Electronics Books

Excellent Book in Power Electronics and Motor Drives, May 4, 2002
Reviewer: Prof. Cong Wang from China Univ. of Mining and Tech., Beijing, China
Prof. Bose, author of the book, is well-known in the world in the field of power electronics, and it is an honor to review his book. The book is a masterpiece contribution in power electronics and drives area. I was teaching his previous book "Power Electronics and AC Drives" (1986) for more than 10 years in my undergraduate and graduate classes. In 1999 our University published the Chinese Version of his another book "Power Electronics and Variable frequency Drives"(1996), I was one of the translators. I was delighted to see this updated, expanded and technologically enhanced book. It will now easily replace his previous book. It is difficult to imagine that anybody else other than Prof. Bose can write such an authoritative book. The writing style is superb, and difficult things have been expressed in clear language.

The book covers almost everything in power electronics and motor drives. It starts with power semiconductor devices, and then covers different classes of converters. The induction and synchronous motor drives (with control and estimation) have been discussed in detail. Finally, the special feature of the book is coverage on artificial intelligence applications in power electronics which have not been treated in any other book on power electronics. There is a separate Problems Manual of the book. I should recommend the book in undergraduate (Senior) and graduate courses in all universities.

The book provides detailed information about modern power electronics and drives. It covers latest power circuit topologies and control techniques. The book is well illustrated with easy to read schematics, waveforms, and comparison tables.

The book attracted my interest for its unique assortment of contents in power electronics, and modern concepts of motor start and speed controls. It covers various principles and applications of AC-DC-AC conversion and AC-AC conversion possible to use for the motor controls with adequate mathematical, graphical and text contents, e.g. rarely seen families of curves/characteristics pertaining to motors. The AC-AC conversion is evolving and has a good chance for the wider application in the future since its hardware is lighter with potentially fewer overall switching devices; therefore, it is attractive to ship, aircraft, etc. applications. This Author's vision certainly deserves the highest rating for his creation.
The areas that might have been included are, for example: Harmonic filters and their principles and applications in the energy conversion. For example, the hybrid filters, and various topologies of passive, active and hybrid filters as applied to energy converters or motor drives. These are presently heavily focused on by the Power Quality specialists."

The reader need only be well grounded in the theory and practice of DC-DC converter design. If so, this grand survey course opens the way to the much larger world of AC power conversion. The impressive breadth of scope is attained within a reasonably modest length (<700 pages) due to the use of telling figures and diagrams, and the author's gift for getting right to the point: what does it do; how does it do it; and what are the advantages/disadvantages versus competing topologies. The presentation seems to include just sufficient detail to enable rapid evaluation of each approach for a given purpose, but never so much detail as to bog down the pace.

Unlike many academics, the author appreciates both elegance of approach and practicality of implementation given available technology and devices. Thus, some topologies are included "for completeness", some are described as "widely used" in large-power industrial applications, and yet another might be described as having "an extensive literature" but few or no commercial products, etc. This will be a valuable up-to-the-minute reference for working power electronic engineers as well as students.

Power electronics evolved, taking root and growing into a blossomed tree, inch by inch, from thyristors to transistors to DC drives to microprocessors to advanced converters to AC drives to sensorless control and estimation to AI (artificial intelligence) based control with much more to still come.
Power electronics and variable frequency drives are multidisciplinary fields in electrical engineering. Therefore, a book that encompasses such comprehensive knowledge has to be written by an author who has a visionary engineering knowledge. Prof. Bose is a celebrity, he has been investigating and contributing for this field for more than 40 years and have been contributing widely with more than 150 papers, 21 U.S. patents, 6 books, tutorials and keynote addresses throughout the world. His comprehensive understanding of such field is unique; this book is really recommended if you want to learn what is modern power electronics and ac drives!

I have done research in wavelet transform and filter banks. I have found this book a great source for graduate students and researchers.

I think it would be very difficult to be serious about DSP engineering without this book on your shelf...

Among the few books on filter bank and wavelets which I read and then gave up, this is by far the best, albeit the oldest, one. It gets right into all theoretic details about filter banks in such elegant words and mathematics that often pursuade me to read further just for the fun of it. Even its chapters about quantization and compression provide deeper insights than most other books that undertake singal compression as their only task.

You'll get in this book a complete treatment of the theory
of multirate systems and filter banks. The practical side
is not the focus. The large number of examples and figures
make it easy to follow (reading it from cover to cover is
not that difficult). The intuition beyond the theory is well
developed, at the expense of a light mathematical treatment.
The geometrical and algebraic view provided by Vaidyanathan
is unique and probably deserves to be taught in any DSP course
for engineers, even at the introductory level. Signal processing
people however could find its style too intuitive but engineers
should like it as a reference book in these topics.

Vaidyanathan's book is a very concise, yet enjoyable book on multirate systems and filter banks. Multirate systems and Filter banks represent some of the state-of-the-art research even today, and I'm a strong proponent of introducing the basic concepts as early as possible, even in the first DSP course.

Vaidyanathan is an engineer first, mathematician second. Note the difference between his approach and Mallat's approach, for example. He relies more on intuition albeit sometimes lacking purpose, which makes this book more readable for the engineers but hard to read cover to cover. This makes this book a very handy reference if you need to pick certain topics up in a hurry.

He also has a very nice, but very concise, review of basic DSP concepts and introduction of basic multirate system properties. However, the speed at which he covers this can be discouraging to some.

Some people would argue that his writing can be hard to read, and this is true sometimes. But his geometric interpretation of lattices and filter banks is more than worth the price of admission.

Nonetheless, I would still recommend this book to engineers interested in either learning about multirate systems and filter banks, or for a reference book.

This is an extremely clear introduction to Boolean Algebra. It is very well written and edited. Plenty of exercises will answers to cement the concepts in your brain.

The book covers number systems, logic gates, and some elementary set theory. They are all covered well. There is no coverage of flip-flops which I would have liked to have seen.

I should note this is not an electronics book. There are no real circuits but there are plenty of logic diagrams. Read this book to understand the concepts then go on to an electronic book if you actually wanted to build any of this stuff.

I'm a Computer Engineering student and have read many books on the subject. Until I read this book, I was constantly struggling with complex Boolean equations. Fortunately, this book has helped me master the subject -with a lot of hard work. I highly recommend this book for any student in the Computer Engineering field.

Incredible book for understanding boolean algebra. What I like about the book is the simple and clear language that the author uses and a lot of very helpful examples throughout the book to help understand the concept.

If you are looking for a complete understanding of boolean algebra, this book will definitely statisfy your needs. It provides several interesting examples with each chapter to keep your mind working. Great way to start out learning about boolean logic.

This is an rxcellent book for anyone interested in digital circuits and boolean algebra. It is very easy to understand, but does go into enough detail for the advanced to learn from it also. We can all improve our skills after reading this book. Also the price is right!

I learned Optimal Control before 30 years and I forgot everything . I tried learn again with my old notebook and lot of files found on the web, but I have got broken knowledge. Now with this book I know Optimal Control even better from the past.

A really good book for introduction to Optimal Control. As a Power System specialist, I acquired a very good comprehension about optimal control using such book.

A complete introduction to optimal control theory, both from the point of view of dynamic programming and the Pontryagin's maximum principle. Ideal for starters like myself!

It is an excellent "first book" which is very easy to read and covers broad range of topics: Dynamic Programming leading to Hamilton-Jacobi using Bellman's principle, Calculus of Variations, Hamiltonian Equations, Pontryagin's principle and finally numerical solutions (two point boundary value problems based and using direct methods from operations research methods).

My professor chosed this book to use in an Optimal Control class partly because it is very affordable. On top of that, its contents are superb, giving very clear explanations of the fundamental principles underlying Optimal Control for nonlinear/linear systems.

Despite its long history, I would think that all material are still relevant, although there are available more "modern" numerical techniques (it's still always good to know how things were done "back in those days"). I would grade this as a must-have for the beginning student in Optimal Control. I have always been a fan of Dover books, publishing quality books at rock bottom prices. This one has just reinforced my liking of Dover Publishing.

I'm sorry I have not fluency in English, however I can say that I'm satisfied with the book "Optimal Filtering (Dover Books on Engineering)" and your service.
thank you.

I usually buy books here because they always arrive in time and in prefect conditions, even the used ones! As I live in Brazil, it's really a serious delivery system, because it's not easy to send so far!

It is very useful to study the Bayesian optimal filtering.

This book is already a classics in signal processing. If you are serious in optimal control, linear estimation or general signal processing, get this book to have a look, you might be benefited from it. I am glad to see Dover reprint this out of print classics at reasonable price.

This is an excellent book. I often see it referenced, in the old edition from Prentice Hall, in IEEE papers written by "old important guys" (and gals of course) indicating that it carries some weight amongst people in the know.

It treats aspects of filtering, from the ground up, in a mathematically correct way. You do need to be comfortable with matrix analysis, calculus, certainly random processes, and have some level of "mathematical sophistication" (that elusively defined quality.) As a supplement to a course in Statistical Signal Processing where you use the book by, say, Kay, it would be very good (and much cheaper than Kay.) I'm not sure how Dover selects their catalogue of books, but they certainly do a good job of picking up the lagged copyright from big publishers, of very good older books.

The book is written by a couple of Aussies who begin each chapter with the salutation "G'day Mate!" (**) and end each chapter with "Good on yer Cobber," and also, confusingly, refer to each other as "Bruce" throughout the book. The book is good enough for you to be able to overlook these nationalistic quirks. They also use tracking problems, in the section on Kalman filtering, taken from Aussie Rules football, as a player tracks the ball through the air, before he is clobbered by an opponent. This is a good example of tracking, whether you are a Raytheon missile engineer, or an Aussie rules footballer. They even use a more complicated example where the player tracks both the ball and the other player (the clobberer). This example could probably be generalized to missile defense.

In summary, this really is a good book on filtering, especially the core material of Wiener filtering and Kalman filtering. Highly recommended. Good on yer Cobbers!! (Bruce and Bruce, that is.)

**Disclaimer: Some of this review is a fictionalised account of a review.

this book is very well written, easy to follow, with a lot of topics, and the derivations are shown thoroghly and in detail. One of the best estimation books I used. This book is recommended for both beginners andadvanced in estimation theory.

A very clear, well written book that takes you step by step from the algebra and statistics basics to the most advanced developments of dynamic systems. The first part of the book is about providing all the knowledge required for the rest of the book in linear system theory (1st chapter), probability theory (2nd chapter) and least square estimation (3rd chapter). These chapters are very clear and, in my opinion, easy to follow for the non specialist. The second part is about the core subject, Kalman filter. Again, it is very clear and the fact that it very consistent with the 1st part in term of notation makes it very readable. Subsequent parts are more advanced topics but again nicely elaborate on the previous chapters and hence very easy to understand. I'll repeat myself but that really what I enjoyed most with this book: it is very progressive and takes you step by step.
I even think this is the best technical book I have ever read. Dynamic systems made easy!

I'm using this book to apply the unscented Kalman filter to multiple sensor target tracking. His exposition on the unscented transforms is very clear.

I agree with a previous reviewer in that out of all the books I have come across on Optimal Estimation, this is by far the most suitable for self-study. I have found his explanations to be concise and straight-forward. That is, he goes straight to the point and delivers the concepts using simple/common language which is non-characteristic for academic books in the areas of Systems and Control. For a sample text on the subject written by him check his article on Kalman Filtering on the site embedded[dot]com

While conducting research as part of an Independent Study course, I have treasured this book like no other since it continuously serves as a valuable reference. The first two chapters which review the underlying mathematics (linear algebra and probability) necessary for understanding the central themes of the book are also above the usual presentation in related books. Needless to say that readers should not expect to learn the Math from this book alone, however, they can expect to find in these chapters most of the topics that usually need a quick review to make sense of higher-level concepts in the text.

I cannot stress enough that his use of language and clear explanations make this an easy-to-read textbook which simplifies the understanding of the topics. Do not get me wrong though, to really understand the problem of state estimation the readers need to be quite prepared in different areas of Engineering and Mathematics (hence my motivation for self-study).

I have 4 books on Optimal state estimation:
_ Applied Optimal Estimation of Arthur Gelb.
_ Optimal Control and Estimation by Robert F. Stengel
_ Optimal Control and Estimation Theory by George M. Siouris
_ Optimal State Estimation By Dan Simon

Of the 4, Dan Simon's Optimal State Estimation is by far the most useful for a GNC Engineer like me. He strikes a good balance between theory and practice and his examples are really useful. I find his treatment of EKF excellent.

Avid Penny Arcade Reader here, and gotta say all their books are a must have!

I love Penny Arcade. The thing I enjoyed most about their books is the commentary that goes along with each comic. This is a must for Penny Arcade fans.

The book was a Christmas present and it came in beautiful condition. Thanks!

Though the entire Penny Arcade archive is available on their website, the extras contained in the print versions make them well worth the purchase. In this second collection, witty commentary accompanies each comic, as well as artwork from the Penny Arcade card game and a "boneyard" of aborted or half finished ideas. Surely the humor contained therein is not to everyones taste, but to those who love it, Epic Legends of the Sword Kings will make a fine addition to your library.

Penny Arcade is a comic that has been around for almost a full decade now, so it is nice that this year they are finally releasing a series of books that bring the comics into our homes without the need for a computer and internet, excluding how you buy the book itself.
This contains the second volume of the series, or all the comics done in 2001 + bonus art and attempts for other webcomics, and it nicely fills out the 150 page book. All the comics are funny start to finish, with plenty of classics filling the book.
I highly recommend the book for readers of any form of comics, and I also recommend it for people who love video games, though my bet is that they cant read this due to playing something like WOW right now.

Collecting year 04 of Penny Arcade, Gabe and Tycho are at it again. What are they at you may ask? Hardcore hilarity. A great addition to your ever growing comic book/Web Comic collection.

If you are looking at this book most likely you are all ready a fan of Penny Arcade. If you are a fan and wondering why you would buy a book containing strips freely available in the Penny Arcade archives, I will tell you that Tycho has, as with the first four volumes, gone back and written new commentary for all the strips in the book. As Penny Arcade fans know, a great part of the Penny Arcade experience is enjoying the strips again through Tycho's commentary on the thought process behind the strip and/or the events that led to it. There is a section in the back which includes sketches made on various convention table tops from across the years which is fun bonus material as well.

I love Penny Arcade. It's one of those little pleasures I look forward to 3 times a week while I'm at work. The 4th collection by Mike and Jerry is a lot of fun. I like the author's notes for each comic especially.

As with the four volumes before it, Penny Arcade is brought to you in handy paperback format so that you may enjoy the antics of Tycho and Gabe from any location, not just in front of a computer. The addition of notes in hindsight make for some interesting takes on their past opinions, as well as additional insight into some strips' motivations.

I've been buying these PA collections as they're released, and all this time I've been under the impression that they were complete. I assumed that they contained every single strip that was posted on the web, the only exceptions being things like the Strawberry Shortcake parody which they had to omit for legal reasons. But yesterday I wanted to email someone a particular comic from a few years ago, so I went to the website and started browsing through the archives. I must have looked through close to 100 comics beofore I found what I was looking for, and in doing so I noticed that there were a few here and there that I had not seen in a long, long time. Which was odd, because I go through the books all the time, I keep them in the can after all. So I printed a couple of them out and then went to the books and sure enough, they weren't there. It's no big deal, but it surprised me and I figured I'd spread awareness.

Phantasmagoria is a great game,I definely say get this one,it might be alittle older,but since its release four years ago,I havent found a better game yet!

I borrowed this game a year ago when it was extremely popular, and ever since when I've wanted to buy it, I can never find it. This game frightens me and it explores the topic of evil very deeply. Although this is extremely gory, you cannot deny the fabulous graphics, great story and great gameplay. One of Sierra's best games. Don't play it in the dark and make sure to explore everything. Everytime that you play it, you discover more frightening things inside the scary house. This game would make a spectacular motion picture and it should probably become one. If so, it would be one of the scariest films in movie history. I love it. If you see it, buy it. You'll worship its significance.

Phantasmagoria will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire way through. Sierra Studios has spoiled me with their interesting games and exceptional graphics. I've been playing Sierra games for about 20 years. I have some of their first games. I like Phantasmagoria because it's so life-like, you'll feel as if you're in the game. Buy it, you'll be glad you did.

This is the best game i've ever played. The characters, the story, the manson, the music..... it's just perfect. I wish the music would come on an audio CD, 'cause it is so beautyful, and yet so... frightening, my bestfriend gets the creeps just by the music. The actors are great, I don't understand why some people say they're not and well.... It is just a perfect game. BUY IT TODAY!

Phantagmagoria, what can I possibly say about phantasmagoria....perfect, that's what this game is. Phants. has all the feel of a good B-grade horror movie, a haunted house, demonic posession, evil magician, sex, violence, gore....the list goes on and on. Visually, the game is stunning, (especially for 1995!) it is very long and involving, not too challenging, but not too easy either. This game single-handedly began a series of other horror games: (very similar graphically) Harvester, Gabriel Knight2, Phantasmagoria 2, ect., ect. Phantasmagoria is a great game EVERY PLAYER OF PC GAMES MUST PLAY PHANTASMAGORIA!

This is the original, and, in my opinion, still the best reference book on phase lock loops.

a detailed comprehensive coverage of all aspects of phase-locked loops. The book contains lots of paper references relating to each chapter and has many examples as well.
A recommended book for research students.

Superb book. Essential reading and reference for any serious PLL designer. This updated edition does for DPLLs what the original did for analog. I haven't seen any author come close to Gardner for comprehensive, accurate treatment of these topics.

Este libro contiene todo lo necesario (de lo mas simple, a lo mas avanzado) para poder entender como funciona y como implementar un Lazo de Enganche de Fase (PLL). Ademas está explicado con mucha simpleza y claridad.

I am gladly surprised to see how the author has taken the effort, not just to make a routine revision of the classic book, but to write a completely different book. Non interesting material has been removed, while new up-to-date topics have been added (for instance Charge Pump PLL), based on the own author research, and other published papers.

The approach of some classic analysis has also changed. In particular the approach to the so called Loop Filter as a controller and not as a filter.

In summary, a very valuable addition to PLL literature, worth to buy even by readers that own previous editions.