5 comments about Troubleshooting Analog Circuits (EDN Series for Design Engineers).

1. This book can be a quick read, but also has examples of problems you may or may not run into. He's written for EDN for years, and I've always enjoyed his style (and the occasional tirade on repairing VW bugs!!!)...



2. Troubleshooting Analog Circuits takes a device-centric approach. About half of the chapters focus quite specifically on a type of device, and proceed to tell you a few common ways in which that type of device can fail. The other half of the chapters are quite random and don't seem to fit together very well, although they also contain useful information.
   
   The primary theme in this book could be condensed quite simply: Don't assume anything. A recurring theme in the book is "This type of component is usually pretty reliable, but might sometimes be out of tolerance, so don't assume it's correct." Pease reiterates this same theme for resistors, capacitors, test equipment, circuit configurations, and so on. Virtually everything boils down to "x might not work, so if the system it's in doesn't work, x could be the problem".
   
   This, in turn, means the book boils down to little more than a collection of random observations which normally would remain unpublished in some engineer's notebook, but are just valuable enough to make a published book in this case, because Pease has so many decades of experience that his experience is worth a bit more than the standard spurious observation. Even so, this book is in no way a comprehensive guide on how to troubleshoot anything. It really is a collection of thoughts and tips from Pease; it should be called "Bob Pease's Book Of Tips And Tricks".
   
   Pease is also singularly obsessed in his hatred of SPICE. While he's correct that SPICE can't be relied upon for perfectly accurate simulation of anything, it's funny that he rejects its use so strongly in a book whose overwhelming theme is that *EVERYTHING* is unreliable. The accompanying photo of Pease throwing a computer off a roof is, like the rest of the book, amusing but hardly useful. In the end, this book contains a lot of information that *could* be useful, but don't rely on it as any kind of resource on troubleshooting. It has little to do with troubleshooting at all; its main audience is seasoned engineers who can benefit from a fellow engineer's experiences.



3. This was written some time ago, but all information is still real and true. Bob has a way with making learning fun. He should have been a teacher; in fact he is in this book. How about more bob!



4. Bob has written a book that only Bob can write. It may seem somewhat anecdotical. But Bob is a legend, he can get away with it. You may or may not like his style, but if you read it, you'll learn something from it.



5. Ok, it's clear Bob Pease is waaay good. And we're fine with that. The book is VERY good, very clear in all the aspects, and in all I am very happy to have it. If you read this, you will find many other books use Bob's advice and circuits. I am learning how to build tube amps, and this book almost only talks in terms of low voltage circuits, but still it's incredibly useful.
   Highly recommended if you are to build reliable circuits

No comments about Excel 2007: Beyond the Manual (Btm (Beyond the Manual)).

No comments about Web 2.0 Patterns: What entrepreneurs and information architects need to know.

5 comments about Introduction to Game Development (Game Development Series).

1. Steve Rabin edits Introduction To Game Development a weighty text based on the curriculum guidelines of the IGDA and the first to examine all aspects of the theory and applications of game development and design. It lends to use either as the classroom text or as supplemental college-level reading: a comprehensive overview accompanied by a detailed CD-ROM holding all animations, documents and demos referenced in the text makes for a very detailed presentation packed with tutorials and source code, while almost thirty leading industry game developers and programmers contribute technical chapters. A highly recommended pick, indeed.



2. I am a Instructor who adopted this book for a College Course, Intro to Game Design. This book is well organized and goes over numerous major concepts that apply to all interested people in the game field. The only complaint is there is almost no pictures, so that makes the text extremely heavy being 945 pages.



3. This is a good book introducing game programming. It is massive, trying to cover almost every essential aspect of game programming. This book would be a great supplemental text, along with another code specific book, for a two-semester game programming class. If you are a newbie looking for a quick way to learn basic game programming techniques on your own, this book is probaly not for you. (Not that there is truly a quick way.) It is a long read with little code. Let me make it clear this is a good book worth reading: it is just not the quick and dirty introduction that I was looking for. I suggest a step-by-step type book that offers a working game at the end, along with this book.



4. The book only offers some insight into a realistic game production pipeline; it tries to cover subjects from "Fun" theory to BASIC to small Physics equations to Artistry.
   
   As an introductory book it is -ok- in these respects; however, I just suppose I found myself disagreeing with alot of the subject matter that is presented. Especially when it came to the design section, they try to put in the "waterfall" flow of design into game design which just seems too counter productive to be a realistic methodology for developing a game. Especially if you're only an 'entry' level designer.



5. This is a very useful book with respect to tying the elements of a game together as well as giving a broad outline of game program flow. It highlights necessary business considerations toward completing the final product.
   
   Sadly, as a programming book, it falls short of the mark with respect to teaching any programming code. It aludes to examples on the included CD but does not explain concepts covered in the code.
   
   This book is useful to a person who already has a strong programming background who is looking for ways to tie things up and market their final product. For a person who is looking for a tutorial for programming games, I would look somewhere else.

2 comments about K Is For Keystone: A Pennsylvania Alphabet Edition 1. (Discover America State By State. Alphabet Series).

1. We are in the process of moving from PA to CT. I friend bought my 5 year old son this book as a going away gift. My son loves it. The pictures are great and text is written in rhyme. It made a wonderful gift.



2. This review will cover all these books since I have bought for every state for each andchild and friend's children wherever they live. They are the greatest for all ages to know about the various states. The pictures are exceptional.

3 comments about Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years.

1. This is a wonderful, well-written book that will be of interest to a wide variety of people--most of whom will unfortunately probably not encounter it--such as parents and homeschoolers and child development professionals and environmental educators, as well as its (presumed by me) targeted audience of classroom teachers. It is the kind of work that uses one subject to explain much about the world, the way we think and use information. It is also a how-to manual on mapmaking with children. I came away from the book with a very clear understanding of several map projects I could do with my children. Because the book first lays the theoretical groundwork for children's understanding of maps, the actual map projects seem intuitive--experiential education at its finest. The author's passion for his subject, and his scholarship come through. There is much information and guidance on what sorts of maps are appropriate for children of different ages to be encouraged to create--from treasure hunts to classroom maps to sophisticated area maps. I am buying copies for my children's teachers!



2. As a water educator for a local watershed organization, getting the idea of a watershed across to elementary school students can be challenging. This book focuses on kids developmental capacities and how they relate to a place at different ages. Not only perfect for classroom teachers, this book should be on the shelves of every environmental educator.



3. Sobel does a masterful job at explaining how basic mapmaking is to all of us, including children. He then follows with several age-specific ideas about engaging children in the process of making maps. Ultimately, mapmaking leads to the making of meaning about our place and the world around us. I've done several of these activities with groups of children and my own, and they are always winners.

No comments about Essentials of System Analysis and Design (3rd Edition).

3 comments about Michael Allen's E-Learning Library: Creating Successful E-Learning : A Rapid System For Getting It Right First Time, Every Time (Michael Allen's E-Library).

1. In my experience, creating eLearning is a very difficult thing (understatement of the century). You have to balance so many factors not the least of which is keeping up with the vast sea of books on learning theory. Don't get me wrong, the learning theory is certainly important, but at some point you have to get to the doing...the practical application. What I needed in a book was to hear from someone with experience. Someone who would be willing to cut through the theory and just write about how to get it done. Dr. Allen has done that with this book. I don't think that the book is perfect, but it is the most referenced book in my work library (needs more examples and more illumination on this whole "bonus babies" idea and how to pull that off).
   
   I hope that his next book in this series (on Instructional Design), is just as practically useful as this one is. How do I think you make a book on Instructional Design practically useful...lots of examples! That's right...just like what Dr Allen did with his first book (Micheal Allen's Guide to e-Learning), I would love to read about the learning theory, but I think that each theory should be backed up with a practical example. Screenshots work, but I would love to actually be able to try the examples. The first book did this well with its accompanying example CD. This book needs the same type of examples, but new stuff. I know that Dr Allen's company (Allen Interactions) has been very busy making award winning learning solutions...so lets open the coffers and see some of the new stuff.
   
   The information in this book is very valuable. Thanks Dr. Allen for being so generous in sharing it.



2. First, let me say that I enjoyed Michael Allen's first eLearning book. It had solid content. My only beef with it was that there weren't enough chapter breaks and that made it tougher to read (some chapters went on for 70 or so pages). That is certainly not the case with this book; many of the chapters are 5-10 pages in length, which to me, feels too short, almost like a bathroom reader. This book is all about white space.
   
   This new book is mostly just a rehash of the first half of Allen's last book. It only contains 180 pages of actual text before you reach the indexes etc. so for $25+ one would assume their would be a lot of content packed into those precious few pages, right? Alas, instead the author uses oversized type, wide line spacing, and 2 inch margins on the outer edges.
   
   The text is in a two column format
   and with so little page space
   actually being alotted for it,
   each line is only about 35 or
   so characters long. This makes
   the whole book hard to read
   because your eyes are always
   having to dip down to the next
   line after only a few words
   (you would think an elearning
   designer would take text line
   length a little more seriously).
   I noticed that the next book in
   this series does the same thing.
   
   Back to the content, very little new information is presented that could not be found in Allen's previous book. Yes, this one does give a few extra pages on each topic covered, but that is about it. Most of the additional information if fluff. I liked the examples of elearning given in Allen's previous book. None are included here, just a fictitous story about a fictitous company trying to implement elearning. A story that is neither engaging, nor insightful (fluff).
   
   I gave this book a 2 star rating only because if you haven't read the first book, it does have some useful information and interesting insights into elearning development...but like I said, it is mainly just rehash.



3. This book provides valuable insight into the most important considerations for developing e-learning. I would say this is more of a prep book that focuses on gathering info, getting input, etc. not so much on production of actual e-learning modules. Good high level process overview, useful in the early stages, including some good checklists like Design Proof Evaluation Checklist.

No comments about Embedded Programming with the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework.

4 comments about Master VISUALLY Dreamweaver 8 and Flash 8 (Master VISUALLY).

1. I am a total novice to Dreamweaver - only my desire to learn exceeded my knowledge. Having read many previous books on the subject I was becoming quite depressed at getting nowhere. I found this book informative where I needed it to be, easy to follow and the only Dreamweaver Book that guided me to success. I now even have a job updating web pages thanks to what I learned in this book. I highly recommend it for all ages. My son is now referencing from it as well. Learning Flash 8 is a blast as well.



2. The book presents Dreamweaver and Flash in a way that makes the programs easier to learn than from other books. It becomes a great reference to easily find specific tasks you have forgotten later. Master Visually Books
   are teriffic for learning a new program like Photoshop also.



3. I learned more from this book than I did from the course I took at an online college. I could have saved the $2,000 and taught myself.



4. This book is not well laid out. The index does not separate Flash from Dreamweaver topics. Over all, I'd give it a C+ Since I am fairly proficient at Dreamweaver, I can't really comment on how a beginner woud see that part of the book. Oh, and it's NOT that visual! Lots of crowded text.