Manufacturing Books

In summary: Very complete book, easy descriptions, great color pictures, helps non-reader types to understand and appreciate what learning and reading can afford.

I am not much for reading, but this book is my favorite. It was the first book I had to buy for college and we covered every part of the car for my ASEP-GM associate degree program back in 1998. It really helped me to gain an understanding of the workings of cars. After working at the dealership for a couple years as a master ASE technician I decided to get a mechanical engineering degree because I wanted to keep learning more about cars and the theory behind them and to eventually learn how to make a better car. I found my self lending out this book to others in my classes so that they could read the easy explanations. Now I work for a major automotive manufacture as a test engineer and I am in an automotive graduate program and for the semester project, active suspension systems I checked into this book to see what Schwaller had to say and was surprised again to find a section on this topic that I never knew was in there. He explained it very clearly and in layman's terms.

My auto tech class used to teach with this book. The pictures are very simple and easy to understand and same goes with the texts. It teaches you almost everything you need to know about cars including suspension, steering, engine, tires, AC, ignitions, tons more. It also shows how carburetors work.

It does lack a few newer technologies on our cars theses days though like drive by wire and improvements on ignition systems.

This book also lacks colorful pictures (as in like a photograph) and may seem a little boring if you aren't into cars. It does have colored pages, just not too detailed in color.

Sum things up, it taught me al ot but very very slightly out of date. It contains all the fundamentals though

I have a young son who is 13 and he shows an interest in auto repair. I was in the market for a comprehensive book that would give him a good understanding of automotive principals and theory. Well I certainly found it in this book.

This is a wonderfully detailed Automotive book! In fact it is our school Auto Tech text book. It has illustrations, explanations, and awesome details. I would reccomend this book to anyone interested in Automotive Technology!

O. Edwards is a master. This book fastracks a tyers ability.

Maurice W. Robertson
South Africa

As a life long fly fisher, I really have to hand it to Oliver Edwards respecting his first book on the subject of fly tying. Mr. Edwards is a professional fly tier and is a regular contributor in several British periodicals and web sites focusing on fly-fishing. The stories are noteworthy regarding how he came to develop the patterns in his book. He is very through in his description of each pattern including well-drawn step by step instruction. I also have been tying flies since I was a child and find his wit and experience a benefit. In his words, "90% of the fish are caught by 10% of the fishermen". His book will help you to be in the top 10%.

All I can say is Brilliant. I have been tying for over half my life and still love learning! Oliver produces not only beatiful, but extremely effective creations. Its a pity there are only 20 patterns! I would encourage any tyer to have a go at these patterns and produce tight lines !

Mr. Edwards little guide was recommended to me by the good folks at the Los Pinos fly shop in Albuquerque. I am grateful.

This book shows how to tie very effective and substantially more representative flies & nymphs with about as much time at the vise as the common dressings require.

The best thing about the dressings and their descriptions is that any tier can master the techniques due to their clarity of illustration and step-by-step instructions in the text.

I finally have a "killing" Rhyacophila (green caddis) larva that I can lose to rocks and other debris (fished correctly, this will always happen)without regret. I can tie 20 of these in an hour and the hook costs more than the dressing!

E. H. (Polly) Rosborough's pioneering work is clear in this dressing.

There are twenty different dressings included in the Masterclass and dozens of clear illustrations penned by Mr. John Roberts. A first class addition to any library.

I am the system administator at my company. Out of frustration at many problems we have been having with the MRP module of our integrated system, I looked for a good source of knowledge about how MRP *should* work. In Orlicky's MRP I found that source. Orlicky's MRP is probably one of the best written books on the subject that I've seen. I had no trouble at all understanding the complex concepts that were presented, despite my lack of MRP knowledge and experience. Indeed, during the time that I read the book, I discovered that there were several things we were doing wrong because we didn't have a good understanding about the way MRP should work. For example, for a long time we had been laboring under the fallacy that a released work order should increase allocations not only for the primary components of a parent but also for the components of those components! Orlicky's MRP set me straight, stating that mistaking the Planning phase of MRP for the Execution phase (or vice-versa) was a common problem. I will never have that problem again thanks to this book. Another thing I learned from this book was how the bill of material, MRP, and backflushing were interrelated. This book is an excellent manual for those who wish to learn more about MRP, and it's a good source to refer to when looking for answers about why your MRP system isn't performing well.

Without question this is the classic MRP text. Originally written in 1975, this 1994 updated version covers the basic logic and setup of MRP. Though most production and inventory management books cover MRP, they tend to cover it so quickly that if you didn't already understand MRP, you probably still won't after reading them. Orlicky's Material Requirements Planning moves more slowly and provides much more detail. It's also written in an easy to understand style that makes it great for beginners.

The book is not perfect, however. I would have liked to see more details on some topics such as planning bills and phantom bills. Also the structured approach that would lead you to believe you must have a formal Master Production Schedule (MPS) to run MRP is misleading (this is a common problem with virtually all MRP books). MRP can run fine being fed directly by the forecast in certain environments.

Probably the most important reason to read this book is the simple fact that it is likely the people that designed your MRP software used this book as a roadmap.

Everybody interested in MRP has seen Orlicky's book as a reference work. This book compliles it's work plus all the developments of this technique since its issue in the fifties. The beauty of this work is that it gathers all the pitfalls, successes and fails encountered by the "MRP crusades". It also contends about the realationship between MRP and JIT and it's possible combination.

I want to study "The detail logic of material requirements planning".

There are a bunch of reasons to outsource information security. You can get specialists who have a broader range of experience than your own company. You can get an outside view of everything from how to read the various logs your system puts out to what anti-virus program to install. There may be a cost savings to have someone else be monitoring your systems along with several other companies at the same time.

There are a bunch of reasons that you don't want to outsource information security. When it hits the fan, you are still the one responsible (especially so now with Sarbanes-Oxley in force, the real rules of which we still do not understand and won't until it's been to court a few times). You have more control over your own people, and you can much more carefully monitor them. This is especially true if the outside company has reduced its cost by establishing the monitoring center in some place like India. You can much more easily check to see if your new employee has just come from a few years vacation in Marion, Illinois.

It would be interesting to see how outsourcing information security would be treated by upper management. It's a cinch that they wouldn't understand enough to make a valid decision. You have to make the decision yourself, and unfortunately then you have to live with it.

This book is just about the only one on this subject. The author reports on some good situations, and some that didn't turn out so well. If this is a decision you have to make, here's at least a good start.

When it comes to the outsourcing of information security functions specifically, the situation is even worse. Far too few organizations know the inherent risks involved with outsourcing security, and don't properly investigate what they are getting into. The same company that makes it nearly impossible for an employee to enter the office supply closet to get much needed toner cartridge will outsource their intrusion detection, email and firewall systems without a blink.

One of the many reasons companies turn to security outsourcing and managed security services providers (MSSP) is to use their limited internal security staff for more interesting areas such as web development, VPN and e-commerce applications. They will then outsource the boring activities such as firewall and IDS monitoring and maintenance to a MSSP.

Given that activities such as firewall monitoring and administering an IDS in large enterprise requires 24/7 support, it is not unusual for a company to want to outsource such activities; monitoring and administering are not core functions of most organizations.

The trouble comes from the lack of due care often given to choosing a MSSP. With that, Outsourcing Information Security is a long-overdue book that asks the questions that are necessary before an organization decides to outsource any information security function.

The author's general tone is against the outsourcing of information security; but provides readers with the various benefits and risks involved in outsourcing security, and let's them ultimate decide if outsourcing security is right for their organization. It is the reader who must define, evaluate and manage those risks and determine if outsourcing is a viable solution. These include technology, business and legal risks.

The book comprises nine chapters and three appendices totaling a bit under 250 pages. The first two chapters provide a good introduction to and overview of outsourcing and information security, and the associated security risks.

Chapter 3 details various reasons why outsourcing information security makes sense. The chapter includes various tables and references to the many reasons why a company would want to outsource security.

Chapter 4 takes the other side and analyzes the risks of outsourcing. The chapter details the traditional risks, in addition to other factors such as hidden costs, broken promises, phantom benefits and more. The book shows that while many organizations hand over information security responsibility to their MSSP, when things go wrong, they can't effectively blame the MSSP. When things go wrong -- and they will -- all of the fingers in the world can be pointed at the MSSP, but the ultimate responsibility falls on the organization itself. With outsourced security, if something goes wrong, those fingers will point back to the company's security manager, not the incompetent firewall administrator in Bangalore.

The chapter provides a balanced look at the risk of outsourcing, and while calm in its overall approach, the chapter should at least make the person considering outsourcing information security think twice. In fact, the author concludes the chapter by stating "when all of the risks of outsourcing are considered, one wonders how anyone ever makes the decision to use a third party." Nonetheless, there is plenty of evidence that many security activities are indeed outsourced to MSSP, and are often satisfactory from both the buyer's and seller's perspective.

Chapters 5 and 6 provide a thorough summary of the costs and benefits of outsourcing, and provides a method with which to categorize them. The chapter is well suited for a CFO with its discussion of direct vs. indirect costs, controllable vs. non-controllable costs, and much more. These two chapters show that creating meaningful financial numbers to see if outsourcing makes financial sense is not such an easy task. It is important to understand that outsourcing sometimes makes financial sense, but certainly not all the time. For those organizations that don't crunch the numbers seriously at the beginning, these costs can later come back to haunt them in a big way.

Chapters 7 and 8 detail the processes involved in commencing an outsourcing project, from requirements gathering to placing policy against the outsourced company. A mistake many organizations make is failure to ensure that the MSSP is abiding by the client's information security policies, rather than their own.

Similarly, one of the most overlooked areas of outsourcing information security functionality is regulation. A U.S. company may be under numerous regulations, from HIPAA to Sarbanes-Oxley, GLBA, SEC and more; when they outsource their security functionality, the remote technician may not be under the jurisdiction of the SEC; but the corporate data still must be protected according to those regulations.

The main part of the book concludes with chapter 9, which provides a 20-step process to determine if an outsourced security solution is appropriate. In seven pages, the author specifies the various events, tasks and steps that make up the typical outsourcing project.

Appendix A provides a breakdown of the various services that can be outsourced, with Appendices B & C providing brief histories of IT Outsourcing and Information Security.

The only downside to the book is its $85.00 price, which is at the high-end for technology and business books. While the price is high, the book is a huge value for anyone considering outsourcing security. The book asks the questions that are often never asked, and details how the outsourcing of information security is not the slam-dunk that the MSSPs often portray it to be.

For those who know what their security issues are and look to outsource their security functionality to a trusted MSSP, Outsourcing Information Security shows how it can be done. On the other side, for those who are drunk with the panacea that outsourcing security is supposed to provide, Outsourcing Information Security will be a sobering wake-up call.

There are a bunch of reasons to outsource information security. You can get specialists who have a broader range of experience than your own company. You can get an outside view of everything from how to read the various logs your system puts out to what anti-virus program to install. There may be a cost savings to have someone else be monitoring your systems along with several other companies at the same time.

There are a bunch of reasons that you don't want to outsource information security. When it hits the fan, you are still the one responsible (especially so now with Sarbanes-Oxley in force, the real rules of which we still do not understand and won't until it's been to court a few times). You have more control over your own people, and you can much more carefully monitor them. This is especially true if the outside company has reduced its cost by establishing the monitoring center in some place like India. You can much more easily check to see if your new employee has just come from a few years vacation in Marion, Illinois.

It would be interesting to see how outsourcing information security would be treated by upper management. It's a cinch that they wouldn't understand enough to make a valid decision. You have to make the decision yourself, and unfortunately then you have to live with it.

This book is just about the only one on this subject. The author reports on some good situations, and some that didn't turn out so well. If this is a decision you have to make, here's at least a good start.

Despite the widespread controversy surrounding the outsourcing of information security, organizations must understand and consider what costs and benefits are incurred and gained, respectively. Author C. Warren Axelrod has done an outstanding job of presenting the controversy surrounding the intersection of the two most dynamic, difficult, and controversial areas of information technology today, namely, outsourcing and security.

Axelrod begins this book by defining the scope of the treatment of the joint topics of outsourcing and security. Next, the author lays out the range of information security risk that are confronted daily, whether an activity is outsourced or not. Then, he looks at the risk of outsourcing. In addition, the author describes in detail the categories of costs and benefits. He also describes how the outsourcing costs and benefits relate to the Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) processes. Then, he looks at the outsourcing evaluation process that takes place once the information has been collected and sorted. The author then delves into the specific security considerations that affect the outsourcing decision and how they should be handled. Finally, he summarizes the full flow of the outsourcing evaluation and decision processes.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of presenting how outsourcing opportunities have become a continuous process as new services become available, new services of those services appear, and business takes on more of a global aspect. At the end of the day, it behooves a nimble organization in a competitive market to keep its outsourcing options open and its ability to evaluate choices finely tuned..

Love, Love, LOVE this book! The photography is awesome! Gives some good testing methods to identify which type of plastic. When I was reading the book, I discovered I personally have several pieces in my own collection that were illustrated. And no, they're not worth hundreds or thousands but rather just a mear $20, but I'm happy just the same. :-)

There are several things about this book that puts it in a superior catagory. It's not only the photography, which is stunning, but the in depth information throughout the entire book. Different plastics were always a source of confusion for me but the explaination of just what the plastic was with a photo next to it taught me so much.

I agree with John's (reviewer below) assessment of pricing. I believe he was referring to self-serving pricing of which some authors are guilty. These prices are realistic and from what I see in the market place, prices that people are paying. This book has taught me to do my research.

The book is beautiful, well thought out and extremely well written. A must in the library of any serious bakelite or vintage plastic collector.

I bought this book because I wanted to know something more about bangles, which I love and have been collecting for a while. I always wonder if I am being over-charged or "told a tale" about a bracelet from dealers at flea markets I go to or in antique stores. After reading this book, I can ask intelligent questions and have found that I am treated with so much more respect. In addition, the pictures are gorgeous. I actually leave the book out as a coffee table book when I am not using it.

Finally, a concise book on the identification of all the plastic bangles out there. As a dealer, I am always trying to explain to my customers how to differentiate between one bangle and another. Now I just tell them to buy the book. The pictures alone speak a thousand words.

Would I agree that there is an area of subjectiveness regarding pricing? Absolutely. But there is also a realistic price or perception as to what people see in a piece. In my experience, people are only willing to pay what they believe is a piece's value. Anyone can put a $500 price tag on a Diane Von Furstenberg bracelet, but that doesn't mean that it will sell.

As a dealer, I'd rather my customers have a realistic price guide as opposed to a self-serving "off the charts" price. All in all, I found the book to be helpful, exceptionally well layed out, beautiful in presentation, and worth every penny.

One of my prize possessions is this book, a copy of the original 1975 edition, signed by Professor Ott himself.

When I first got a job in Quality Assusrance, this was one of the books I consulted in my local college library. I soon found it was the best of the lot for its clear explanations, practical examples and sheer readability. When I came back into QA after working in another field, one of the first things I did was procure a copy of the book from a bookfinder - the 2nd hand copy I was delighted to discover also had Ott's signature!

It is great to see an updated edition is now on sale and that Ellis Ott's name is not forgotten, for he (as far as I can find out about him) is one of the unsung pioneers of Statistical Process Control. Ott is not longer with us, but the co-authors have sensibly decided to update a classic, rather than starting from scratch. The examples in the older book are as relevant today as they are then.

From what I can see, this book sticks to the philosophy of the earlier editions but has modernized its approach in some respects, especially in the notation of Experimental Design and in the use of Excel, which I also remommend as an easy-to-use PC tool. Highly recommended for practitioners of Statistical Process Control.

You want SPC, you got it.

This is a wonderful textbook for the practicing statistician, process engineer, or anyone who works with data on a regular basis. This book finds the right mix of statistical theory and practical applications of the statistical concepts to process troubleshooting. "Process Quality Control: Troubleshooting and Interpretation of Data" will be appropriate for a course taught to statistics majors as well as anyone in an engineering field, and it will also be a very valuable reference to anyone working in industry who is tasked with using data to make decisions about their processes.

The book is very thorough, covering everything from the basics of visualizing data (histograms, box plots, etc.) through basic DOE and SPC all the way to more sophisticated SPC concepts such as narrow-limit gauging, acceptance control charts, and cumulative sum charts. I cannot think of a topic in basic SPC that is not covered in this text. A great bonus is the CD that comes with the text that includes answers to all of the exercises and an add-in for Excel that performs Analysis of Means, making this great graphical tool for summarizing results of statistical analyses even more practical to use.

All in all, a very thorough text with many examples/case studies that would be useful to anyone in industry in charge of controlling and improving processes.

I recommend that this very well written text belong to every statistician who works in industry. Others such as mechanical, electrical, chemical, etc., engineers and scientists will also find this book to be a valuable reference. The book covers the breadth of useful statistical methods that industrial practitioners would likely encounter. Some topics such as implementing statistical process control, design of experiments with two or three factors, and troubleshooting with attributes and variables data are discussed extensively. Many real life examples from various industries are used throughout to illustrate the statistical concepts. All topics are well referenced enabling the reader to explore more thoroughly their areas of interest. The book also features a CD-ROM for the PC which contains datasets and solutions to practice exercises. An Excel add-in program is included for Analysis of Means [ANOM] of attributes and variables data the results of which are presented graphically.

The book is divided into three sections: Basics of Interpretation of Data, Statistical Process Control, and Troubleshooting and Process Improvement. The first section reviews many basic statistical concepts familiar to most statisticians. The second describes many facets of SPC some of which, such as Precontrol or Narrow-Limit Gauging in Process Control, the reader including myself may not be conversant, but will find useful in their own line of work. The last section describes what are probably underutilized but often very useful troubleshooting techniques. ANOM, for example, is a powerful way of analyzing data from industrial experiments with two or three factors resulting in graphics that can be used to clearly communicate conclusions to managers, to other engineers and scientists, and/or to operators on the shop floor.

I really enjoyed reading this book and am finding it to be a valuable reference to which I refer again and again.

Hank W. Altland Senior Project Engineer, Statistics Corning, Inc.

August 26, 2000

This book is a nice book for introduction to manufacturing system for undergraduate level for industrial engineer. The book covers Forecasting, Aggregate Planning, Inventory control (certain and stochastic demand), Push vs. Pll Production Control Systems, Scheduling, Facility Layout, Facility Location, Quality control and Reliability. In Forecasting chapter, the book provides a lot of good basic forecasting methods such as moving average, exponential smooting, trend-based method, and seasonal series. In Aggregate Planning chapter, the book covers just the basic concepts and models which can be done better. For inventory control chapters, the book does a nice job and cover a lot of detailed basic models which is a good introduction. In the Production Control Systems chapter, this book also has done a nice job in covering detailed basic ideas of the MRP subject such as lot sizing methods in MRP but JIT section could be done better by adding some more detaile on key factors of JIT's success and the use of time buffer instead of inventory buffer. In Scheduling chapters, the book covers a very basic models for scheduling which is again good for introduction. The rest sections of the book are nicely written with the level of introduction. Overall, this book is good and nice to have. One comment on the cover page is that the formulation for EOQ is very wrong and should not happen for the book on manufacturing system.

The book provides an easy introduction to the complex area of production and operation analysis. Nevertheless the relevant instruments and solutions in production and operation analysis are covered and the big picture of dealing with production and operations is shown clearly. The clear language, the illustrations and the examples make it a book best suitable for education and self-study.

This is an excellent book for Operations Management electives at an MBA level or an introductory text for Operations majors at graduate school (both business and engineering). The book is self-contained and all the chapters can be studied independently. All the basics of the classical Operations Management are covered.

Lo he usado para cursos de administracion (licenciatura y posgrado)y de ingenieria industrial. Resulta muy apropiado para ambos tipos de cursos. Existe version en espanol.

This book write all about reclamation work in changi east reclamation project, Singapore. I think it is like reference for reclamation work. By having this book for reclamation work, other books are not so crucial to have.

The book is an excellent and practical book for the practicing Civil and Geotechnical engineers. It describes the process involved in land reclamation as well as associated ground improvement works. It is a book I would highly recommend to colleagues and students alike.

This book described all the reclamation techniques and also a good refernce for offshore site investigation and geotechnical instrumentation.

Examples on design calculation for settlement and ground improvement are exelllent.

I have been asking my publisher to contact amazon in order to infom speeling mistake in my name in your website for advertisement of both my books.

MY NAME SHOULD BE SPELL AS "Myint-Win BO" as shwon in the inside cover of my books and back cover of my books.

I would like to request you to correct the mistake as soon as possible.

Regards


Dr M W BO (BO Myint-Win)

This is not a book that will teach you how to tie any particular fly. What it will do is give you loads of patterns with comments on tying each pattern. Is that enough? Not really but the book is a great source as a reference on a myriad of patterns by a lot of really good saltwater fly fisherman. Where the book shines is where Lefty gives a recommended group of flies for a particular species. For instance, do you want to know which seven flies Lefty takes bonefishing? In the order he fishes them? Its all here. Is that valuable? This book will always have a spot in my library.

Lefty Kreh presents a comprehensive listing of saltwater fly patterns and their application for various species of fish. As a novice fly tier, I found this book to be indispensable at deciphering the quirky names of saltwater flies. The text is sprinkled with little gems of advice on how to fish these flies. The photos are good, but they could provide more detail in places. Lefty gives lists of ingredients for each pattern, but does not give detailed step-by-step tying instructions. This is not a problem if the fly tier knows the basic methods for tying saltwater flies. The chapters could be better organized; for example, bonefish flies can be found in chapters 13, 25, and 28. The chapters are numbered in the table of contents, but not numbered in the text.

This book has a wonderful variety of saltwater flies. Most of the plates have a ruler in the photo giving a dimensional reference to make it easier to build your own. This book, written by one the formost fly fishermen in the world, is very pratical in content as well as advise

Lefty has provided to both the amateur and seasoned angler a detailed but "plain language" styled guide to the identification, pattern (with recipe) and use of those salt water flies he (Lefty) has found to be both sucessful and productive in the art of saltwater and "flats" Fly Fishing.

Lefty presents the basic information that most of us non-professional anglers can easily read, understand and apply to our most enjoyable past-time.

I highly recommend this very well prepared and professionally illustrasted book for all anglers. As usual, Lefty has again provided me with massive amounts of information and instruction that I continue to enjoy which for the most part, made my mere 35 years of Fly Fishing an extremely pleasurable part of my life.

This book was extremely informative and I would recommend it highly for any scotch whisky aficionado. The book allows you to create a vivid mental picture of how old distilleries must have been, plus the illustrations are great. Scotch Missed will further your knowledge on the history of this fascinating industry.

....when did Brian Townsend change his name to Michael Jackson? Is it possible that "magellan359" got a wee bit off course from one wee dram too many? Other than that, it's an ok review except for the fact that it's more about him than about the book, not what one would expect from one of Amazon's "top" reviewers. Oh, well...

Highly informative paperback on scotland's lost whisky distilleries, including those which have closed in recent years and whose whiskies can still be found in specialist shops or the occasional liquor store that doesn't realise the gems it has on its shelves. Definitely a must for the whisky enthusiast looking for a dram of a book.

Many of Scotland's distilleries had closed in recent (and not-so-recent) decades, and I thought I'd mention some of my favorites, which Townsend discusses in his book.

Some, like the heavily peated Islay, Ardbeg (which I understand has been re-opened, fortunately), were justly famous; others, like Dallas Dhu and Millburn, were more obscure, but their closing was still a loss. People used to make jokes about the Dallas Dhu name (which means "black glen" in Scots Gaelic), but it really did produce a fine malt, and I had fun doing tastings of it with friends back in the late 80's, when it was still readily available in independent bottlings at different ages and from different independent bottlers. It was notable for some semi-sweet chocolate notes, a rare flavor and essence in scotch whiskey, and I used to enjoy it very much. The only other malt that comes to mind with a chocolate flavor to me right now was a 25-year-old bottling of Scapa, a 1968 or therabouts issue, if I remember correctly. But anyway, it certainly was a fine malt and worthy of comparison with the Dallas Dhu. One time I put on a tasting for other single-malt afficianado friends and acqaintances of almost nothing but "vanished malts," of which I had bottles of about a dozen at the time, and we all had a great time tasting their whiskies and talking about single-malts and whatever.

Although bourbons and cognacs are impressive spirits too, if there is one thing that separates single malts from the others, it's the sheer spectrum of diversity and intensity of the many qualities that they possess. The intense, crystal-clear essences and flavors of this great distillate are unique, and in truly appreciating a fine dram of one of the great single malts at the end of a day, even life's more pressing problems seem to themselves vanish for a moment. As someone once wrote, life is still worth living as long as there is a good single-malt available. And perhaps that's why it translates from the Gaelic as "the water of life."

But getting back to Townsend's book, here he gives a nod to the history and scotch of the many famous and more obscure distilleries and whiskies of Scotland that are no longer with us. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about all the different distilleries, even the defunct ones, but I still learned some new things from this enjoyable book, and I would recommend it to any and all single-malt enthusiasts who are looking for something different in a book about scotch.