60s'. To the best of my knowledge no mention is made anywhere of this in the write-up.

This book was an inspiration. Dr. Ooi is a genius. I would recommend this book to anyone, who would like to enlighten themselves with knowledge of channel with feedback. Every college campus should own one.

"The Bible of channel feedback!" Dr Ooi has a keen understanding of the human condition and how it related to error correction and compression. I believe "James" has mastered communication without actually using any words from the english language!

With a crisp and cogent style, the author sets forth a new mathematical framework that can be used to develop and analyze coding schemes that use receiver feedback. We have already used certain concepts described in the text to design an improved version of our company's current microwave communication technology. This book is a must-buy for anyone involved in communication systems or in the practical application of information theoretic principles. This will surely place Dr. Ooi in a class with Shannon, Fano, Gallager, Wyner, Ziv, and the other intellectual giants in the field!

Dr. Ooi (of The Cambridge Analytic Group) provides an inspiring framework for analyzing and designing coding methodoligies for channels with feedback. His technical writing is of the highest caliber and the generality of his approach naturally unifies topics which had previously been deemed unrelated. This is an essential text for any professional or student interested in practical or theoretical coding.

This book gives plenty of resourceful information including how to find great discounts and knowing when a site is secure enough to send your credit card information over the internet. Once you've read this book you'll want to keep it close by as a quick reference whenever you shop online.

Great information and hints on how to use the Web for shopping. Specific internet addresses are included for best sites for cooking, electronics, etc. Easy to follow and locate your topic of choice.

I highly recommend that anyone who would like to become an on-line shopper use this book as their first on-line purchase,then read it from cover to cover. The information provided will answer many questions about security, privacy, warranties, etc.

Preston Gralla, no stranger to the Internet scene, has written The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Shopping to educate current and prospective online shoppers about the pros and cons of online shopping. Gralla offers plenty of sound advice people should read up on before spending their time and money shopping online.

The book features an incredible wealth of information including some of the better Websites to buy certain items from, where to find important decision-making information before making online purchases, how to avoid being taken in by online scam artists, sales tax information, using credit cards to make online purchases, user warrantees, return policies, and other important purchasing considerations!

Readers will receive a solid lesson on nearly every aspect of online buying. They can compare cars, homes, computers, cameras, and other items before parting with their money. They have access to a number of consumer organizations that can alert them about problem companies, dealers, and products. They also have access to one another!

One topic that has caught the attention of many online shoppers in recent times is the online auctioning of merchandise. Just about anyone can join in and submit online bids for just about anything imaginable under the sun. Beware though! As of this writing there has already been cases of online fraud and child involvement. This fascinating aspect of online shopping requires close scrutiny. Gralla devotes a lot of attention to this matter and so should we!

For those considering going into business for themselves, there is still plenty of time for them to join in the fun and thrill of going into business online. Web developers will gain important online marketing strategies from this book that can be used to create effective business Websites for themselves and for others!

Risks, fears, and concerns aside, online shopping has taken off and will no doubt achieve further popularity in the years to come. This book will help shape the lives of those involved with the various aspects of this fast growing industry, whether as consumers or as marketers. Prepare yourself to shop more intelligently. Make informed purchases. This outstanding book will guide you all the way. It will make a difference!

Very well written and comprehensive. Explains things clearly. Captures all the important advances made in the field up through its publication and of course is written by pioneers in the field. Covers all bases of interest in EM modeling. You can start coding your own grids after reading it. It is the standard book in the FDTD literature.

This book is an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable reference/tutorial. The book is suitable for use in an advanced undergraduate/first-year graduate class with a prerequisite of one semester of undergraduate E&M. (The authors' preface indicates that this prerequisite is not entirely necessary, but I don't see how you could understand what is going on without it.)

The book can also be used for self-study. In this vein, the book's website contains 1d-, 2d-, and 3d-matlab scripts that are excellent for learning how to actually implement all of this stuff. The third edition weighs in at just over 1000 pages with a price tag of $139, which is $10 cheaper than the 2nd edition was when it came out.

Allen Taflove is, perhaps, the leader in the development and use of this technique. Allen is now at Northwestern. Susan Hagness was a recent PhD student of his (1998) and is now an associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Wisconsin. The authors are at the forefront in the development of applications.

The third edition is significantly larger than the 2nd edition and includes several applications chapters that were cowritten with the major researchers in the field. The extraordinary explosion of application areas for FDTD is captured in the later chapters, and these chapters give students and new researchers a clear flavor of the vitality and interest in the field which extends from the detection of breast cancer to ELF pulses produced by earthquakes. It is refreshing to find authors who so readily give credit to others in their field. Taflove and Hagness have been very gracious in this regard, and as a consequence have a much better book and a very detailed and useful bibliography.

I very heartily recommend this book to anyone who wishes to use FDTD techniques.

A good intro book for the FD-TD method with many applications. The list of references at the end of each chapter is also very useful. Some of the material is now outdated and needs corrections, but otherwise a great reference for CEM. I would recommend this book over the Kunz & Luebbers FD-TD book.

I cannot quite honestly give this book (*first* edition, not second) a full five-point-zero stars because it somewhat comes apart the closer one gets to the final chapters. I read this book a few years ago, so I apologize for lack of specificity. However, I completely agree with the prior reviewer who stated that this book is better than Kunz's and Luebbers' book, which I appears to be a slightly edited compilation of previous publications --- even if that is completely untrue. In fact, in my opinion, Taflove's book (again, first edition) is a *much* better textbook than Kunz and Luebbers.

The Book News review is somewhat misleading. Taflove derives the difference equations in full, painstaking detail. (Perhaps the Book News reviewer fell asleep during that portion.) For me, this was the most valuable and educational portion of the book. Example applications have their place, but only after understanding the basic principles. Taflove did an excellent job in describing these principles, which go far beyond the basic Yee algorithm (e.g. extrapolation techniques and incorporation of BC's). Those readers familiar with other FD books should understand what I'm saying here: Anyone who reads this book and understands it will not only be conversant about FDTD but should also be able to write solid working codes. With the K&L book, this is very questionable.

Easy to understand. It is essential to a researcher. It would have been rated as an excellent book if it includes the Matlab programming and Erdas rather than any other software like MIPS.

Matlab based programs would have been more beneficial because many of them use matlab only.

I checked the book out from my library to read for my thesis, but the book is so good that I want to add it to my own collection. I have used it so much, that I'll need my own copy! The CD that comes with the book is also very good. The programs run very quickly on today's fast PC's. It's a great tool.

I bought it just looking at the table of contents at ... website, and I got exactly what I was looking for !! A complete book on image processing/interpretation for remote-sensing imageries. There is even a concise introduction on remote-sensing principles. The book is concisely detailed and have clear how-to-do theoretical/mathematical explanations(often lacking in others) on every topic. And the best point, every section/method is referred to key publicatons for anyone interested in in-depth study of a topic !!!

I had to buy this book for a class I am taking, and it has proven very helpful and useful.

John Huntington's book is the THE reference tool in our lighting shop for show control. It has everything you need for the different control languages, in clear and concise formats.It is a must on every theatre technician's bookshelf

John Huntington's new book, Control Systems for Live Entertainment, is one of the most useful and informative books available for anyone interested in theatre technology. The book covers such technologies as MIDI, DMX512, MediaLink, MIDI Show Control, and others.

A well dog-eared copy of the first edition has been in my tool kit / computer kit for the last couple of years. I have found it a valuable resource. It has helped me on-site more than once. The second edition is more comprehensive and organized. Kudos to John in publishing a great resource fit for the student and experienced professional.

George Tucker- Show Control Engineer- Scharff Wesiberg NYC

A good user friendly guide to help you understand the shortcuts and operation of Cubase. I found Robert Guerin's explanations of midi and it's use in cubase most help full.Also the use of the project pool and how best to organize and remove files on the hard drive.In the back of the book you will find the most relevent shortcuts for use on the keyboard for Audio recording and Midi operation.
There is alot more to the book as others have aready mentioned.
The bottom line is if your having trouble understanding how to operate this recording software,BUY THIS BOOK!
This book is definitely worth buying.

This book is twice what the handbook is, especially if you only have the pdf version. Since the pdf version is the only version you get when you buy Cubase and if you want the hardcopy version you have to buy it, save yourself some time and money. Buy this book instead of the Cubase manual. This book is easily laid out and enjoyable to read. The illustrations are right on the mark and compliment the text excellently. My knowledge of Cubase doubled after reading this book, and it helped take my recording to the next level. As I pick out recordings and listen to them, it is easy to tell which one were recorded before reading this book and which one were recorded after. I recommend this book for anyone serious about recording using the Steinberg Cubase software.

Cubase SX and SL are exceptional packages that actually come with good manuals. Unfortunately, the reference manual is 700 pages long and only provided on disk (to be fair, it is also available for purchase separately). Some people adapt well to electronic books, but I don't - I like to riffle through the pages looking for useful tidbits and inspiration. For folks like me, Robert Guerin has written the perfect book.

Cubase SX Power is written very much from the practitioner's point of view. It offers a tour of the software, accompanied with little exercises, that covers the things most likely to be of importance to someone trying to create and record a piece of music. As such, it is a bit more focused that the manuals are. It tries to give you the basics you need, and doesn't dwell at length on some of the more intricate details that are more confusing than helpful at first..

What it does very well is get you over the initial learning curve that Steinberg's software presents to the novice. The writing style is clear, without any frills. This isn't a 'for dummies' kind of book though - Guerin assumes that the reader already knows some of the basics of recording and is intelligent enough to have a computer in the first place. The book has stood the test of time for me and is often the first place I look when I have a question - which is the best recommendation I can give any reference book.

Anyone who has Cubase Sx knows that the rather large manual comes in PDF format on the CD. This is both annoying and a little cheap on the part of steinberg. To the rescue come Robert Guerin's Cubase Power. Much more than a manual this is a great tool for anyone who uses Cubase SX. If you new to the program or a long time user, this book is a must. The thing that sets this book apart from many similar books is the writing style of the author. Using a clear and easy to follow style, he never gets bogged down in the details but never loses site of what he is trying to teach you. Teaching by example he leads us thought real world ideas and issues.

I kept thinking about another book "Making Music With Emagic Logic Audio by Stephen Bennett" while reading this. How deferent the two books are. How one author has a clear idea of what he is trying to do and how another is lost in useless details and unclear language. How one may be a an "expert" but have little idea how to share the knowledge in easy language.

This book should come with Cubase SX instead of the PDF manual. It would make using Cubase SX an even more elegant and rewarding experience.