Technology Books

If you want to learn to be a Technician class amateur radio operator, this book is a must read. The Gordon West Q&A book will teach you to pass the test. This book will teach you to be a Ham.

Morse code is not required anymore. Get you license!

I used this product to obtain my Technician license and it worked perfectly. Every topic is easily laid out in a clear, concise fashion, and the question pool at the back of the book is well-organized. The material is also presented in an interesting and unique way, so you will not tire of learning. Highly recommended!

I am a new Ham. I just passed the Technician class test with a perfect score. The only resource I used was this book. The test isn't hard to begin with but why not make it easy on yourself and use the official material. The question pool in the back of the book are the same questions on the test. Technically you could just memorize all the questions and go take the test but you will be lost as to how to actually BE a Ham after you pass.

The contents of the book cover everything from what frequencies you are allowed to use as a Technician level Ham to basic electric theory. There is no need to buy any other materials. Just find a comfy chair, open this up and read it cover to cover stopping to answer the questions in the back of the book when prompted. That's it.

Great book.

The first few chapters were a lot to wade through with introductions to radio and electrical terminology. Chapter three is where the book gets interesting and begins to be a lot of fun to read. (note: You might want to read chapters one and two twice before going on to the rest of the book). It tells you all you need to get licensed as a ham as well as where to seek out additional information. One caution it introduces you to a World that seems endless with opportunities to explore. A good companion to this book for studying for the test are the sample tests at www.qrz.com.

There are lots of things to learn about radios and lots of books available on different technical topics. This one is focused on getting your first ham radio license.

The ARRL Ham License Manual is written in a 'welcome to the club' type manner with most of the information on radios, licensing, and ham radio as a hobby explained farily clearly. Moreover, it contains ALL of the ACTUAL questions in the pool of potential test questions. In other words, if you read the book and work through the questions there will be no surprises on the FCC exam!

This book was used as the text for a two-day ham radio license class I attended. I read the book ahead of time and worked through the test questions at the end of each section. All of the answers are given and linked to chapters in the book if you need to go back and see what you missed.

If you have a background in radio or catch on to technical things easy, this book could easily prepare you to pass the Technician (basic level ham license) without taking a class. Used along with a class or with help from a local ham radio club, this book would help prepare someone with no radio background or little technical experience.

ARRL is the dominant, authoritative amateur radio organization in the US and this book is 'a standard' among hams. It won't make you an expert or explain every technical detail of radio but will help you get your first ham license. At $25 it is a very good value.

I love that I can just skim through this book & find the information that I need. It is really basic - clearly written with great examples. After being away from work for 8 years & being out of school for almost 20, it was a great refresher! Besides, Max proves that even geeks can have a sense of humor!

As a student finishing my B.S. in Computer Science, I very badly needed something to liven up my CPU architecture and discrete math classes, which were horribly boring.

This book not only did a GREAT job of clarifying the finer points of boolean logic, but somehow managed make it interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to understand the nuts-and-bolts behind what makes your computer tick.

Maxfield's book is unique, both in format and in content. And I'm not just talking about the gumbo recipe at the end.

The first section, almost 150 pages, is "logic lite." It starts with transistors, both MOS and bipolar. From there it works its way up to simple latches and such, and scratches the surface of state machines, with side trips to boolean arithmetic and such. The breezy, informal style will work for people put off by more academic treatments, but the logic design content stops way short of what any other basic logic text would present.

The second, longer section covers material sorely missing from all other logic texts I know. It starts with the simpler parts of silicon fab process, then goes through all kinds of printed circuits and hybrid packages giving a fair tour of the basic printed curcuit (PC) processes that were current when the book was written (1995). It even goes into gutsy stuff like the copper patterns in PC processes that have to do with heat flow during soldering. All those real-world facts earned this book an extra star. The "far out technology" chapter at the end is an interesting read, too, with its discussions of nano, optical, and molecular computing.

The book's weaknesses are significant, though. It would work well with any of several companion texts that would cover what this misses. That includes more advanced logic techniques, like alternatives to gate-level implementation and all the fussy bits of state machines. A standard logic text (e.g. Katz) would fill in those blanks. Going in a different direction, it does only a little towards talking about how PC layout interacts with logic design. More about ground planes, guard rings, power decoupling, RF emissions, etc. would fit well with the detail presented here, espcially when you see how much time and effort it already spends on "vias" vs. "holes." The little bit of analog discussion from the front would help here - why inductive effects matter at high frequencies, why distributed capacitance is different from lumped, why you'd have a high-value and low-value capacitor in parallel, and why that ceramic cap near the power input has a saw cut in the edge. A third possible direction would be the way Wirth's book on circuit design for CS students went: into the higher levels of design, letting tools attend to the lower levels. The biggest flaw is in treating FPGAs as exotic, out-there technology - by 1995, they were well into the main stream, and have very nearly killed off discrete logic and ASICs in many areas.

If you just want a light-weight intro to logic design and to the physical circuits that carry it, this is OK. It could have been better in all directions and, at this 2005 writing, you should check it's sell-by date. I gave it the fourth star for addressing PCs and mounting at all, not for addressing them well.

//wiredweird

Considering this book deals with what I consider to be rocket science at best and black magic at worst I think it does a really good job of explaining things. I'm still working through it and it still makes my head hurt but I recommend this for anyone like me who wants to understand this stuff and has zero background to do so.

I grew up watching my neighbor, a mechanic, work on cars and it helped me pick up the basics. When I would try to take apart a transistor radio and figure out how it worked I was left with an assortment of colorful bits and no clues. This book is the remedy for my total ignorance of things electronic. Just how good it is I do not know due to my lack of knowledge in the field. I reccomend it to any interested beginners.

This is another excellent book from Brewers' Publications. Non-brewers will find herein an engagingly written history of Belgian brewing both within and outside the monastary walls. You'll become acquaintaed with the brewers of Orval, Westveletren, Duvel, and others, their history, their personalities, and most importantly, their beers.
For those who are brewers, the book offers even more. Ingredients and specifications (gravity, IBU) are given for commercially available beers whenever possible (and the author has done a *lot* of homework to get his hands on this information). Additionally, full recipes are provided for various Belgian style and Belgian-inspired beers. Even better, the authors of these recipes explain *why* they formulated their recipes as they did, and the author supplements this advice with his own, with advice from professional brewers, and from BJCP judges. This enables the brewer to not just mimic the recipes he finds in the book (though believe me, they are definitely worth mimicing!), but to thoughtfully exercise his own creativity within the rich history and style of the Belgian tradition.
Beginning brewers will find a lot of technical information regarding krausening, PH adjustment, etc. that goes over their heads. But this shouldn't scare anyone off. The technical information is easy to skip over and there's enough in this book for readers of all levels.
This book represents the state of the art in knowledge regarding Belgian brewers and brewing. No matter how long you've been brewing, you will come away from this book entertained, sometimes surprised, and better informed.

Inspiring view into the brewing techniques of the Belgium beer. Outstanding historical look along with what is going on today. A must read if you are into the Belgians.

I highly recommend to this anyone who wants to learn more about Trappist and Trappist inspired ales. Very accessible and thorough.

If you've ever wondered how people brewed beer in centuries gone by this book's for you! There are few, if any, modern conveniences in use in the Abbey breweries around the world and yet the Monks continue to produce some of the best brews available anywhere. A great read for those dreaming of making good beer with minimal equipment! It's also a great read for those interested in life in a monastery as there is a lot of information given concerning the living conditions, activities, expectations, etc., of the Monks who inhabit those facilities. It's a sad thing, but the very folks who brew those liquid treats are themselves prohibited from consuming more than just a sampling of their work. On the other hand, that is good news for the rest of us. We can sample lots of their handiwork!!! If you like beer (you do, or you wouldn't be interested in this book!) and if you are even remotely interested in its production, then, by all means, buy this volume. You won't be sorry!

Very informative book on the belgian styles in question. The best in the series.

This is a well written book. It does an excellent job of starting off with basic chair designs and moving on to more advanced designs. A lot of good photographs show the process of chairmaking. The gallery of chairs from other woodworkers is great - inspiring.

Jeff Miller starts you out with the most basic chair ever and then leads you along to more and more complicated designs step by step. By the end of the book, you feel confident in starting to build an arm chair. Great book.

An excellent overview of different types of chair designs and production of each. Not over the top for anyone that would like a guide to building chairs.

Chad

Excellent and clear book with very good detail on the techniques for the more unusual shapes and angles. A good series of projects starting with basic disigns and progressing onwards.
Chairmaking & Design

I looked all over the Internet for this book a while back and couldn't find it. Used sellers are charging way too much (over $100), so I finally just checked it out of the library (very available and no cost).

This is a good book, and is the only one I know of with general chairmaking info that covers different chair types. The other chairmaking books I've seen seem to be specific to Windsor chairs. I would like to see more books like this ... until then get this one from the library.

Planguage is a word and concept that combines Planning and LANGUAGE and is rooted in the author's experience since 1960. The core tenant of Competitive Engineering is that well structured specifications have a dramatic cost reduction over down-stream error correction. The defect prevention process (DPP) is used to clean up early stages specs, or preferably measure defects and motivate lower defect injection, in specifications and the attendant issues instead of relying solely on defect detection andcorrection once actual development has begun. Competitive Engineering provides focus and skills to dramatically increase how productive many of us have been in the past.

The centrality of quality specifications means significant gains for the broadest spectrum of stake-holders who stand to win with the System Of Interest (SOI). Take this specification as an example to clean up:

"The new system will use Foo language running on OS Bar and ensure top industry quality response time on web requests."

People in the field have seen specs like these. Hopefully you aren't writing them. There are what Gilb classifies as "Major defects" in this spec. Which web requests, the front page or all of them pulling from the various databases? Can the old system be incrementally upgraded instead of an entirely new development environment? Why use Foo and Bar if something else gets the job done better, faster, and with less resource utilization? Just how fast is "fast", anyway?

In Competitive Engineering you're told to get measureable quality requirements, record who requested that requirement, and exactly what "success" is defined as. That allows you to go back to the requester with notes such as "If we use OS Baz we'll get a 27% increase in CPU performance" and let them make a decision or escalate to the project funder. You're also encouraged to weed out "design constraints"; at least out of the mandatated and into the labelled area "Design Constraint". Wouldn't it be great if you got a specification that let you design the best you could without technical input from someone that can't use a web-browser?

See if you can understand my re-write of the above spec into Planguage.

Response Time on Front Page of Company Website.

Type: Performance Requirement
Version: 1.2
Status: Draft
Owner: F. Flintstone

Stakeholders: Marketing, Server Support, Corporate Intelligence, ,

Ambition: The front page of the corporate website should respond fast enough to keep the viewer's attention.

Description: Marketing research indicates the typical business website viewer makes an opinion on the website, and thus the company, within 20 seconds. Our corporate site pulls data from three different databases and a sizeable image library, taking an average of 26.87 seconds on a home DSL/Cable modem equivalent network. Marketing advantage can be gained if we can grab viewer attention noticibly faster than our two nearest competitors who average 23.43 and 26.09 seconds, respectively.

Vision: Enough accurate information provided quickly enough to keep the customer on our site.

Scale: Time, in Seconds, to a complete front page load on the equivalent of a 250K network connection.

Past [Front page, 1 Apr 07]: 26.87 seconds

Goal [1 November 07]: 19 seconds <- Marketing Director: BR

Stretch: 15 seconds

Wish: 9 seconds

Design Constraint: Supportability <- Server Support Manager WF Must utilize .

Design Constraint: Security <- Corporate Intelligence BB Must meet .

------------------------ end of spec example --------------------

Probably the only thing that might confuse you about that specification is the use of text within "<...>". Planguage uses that to denote a "fuzzy requirement"; something that is defined but not with the concreteness you'd like. In this example, however, it would be relatively simple to query B. Rubble for the specific guidelines her team seeks to enforce. The use of fuzzy requirements also allows for change over time; more OS versions may become supported while others are obsolete.

When I read part of an electronic copy of the text I had a problem. My antiquated home printer could not print it and if I used the work printer I view the output as a possession of my employer. The book is written as part instruction, part reference manual; I bought my own copy because I know I'm going to use it for the next few years and several employers.

This is one the books which has caused a great impression on me. It helps to get away from high-level, gut-feeling, fuzzy goals and descriptions to very concrete targets, unambiguous requirements and rational decisions. This strikes a chord at the heart of systems design and architecture, which consists in maximizing a set of business goals with limited resources (time, budget, personnel). I highly recommend it.

Building software systems is not easy, this book can help you to do a better job.

In a period where the trend is to follow agile approaches with condensed guidance (see the 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto for instance), it could seem strange to publish a book on software development with more than 500 dense pages. You should however not be frightened by this book. Beneath the size and the structured form lies an approach based on practical experience that incorporates change and flexibility without abandoning the quest for precision and delivering value.

The main concept of Competitive Engineering is Planguage, a word created mixing plan and language. Communication is the basis for working together. This is why Tom Gilb emphasises first the creation of a common vocabulary. He states that his glossary could be considered as the best contribution of this book. Beneath the definition of a common language, for me the "hidden agenda" of the book is to help us to think... further. The common language is only a tool that helps us express our thoughts more precisely and completely.

Fortunately for us, Tom Gilb didn't only write a dictionary of system engineering. A large part of the book is devoted to the activities of system engineering and project management. Based on Planguage, Gilb gives us a framework to elicit clearer requirements. He emphasises a measurable vision ("bad numbers beat good words") and presents tools to achieve this objective. He also helps us separate requirements from design. He devotes an entire chapter to quality control. Finally, there is a presentation of the techniques of evolutionary project management that supports incremental development based on the priority and impact techniques described in previous parts of the book.

In every chapter you will find examples and case studies that help to visualise how the concepts translate into practice. There is also an "additional ideas" part that presents material for further thinking. Beneath the seriousness of the topic, Gilb also manage to place some lighter parts and you will find how to compare seriously apples with oranges.

At the end, your realise that you have a book where process is not opposed to people, structure is not opposed to flexibility, precision is not opposed to allowing change, documentation is not opposed to active refinement, Gilb's proposed solution is not opposed to customisation for your needs. It is just a book that gives you new inspiration to deliver better software solutions to your customer.

If you are interested in software process improvement, you can read this book from the beginning and find practical material to examine your current practices with a different vision. If you are a lonesome project manager or developer, you could begin by just using the index to get Gilb's view on your current activity or problem. Be cautious, because there are many chances that you will be tempted to read more material ;o)

After reading this book, I browsed again my old copy of "Principles of Software Engineering" that I bought when it was published in 1988. I saw that many ideas from "Competitive Engineering" were already presented in this book. Tom Gilb just applied to his ideas the same concepts he proposes for system engineering. He refined, expanded and structured them to get a better product. The printing industry has just prevented evolutionary delivery, but you can bet that he will find a way to include this in the future.

My interest in the topic of competitive engineering (CE) was piqued several years ago when I heard very favorable comments about Tom Gilb's tutorial on that subject at the INCOSE 2002 Symposium in Las Vegas.

The book's subtitle is "A Handbook for Systems Engineering, Requirements Engineering, and Software Engineering Using Planguage". The term "Planguage" is central to an understanding of the book. Planguage, which is derived from a union of "plan" and "language", is the methodology for implementing CE. Much of the book is devoted to describing the generalized processes, rules, and vocabulary of Planguage. Tom notes, "Planguage should be viewed as a powerful way to develop and implement strategies that will help your projects to deliver the required competitive results." Fundamentally, the book presents a new take on best practices in systems engineering and management.

The book is useful on several levels. For organizations without a formal or documented process, tailoring of Planguage would jump start the process at a high level of maturity. For organizations that have achieved CMMI level 3 status, Planguage by itself is not as useful. However, many of the ideas of CE-the Planguage methods-are worth considering for enhancement of existing organizational processes. Tom states that CE is "about technological management, risk control, and breakthrough improvement in complex business systems, projects, and processes." CE is a believable approach for delivering complex projects on time and within budget.

The book passed my value-added test, when I realized that I was photocopying several pages for future reference, to be part of my "toolkit" of helpful tips and techniques. I particularly enjoyed reading the 10 often witty, summary principles in each chapter. Two examples are:

* The Principle of `Storage of Wisdom': "If your people are not all experienced or geniuses, You need to store their hard-earned wisdom in your defined process. Capture wisdom for reuse, Fail to write it, that's abuse!"

* The Principle of `The early bird catches the worm': "Your customers will be happier with an early long-term stream of their priority improvements, than years of promises, culminating in late disaster."

About 30% of the book is the Planguage Concept Glossary, which Tom views as a central contribution of the book. I focused my attention on the other, more interesting, parts of the book, which describe the main CE/Planguage methods of Requirement Specification (RS), Design Engineering (DE), Impact Estimation (IE), Specification Quality Control (SQC), and Evolutionary Project Management (EVO, also known as Evo). RS describes an approach for identifying all types of requirements while avoiding ambiguity and also planning for change. Functional and performance requirements are distinguished. DE deals with identifying, choosing, and prioritizing the order in which design ideas are implemented and delivered. In conjunction with Evo, DE selects the design ideas most likely to provide a significant benefit for early delivery.

SQC is an eminently practical approach for evaluating the quality of any technical document via sampling measurements. An hour of SQC early in a project can save almost 10 hours of rework. SQC also provides a means to assess the success of process improvement efforts. IE provides a realistic method for evaluating-in quantitative terms-the effectiveness of designs in meeting both the requirements, especially critical performance attributes, and the resource budgets.

Evo focuses on early, frequent delivery of project results via a series of high-value, small evolutionary steps. An ideal Evo approach would divide the project into a series of cycles. Each cycle would consume 2-5% of the total financial budget and 2-5% of the total project time-while delivering some measurable, required results to the stakeholders. The next cycle is selected to deliver the best stakeholder value for its cost (highest ratio of value to cost, or highest ratio of performance to cost). Although an ideal approach can't always be realized, Tom provides some convincing examples to argue that there is always a solution to making a project evolutionary (small steps with critical deliveries first).

Perseverance pays off with Competitive Engineering. The book is not a quick read, which Tom acknowledges. You have to carefully study some of the pages to understand the concepts being presented. The reward occurs when you glean the nuggets of wisdom from the numerous practical examples, case studies, and Planguage examples. Tom's way of presenting the CE concepts makes the book a useful addition to the systems engineer's library.

This book is outstanding. Excellent real world examples. Takes readers from top to bottom through the industry. Really geared toward the whole independent/amature film community and how to achieve professional results working within the industry. I highly recommend this book cover to cover.

Being a skeptic, I tested Mark's capsule exercises on a script I was preparing for the IFP Spotlight Award. The results were unnerving - I discovered buried treasure I didn't know I had within my story and eliminated an entire subplot that didn't service the STORY. Mark demystifies the concept of marketing, asking simple, direct questions. By asking "why would anyone want to see your film?" Mark goes past just marketing and addresses the issues that draw people to filmmaking in the first place. When I put the book down, I had a clear vision of the kind of filmmaker I want to be - and a great set of tools to get there.

In the course of making a film, we found this book to be very helpful. It organizes info about the business side of the filmmaking process.

A lot of people throw the title "guru" around, but Bosko's the real deal. As a filmmaker, if you've ever wondered how to: get press coverage, create a media kit, find an attractive title; identify your movie's hooks, locate distributors, exploit the power of the web, get audiences and distribution and actually sell your movie or video...then GET THIS BOOK! Bosko "tells all" in an easy-to-read style that gets the creative juices flowing. No filmmaker should go anywhere near a camera without reading the hard-core, straight-up instruction and advice in this book.

This book is so great! I got a copy after reading a review and it lived up to every claim. The techniques in the book's "Self-Distribution" section showed me how to set up regional sales for a film that otherwise has not made any money up until this point! I can now proudly say that my DVD is available in 17 video stores in Pennslyvania and New York thanks to the tips in this book! Get Bosko's book if you want to sell your film - it is that simple.

Most texts on industrial control are long on theory and short on practice. This book is a rare gem that presents the theory (without overloading you on details) and then explains how to actually use the theory in practice. (One note: the practical applications are focused on electric motor control, which is the author's background.) If I had to have only one book on controls in my library, this would be the one.

I had three main reasons for buying this book:
1. To bridge the gap between the control theory from school and the systems that I now design and build
2. To gain insight on how to improve the performance and reliability of real motion systems
3. To find ways to apply advanced techniques to help meet challenging performance requirements

I got all of this and more from this book. The topics covered clearly and concisely in this book span three courses I took at Cal Poly SLO: basic controls, digital controls, and modern/advanced control theory. Mr. Ellis does a great job of quickly introducing these topics and getting straight to the practical implications.

The free software and examples work well to illustrate his points quickly and easily while helping to commit the insights to memory. I also hope to use it as a training tool for our techs.

I highly recommend this book to anyone working with control systems, especially grad students and people getting started in the field. I look forward to reading his book on observers.

The author attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice, and does a good job at it. Familiarity with control concepts will help one to get more out of the book, because the book focuses more on the practical aspects. The explanations in some of the sections can definitely be more complete, and thus I have to give it only a 4 star rating. Overall it is a good book.

This is a really good book that simplified control system for the real world. Most text spend too much time on theory and analysis and end the discussion with a bunch of equations and graphs without explaining how to implement the design. This book covers both analog and digital control, and lets you download a software from the author's web site. This software, ModelQ, lets you play with various parameters so you can see how the system behaves when it is not optimized.

One drawback with the book is it only covers PID control and its variants, but doesn't cover state-space control. While state-space control may be considered "overkill" by many control engineers, state-space is used in industry. The decision to use state-space is often not in the hands of individual engineers, so it may not be an option to ignore state-space. It would be nice if Mr. Ellis could cover state-space in his next edition of the book.

Ellis has made a fantastic book on PID and similar control loops. He takes a very different tact than most controls books -- he writes with a voice similar to a handbook, but delivers enough content to compete with more traditional textbook-style controls books. It is light on the math in comparison, but I don't find myself wanting for more math.

I do a lot of controls design, consulting, and teaching. I recommend this book often and find that people that buy it uniformly track me down and thank me for the recommendation. I can't think of much higher praise for this book.

A tour de force in Industrial and Engineering History that remains a model for charting the evolution of a complete technology between two book covers. Though 'Copper Wire -' makes no direct appeal to the lay reader, this was never the intention. Nevertheless, it has an informative and fluent style and for those outside this discipline it provides a highly educational text, sufficiently well composed to make it a work of reference as well as a comprehensive and contiguous history. This is a technological history, and the author is at pains to concern himself with the progressive development of wire technology and the changes needed to meet the demands of electrical conductors. This, for me, is the fascinating aspect, though those with a mechanical background and interest will not be disappointed. Similarly, the history is well managed and constitutes a highly credible and admirable excercise in historical research. All told an excellent example of engineering history at its best.
N.R. Ramsden, Lecturer - Economic History, May 25, 2006,

Reviewer, Economic historian, April 29, 2005,

A deeply insightful and well argued monograph in economic history which at once provides a superb perspective on the exigencies in 19th Century industrial development and at the same time structures the research and history so well that there are times when the subsequant analysis - impecable though it is - seems superfluous. As said by other reviewers, Blake-Coleman's Copper Wire stands as a model in this sector of economic and industrial history.

There is little that can be added to the earlier reviews - all the superlatives are in place and as a latecomer to reading this title I can only contribute my agreement. As an engineer working in the wire industry I found the material not only fascinating but a reflection on the authors real command of the technology and the historical exigencies involved. It was a revelation in exposing just how advanced the production methods had become at the end of the 19th century, and just how difficult the path to making high quality electrical conductors was from the advent of submarine telegraphy. I congatulate all involved in the production of this book - wonderful.

Copper Wire and Electrical Conductors : The Shaping of a Technology

Author: B. C. Blake-Coleman
Format: Hardcover Textbook
Published: December 1991
ISBN: 3718652005

This is a definitive work which critically examines the principal events and circumstances which influenced the evolution of copper wire as a crucial component in modern electrical technology.

Now established as a milestone in the publishing of technological histories, Blake-Coleman's 'Copper Wire-' provides the template for all subsequent authors in the field. Highly readable, yet completely authoratative in the depth and breadth of its research, this book went even further in showing how careful editing can enhance the way information is conveyed to the reader. (All footnotes and citations for example are given on the page where they appear. This is of enormous value; given that typically citations are confined to the end of a book, requiring the reader to constantly flick through pages).

The structure and content of 'Copper Wire-' is of itself a lesson. To avoid the problem of intermingling the use and application of Copper wire with the technology of wire making itself, the opening chapters cover the history of wire making technology and then proceed to focus on copper wire per se. This arms the reader at the outset with an understanding of the slow development of wire making technology from ancient times up to the end of the 19th/early 20th century when automated techniques were virtually mature.

The traditional applications, trades and supply chains for copper wire are given a full treatment in the middle sections. Not only in terms of markets and uses but the organizations and companies that developed on the specific businesses of the day. This extends to the single tradesman supplying copper articles for the local market and drawing his own copper wire, to the dockyard industries providing the massive levels of copper and copper wire for both naval and private vessels. We see how slowly (but inevitably) the provision of materials for the traditional markets slowly make available a commodity that could be used in early electrical work.

Electrical science is then shown to be an overwhelming force for change in the copper wire industry - not least because (as we are suprised to find) the traditionally made copper wire does not have the qualities and attributes appropriate for electrical applications. Indeed, iron and brass wire are at first the primary choice as conductors in telegraphy and experimental applications.

How electrical science and the acceleration in telegraphic and telephonic communications came to change the manufacture and properties of conventional copper wire is a fascinating story, and is not only well told in this book but told with an emphasis that conveys vividly the trials and tribulations of those individuals who made our modern electrical systems what they are. Having read the later sections of 'Copper Wire-' one is left in no doubt that dismissing the current monopoly of copper wire in electrical technology as purely an evolutionary step ignores the fact - as this book clearly recounts - that there was nothing natural or evolutionary about it!

Not only is this book a prime example of good scholarship and pragmatism in approaching the problem of presentation, but the wealth and quality of research leaves one admiring the persistance of the author. Few would see the subject as compelling. There is after all no central character or single historical perspective and technological histories are hardly the best platform for getting to grips with the economic and social conditions which prevail. Yet the author does turn a potentially turgid subject into something truly engaging.

There are many criticisms to be made about this book (mainly editorial and typographical) but this remains the definitive technological history. Copper Wire- is recommended to anyone who is embarking on a similar task. Not only as a model for writing this kind of material but as an example of understanding what makes a complex and highly technical subject easy to understand and assimilate.

I believe many will agree that this book deserves its longevity. Having obtained a copy on the strength of the Amazon reviews (below) I have (for the first time) no argument with the reviewers. Those who have praised the scholarship, structure and insight of Blake-Coleman's work were right to do so. Verso, the criticisms where they occur are justified. Particularly in the light of the fact that much of the research dates back some 20 years! Yet there is little extant that supersedes any of the book's contents, and that speaks volumes!

As a study in how economic and industrial history should be written 'Copper Wire - ' has few equals, as a research excercise and a marvellous story of industrial and technological change it is peerless.

The simplicity, yet thoroughness, which he uses to explain one of the more difficult topics in engineering and mathematics shows that Dr. Hershey is a true expert in the field. I highly recomend this book for both the novice and the advanced reader.

Cryptography Demystified is a great intro guide to cryptography, well worth its price.

If you can make sense of this then you'll be able to make sense of the rest of the book (From Module 4):

Prob[p(t)=1lc(t)={Prob[c(t)=1lp(t)=1]Prob[p(t)=1]}/{Prob[c(t)=1]}
Now,
Prob[c(t)=1lp(t)=1]=Prob[k(t)=0]
and
Prob[c(t)=1]=Prob[p(t)=1]Prob[k(t)=0]+Prob[p(t)=0]Prob[k(t)=1]
therefore,
Prob[p(t)=1lc(t)=1]={prob[k(t)=0]Prob[p(t)=1]}/{Prob[p(t)=1]Prob[k(t)=0}+Prob[p(t)=0]Prob[k(t)=1]}

This book is slanted towards more theory and math than others that deal in practicality, for instance "Cryptography for Dummies". But if you have a solid foundation in mathematics and have the temporal ability to "quantinize" then this is a fantastic book. I would speculate this book is meant for graduate comp. sci/eng coursework as it is broken down into 35 Modules with problem solving exercises at the end of each. At any rate, good luck!

This book was used in a course I took taught by the author, Dr. John Hershey. I have read and own several books in this category, am working to obtain two advanced degrees in the field of computer security, and feel that I have enough information to write an objective review. It is an excellent introduction book to the general area of cryptography, but suffers from several shortcomings.

If you do not know much about what cryptography and encryption are, this book should provide a decent introduction. The book provides the mathematical concepts needed to understand the chapters, but I felt it did not cover enough detail or provide enough examples to let me feel I had a solid understanding of everything.

There are three aspects to cryptography: authentication, integrity, and verification. This book only discusses integrity issues, i.e. encryption. DES, RSA, and Diffie-Hellman are discussed, but a detailed covering of AES is noticibly absent. It covers integrity rather well, breaking down the different methods of using block encryption into separate chapters. In other words, DES operation in electronic codebook, output feedback, and cipher feedback modes are three different chapters. This is something that isn't usually done and is a rather nice touch. It makes it much easier to learn the advantages and disadvantages for each mode of operation.

In terms of total mathematical theory, Hershey's book does not contain much theory. If you want theory, I recommend you find William Stallings book titled "Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice." Also, Hershey's book does not contain code to let you start programming a security system. If you want applications, I recommend you find Bruce Schneier's book titled "Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C." Those books are for advanced readers, however, and may be difficult to understand if you don't know the area.

Overall, it is a good read. I recommend it more for IT people than computer scientists or engineers simply because it touches upon the topic, instead of being very detailed. Look at the editorial review section criteria for who should read the book, it is right for the most part.

If you are looking to expand your mind, think about learning Cryptography. It is an excellent discipline to help you think in new ways. If you decide you want to learn Cryptography, this is the book for you. The book is written in modules, making it easy to digest. The book is equally suitable for a formal classroom or self-study environment. Using the book for self study is enhanced by the modular format, superb clarity of the teaching, the well-explained answers to the problems, and the appropriately injected humor. People that need to learn Cryptography will undoubtedly have this book on their shelf, whether they are an expert or beginner. I would like to speak to the people that don't need to learn Cryptography - this book is for you too, as you will enjoy learning the thought processes of Cryptography that will enhance your creativity in any field. This book is a gift.

If you decide to buy this book take a good deep breath. You should be good enough in algebra, and you should be quite comfortable with some six sigma basics. This book gives a good explanation in TRIZ and in the DFSS algoritm.
The axiomatic design could be better (lack of examples). It is well written.

This is a book with a lot of information. Each chapter can be used as a starting point for a specific six sigma technique. However, this is the worst edited book I have ever read. You can hardly find one page without errors/typos.

While the concept of six-sigma is a very popular one, it is not often that one can find such a comprehensive yet clearly-written volume devoted to the most important topics of six-sigma. A book that contains so much information and not just hot air is especially hard to find. Yang and El-Haik have successfully written one of the most impressive and useful reads I have ever encountered within this field. Especially intriguing and novel concept of TRIZ. A very worthwhile book, in any case.

I have not found such a comprehensive book for design of six sigma. I started using this book for advanced experimental design and taguchi methods, but ended understanding the complete roadmap for design of six sigma. The systems approach allows an enthusiast reader to start anywhere, without having to spend time refering back to earlier chapters. The relatively newer trends as TRIZ and axiomatic design have also been nicely dealt with.
Overall, this is a very nice and easy read book, with excellent and well defined examples. A must for everyone who wants a quick refresher on the design principles of six sigma.

This is an outstanding DFSS book for production development. It contains integrated information and some of which you could hardly find anywhere else, thus with one book in hand, you have all the tools to get to your destination. This is also a easy to read book providing the reader with a solid understanding- Concepts are clearly defined, real world examples/ case studies are fully described and the chapters are well organized. It can serve as a textbook for students/beginners and also can serve as a handbook for experienced engineers.
The title says it all- this is a roadmap for you to find the way correctly and easily. I am reading the book right now, and the book is really beneficial to me.