3 comments about The Physics of Solar Cells (Properties of Semiconductor Materials) (Properties of Semiconductor Materials).

1. Though it is of softcover instead of hardcover edition, but totally new and mailed quite quickly.



2. This book provides a well thought out introduction to the physics of photovoltaic cells and systems. The treatment provides mathematical details at a level that will be accessible to science and engineering graduates and upper class undergraduates. Some derivations are not as well explained as others. However, the working relationships are worth knowing and can serve as a lead into other references. The book is well worth its relatively modest cost.



3. I feel this is a very good book for advanced undergraduates
   and graduate students interested in the physics of solar cells. It
   is not a beginner book, as some background is expected.
   
   Solid state physics is difficult and complicated. There are a lot
   of different things going on at the same time, and I feel it's good to
   get explanations from several different authors viewpoints. I have
   several books now on the subject, but I find myself looking at
   this one more than the others. I think the author fills in a lot of
   details missing in other texts.

5 comments about The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power for your Home, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to).

1. Very generic and almost all of the information is in this book can be found for free doing web searches. For example, the chapter on installations is nine pages long and has no specifics. It merely repeats to consult a qualified electrician and I already knew that!
   
   The plus side is that it is well organized and concise.



2. I did not get all the info that i wanted but it did teach me several things that i needed to know. Mostly an interesting read.



3. Sept 08, 2008 Revision: After borrrowing this book from a friend to read it thoroughly, I still give it 2 stars BUT...
   - the book is fairly thorough, concise, and comprehensive in its coverage of residential solar. It does cover nearly every introductory topic and question a home owner new to solar energy might ask.
   - it goes into topics such as the history of solar, developments past present and future, batteries, Do-It-Yourself issues and concerns, inverter operation and general info, identifying and hiring a contractor, inspection issues, brief mention of the NEC (Natl Electric Code), federal and state solar incentives, and so much more.
   And it does this in a very few short pages - don't let the 336 pages fool you. The meat of the book is actually in less than 200 pages of writing.
   
   Given that it covers nearly ALL the topics in one book - in ONE PLACE - in a VERY QUICK read of 200+ pages - FOR LESS THAN $15.00, I actually give this 5 STARS for VALUE AND TIME well spent. (If you have ANY technical background, you'll cover the entire book in one night of reading.) But why 2 stars then? Well, if you are serious about installing solar, after reading this book you will come to realize that you still need to know so much more. Inevitably, you WILL have to talk to your municipal inspector, spend some time researching solar contractors, and quite a bit of time understanding the requirements of the incentives offered by your utility/city/state/federal govt - in all, that's at least another 10-24 hours of research, discussion, and reading. A book costing 2-3 times as much with much more detail might therefore be more beneficial. Or simply following the FREE links, as I originally espoused below, might still be the best approach since either way it is going to take time to understand it all - but only if you really are serious about installing residential solar. Otherwise, if you simply want to gain enough insights to evaluate solar, and determine its prospects for your home and situation, then this is a very good book for you.
   
   BTW, this book is very similar to the other "Dummies" Book - "Solar Power Your Home For Dummies (For Dummies Series)".
   
   ORIGINAL REVIEW COMMENTS ON MAY 1, 2008: To be fair, I have not read this book. Why 5 stars? The book is a for-profit venture by the author, so recovery of time, effort, & energy is important for revenue reasons. So why write this review? After spending nearly 12-18 hours perusing AMAZON's book list on solar energy and photovoltaic systems, I was frustrated! None of the reviews on any single book seemed to be convincing enough to make me want to buy. For instance, none of the reviews mention how the books address the National Electric Code, specific wiring and disconnect installation information, electrical and other safety hazards, inspection issues, etc. For a DIY'er, these books seemed a waste of time, never mind the fact that some reviewers insisted they actually DIY'ed just from the book. It then occurred to me that dozens of resources that I had used over the past 10 years - with the exception of 2007 due to extenuating circumstances - many resources are available for free from our fantastic .GOV, .ORG, and .EDU sites like Sandia Nat'l Labs, NREL, NMSU, and CA.GOV. Folks, before you start buying books on PV left & right, be smart and leverage what your fine tax dollars paid for! I have to admit - I believe it's just stupid searching for good PV technical, installation, and detailed literature on a For-Profit Bookstore when so much is already available online for Free. Folks, use your head - our government and academic labs pioneered this from federal tax dollars. Hence, much of it is public domain! (REPLACE all "?" with "." in the following website links.) nabcep?org nmsu?edu/~tdi/index?html photovoltaics?sandia?gov and energy?ca?gov - just to name a few! Of course, if you're just not Internet savvy, not an engineer/analytical A-type personality, and highly resourceful, plus you'd rather prefer to kill trees buying a book instead of leveraging online resources that are 100 times more than what's on AMAZON, and most likely don't have the wherewithal to DIY, go ahead. It will be amazing to see how many are simply duped by the thousands of new "get rich quick" companies and businessmen entering the renewable energy markets.



4. The future is here. Solar Power is the answer. The book is plain and simple.



5. The title is disparaging but the contents are excellent! Anyone considering attempting to learn about Solar Power should read this book. It has an excellent chart for determining what you should consider before you start your project. It is written in easy to understand language that a lay person can easily understand. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about 101 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius.

1. I got this for my friend's 16 year old son and he LOVES it! He is so excited about just knowing how all these things work, even though his mother refuses to let him into a Radio Shack in case he tries to build some of it! I've made him promise not to use any of his evil knowledge against our family and in return, I'll get him book 2 for his birthday! Great fun!



2. This is a fun book, with lots of great ideas. However, it really needed tighter editing. There are several instances where the text did not agree with the schematics (schematic has 50K ohm pot, text discusses 50 ohm, etc). This is unfortunate, since novice readers may not spot the problems, and end up with circuits which don't work.
   
   I'd also recommend a more traditional, left-to-right layout of the schematics. Some are left-right top-down, others are right-left. This makes it more difficult to follow the "flow" through the circuits.
   
   Regardless of these hiccups, I'd recommend this book to those who'd like to tinker with "spy gear" or who are looking for simplier project ideas.



3. In this world where unexpected suprises are not always welcome - and if your thoughts lean toward keeping an eye on things, this publication will certainly help. There are chapters the younger set would appreciate as well the seasoned info gatherer will not hesitate to start putting something together.
   Not electronic savvy? Not a concern. Just a few of the ideas presented here will get you headed in the right direction with property protection, keeping tabs, and real time viewing scenarios.
   
   Before reading this I thought; "Get a camera, put it up, check it once in awhile." Wrong. This easy reading material will get you thinking in important directions about surveilance you probably haven't thought of previously, unless you were a professional.



4. Great book! I give it five stars! Fun projects you can build cheaply using stuff you find in thrift stores or for free if you are willing to look inside Salvation Army dumpsters! Projects are great if you are a private eye, company internal security guy, or a kid who wants to really bother your family, friends and neighbors! On the more serious side,if you are into nature, you could probably use alot of the night scope and amplified ear stuff for bird/ animal monitoring. Be rational using this stuff! You could get in trouble if you follow your evil genius side! But...that's why you are looking at this book isn't it...MAH!, HA!, HA!, and HA!



5. Not quite what I was expecting. Pretty awesome projects but for practical use, meh, some of it.

5 comments about LabVIEW for Everyone: Graphical Programming Made Easy and Fun (3rd Edition) (National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation Series).

1. If you are a beginner to intermediate with LabVIEW, then the 3rd Edition is the single best book on LabVIEW available to you as of summer of 2007. If your budget only allows for one or a few books, put this one at the top of you list. I have read this book cover to cover, twice, and some sections in further detail as well as worked through all of the example code in detail.
   
   I won't repeat the fine comments of others in their reviews. I speak from the perspective of 15+ years of working with LabVIEW, as a beginner in the early 1990s, a Certified LabVIEW instructor in the mid 90s, a small control and test system business founder and owner since the late 90s and an enthusiastic member of the LabVIEW community all during that time. I have bought most of the LabVIEW books that have ever been published as well as the (late) LTR newsletter and this 3rd Edition is the best book I have come across. If I were hiring someone new to do LabVIEW work, I'd give them a copy of this book first. The investment is a no brainer.



2. While there is a a lot of good information of the NI website, I thought buying a book would be helpful as I needed to learn LabView quickly. I thought this book was very helpful and would definately be a good book for someone new to LabView. My only wish is that it would have more converage on the DAQ part. To me this is not only the key part of LabView, it is the only part that got me confused (and still does) at some points. Some additional coverage would have helped.



3. This book fills in the yawning gaps of LabVIEW 8.xx's documentation and ambiguous and dense "HELP" sections. For example, as a retread LabVIEW user from over a decade ago, I looked for a simple step-by-step procedure to turn on, write, a single digital line. Just to turn on and off a single LED. The LabVIEW HELP returned many dozens of topics and forced me to read many extraneous topics to come to the conclusion that I was not going to find any help. Then, I tried to use the "easy" virtual instruments already made for the occassion, but the only one found after navigating through a thicket of unrelated virtual instruments was one which wrote a digital port of eight channels and no explanation of how to set it up to write one digital line. LabVIEW for Everyone... solved my problem and a whole lot more. This book is needed by anyone who is not an experienced LabVIEW programmer and who does not have the time or resources to attend training classes and wants to get started as soon as possible. Travis and Kring have created a readable and effective reference source for LabVIEW programmers. It is possibly the only book which addresses recent LabVIEW 8.xx software and truly does make it easy and fun.



4. This is an excellent textbook! I'm currently taking "Introduction to LabVIEW" at Tidewater Community College and this is the text that is being used. There 'are' some errors in the book, but the publisher has a list of them posted on their website that is updated reguarly. The text comes with a trial version of LabVIEW to use for the activities. If you want to spend a-bit more money; couple this text with the Student Edition of LabVIEW and the 6008/6009 USB DAQ from National Instruments and you have one of the best learning tools for LabVIEW that I've seen. The text also prepares you to take the National Instruments CLAD exam.



5. I purchased this book after reading the LabView 8 Student Edition book. Although the "LabView For Everyone" book covers much of the same material, I found the later to have more details and better explanations than the student version. I believe the "LabView for Everyone" is an essential volume for anyone who wishes to learn and use LabView for instrument control and simulation purposes.
   
   I was introduced to LabView back in 1994, and was not a particular fan of the language, but after familiarizing myself with LabView Version 8, I'm quite impressed with the capabilities. What really motivated me to learn the LabView "data flow paradigm" was the incorporation of MATLAB scripts into the "G" language. Being a MATLAB power user, the combination of virtual instrumentation, data flow, and MATLAB is the winning combination for simulation and productivity.
   
   The reason why I only gave it 4 stars is that neither the student version or the "LabView for Everyone" text covers the "Event Structure" in significant detail; thus making the reader experiment with this structure to gain operational insight. The "Event Structure" is very important since it represents a programming paradigm used by programmers familiar with the languages of Microsoft's Visual Studio such as C#, C++, Visual Basic, etc. I sincerely hope both Robert Bishop (author of the Student Edition) and Jeffrey Travis and Jim Kring (authors of LabView for Everyone) take this advice and augment the explanation of the "Event Structure" in later editions with more examples and discussion.

5 comments about Understanding Digital Signal Processing (2nd Edition).

1. I purchased this book because I found myself needing to do some digital signal processing and the FFT gives me anxiety. This book was an excellent and clear introduction to the basics and helped me to develop a much better understanding of the analysis. It's written in a clear style and assumes only very basic knowledge, in fact, I think you could understand much of it without even knowing calculus. I found the author's geometric exposition of aliasing to be particularly helpful.
   
   I give the book 5 stars, but the potential reader should be aware that the book is serves as an introduction only. In the course of my analysis I discovered that some other "tricks" were necessary that could only be found in a more advanced DSP book. So, it might be helpful to have a more comprehensive reference at your side when it comes time to actually process your signals.



2. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to Richard Lyons for "Understanding
   Digital Signal Processing", both editions. I had the great pleasure to
   use and learn from the 1st edition about 5 years ago. At that time, I
   had the overwhelming urge to convey my appreciation for the wonderful
   work. Now that the 2nd edition is out, there is even more reason to
   express how much I enjoyed and still enjoy those works.
   
   In particular, the topics are spot on (eg, I needed to learn about CIC
   Decimation filters), but most importantly, the exposition is so very
   clear and so easy to understand: each step in the progression is made
   obvious -- no "and then the magic happens" or "left as an exercise to
   the reader" for the important stuff.
   
   The result is an EXCELLENT EXPOSITION. The care and the craft of
   carefully showing the intermediate steps makes it real and concrete.
   And it is done with a beautiful balance of intuition, observation,
   analysis, and math. Why sling equations around when a simple graph
   makes things clear? The equations are there, but the pictures are the
   teaching tools. Other books discuss the topics. Richard Lyons's books
   illuminate the topics.
   
   I'm pleased to be able to purchase these books, and happy that Richard
   is being rewarded (getting royalties, for he is DSP royalty) for his
   achievements.



3. I first got hold of the "Chinese copy" of this book in paperback. I liked the book so much that I bought the hardcover real McCoy so I could pay my proper respects to the author and avoid the poor paper and ink bleed-through of the paperback version. It is one of a half dozen books on the subject that I really value.
   
   Unlike some abstract mathematical treatments of the subject, Richard Lyons really connects with the guy who needs to make it happen on the bench. It is loaded with relevant examples and clear figures. I recommend it as a reference for the DSP practitioner and as a first class tutorial.



4. I wouldn't be adding much to other reviews.
   
   A good teacher can make a challenging subject accessible. This is THE book that proves it. It is a very well written introduction/reference to a field that is generally made scary by those who teach it. Any beginning electrical engineer who feels interested in DSP but doubts whether he/she is cut out for it, should read this book. It will dispel their apprehensions.



5. Modern, up-to-date dsp info, this second edition is a must have.
   The "Tricks" chapter is outstanding.

5 comments about Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers.

1. I was hoping to find a book with a good range - from basics to advanced. this is a good one, starts at the very basics with tools, shopping list- then moves on to programming. I'm not at the end yet- so I'm not sure how 'advanced' its going to get- but if you have little to no experience in electronics and micro-controllers - this might be the book for you.



2. I got this book knowing it would be Basic based however I figured I could pick up some technique and knowledge anyway. I found the book to be vague and superficial. Lacking detail on the examples provided while lacking good examples.



3. This book gives a good starting point for progaming microcontrolers, building some simple robots, conecting your art-work to computers. I would recomend buying other books that would complement this one though. Not so glamorous, books like Robot Builder's Bonanza would give you a more "hands on" info, manly on mechanical parts. I would also suggest magazines like MAKE because they are full of simple creative ideias that are easy to do for starting of physical construction and some practical hacking. That said, I seriouly recommend it.



4. Este libro es una muy buena introducción a los principios de la electrónica aplicados a microcontroladores. Existen muchos ejemplos en el uso de diversos componentes,como : servo motores, sensores, circuitos. Con los que se puede alcanzar altos niveles de interactividad. El libro parte desde lo básico hasta involucrarse con telepresencia a traves de internet..etc...Muy recomendable.
   
   Marcos Chilet
   Diseño, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile



5. I really enjoyed this book. It was clearly written and progressed at a pace that could take a beginner to a novice in a short time. There is some basic fundamental theory at the start building into hands on projects in a few chapters. When reading this book it is a lot easier to understand if you assemble the projects while reading the chapter (as recommended by the author).

5 comments about Digital Image Processing (3rd Edition).

1. I am giving this book 4 stars because it's quite descriptive and easy to follow. It covers some of the basic concepts behind digital image analysis and touches on the more general signal processing concepts, but it doesn't go very deep into the actual math. This may be what you want, but for me it was an assigned text for a 4th year undergrad course I took in college, and I found it inadequate. I felt like I could have written this book before I even started the class. At the same time, though, I think it would have been a great text for a more entry-level course.
   
   If you want a text that goes in further detail and provides some math to chew on, I have to recommend the "Fundamentals of Digital Image Processing" by Anil K. Jain. It is also sold on Amazon, and I found it to be more appropriate for a 3rd year, 4th year, or Master's level course.



2. This book feeds the readers all the basic concepts of Image Processing. Very easily understandable and lucid in explanations. I would rate it one among the best EE books published so far.



3. The preface of this book starts with a quote:
   "When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing".
   And once you start reading the book, you realize how much the book lives upto this. Everything is written clearly and importany points are stressed again and again in each topic until you become fully familiar with them. Topics are written with implementation in mind, as you can get started with writing your own code instantly.
   The book makes the subject as interseting as it gets, and although some existing basic concepts of mathematics and statistics are quite helpful while reading, but you dont even have to be familiar with Digital Signal Processing to fully understand the contents.
   Finally, I'd like to say that out of the few poeple that fully understand a concept, fewer have the gift to deliver their knowledge to others, and the authors of this book have that gift.



4. (This review refers to the second edition of the book)
   
   This book is a simple and very well written introduction to Image Processing. This book starts off with the very basics of the subject. In fact the introduction is a bit too long and may be boring for some. The book contains many examples from different real world applications. In most chapters this book covers only the very basic techniques, so readers who want to study more advanced concepts will have to look elsewhere. For example, this book does not cover Canny edge detection which is probably the benchmark edge detection algorithm. The chapter on wavelets was refreshing; it concentrated more on how wavelets can be used for image processing and less on the math. The chapters on enhancement, restoration and color are elementary. The chapter on compression was quite good. The book ends with a few chapters on segmentation and pattern recognition. Overall, its a very good introductory textbook well suited for senior undergraduate/first year graduate students.



5. This book is a wonderful read about image processing. Having read most of the 1st edition (yes I'm reading all of the 3rd), I can say that this 3rd edition is larger (yet not insurmountable) with more examples, explanations, mathematical development and new material. I'm currently in the chapter about frequency domain processing and must say that the previous chapter about spatial domain processing is more robust, even now including a good introduction to fuzzy logic. Anyhow, with a good background in applied math and Matlab programming, this material is easy reading for me, but should also be accessible enough for anyone with a general technical background.

5 comments about The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life.

1. If you are pretty well versed in physiology and basic biology, you will probably love this book! As an engineer and experimental scientist Dr. Becker opened my eyes to a whole new area of study which, politics aside, has the potential to change almost every person's life.



2. I'm not really one for science books, but this book has got to be the exception. If you have any chronic or 'incurable' disease, try to hold on - because fortunately there are at least a few doctors and researchers out there who are bright enough to think outside the box and challenge existing theories regarding the workings of the human body - in particular, the electricity of the human body and how it coincides with the universe.
   
   The author walks the reader through his discoveries that not only is it feasible for the human body to regenerate (just like the salamander's), but most likely, this is what our bodies were designed to do from the get-go, until we surrounded ourselves with electromagnetic fields of pollution so powerful that our perfectly designed DNA, immune systems, cardiovascular systems, endocrine systems, neuromuscular systems became 'confused' by all the external commotion.
   
   The author of this book represents what research 'should be' about, but for the most part isn't, and the reader cannot help but become a part of this researcher's emotion.
   
   If I ever have a chance to meet the author of this book, I will be honored. Until then, I will recommend this book to anyone who values the perfectly amazing life God gave them and the perfectly synchronized universe He created to sustain that life. I only pray that there are more reseachers out there bravely willing to poke holes in the current theories that the human body is merely a collection of chemical reactions, unopposed by a higher force.
   
   The author touches on this, and I am in agreement - I have to wonder if perhaps all the bad we see around us today - broken marriages, suicides, bombings, disease, pain, suffering, greed - is this merely a by-product of all the manmade electromagnetic distress surrounding each and every one of us on a daily basis? After reading this book, you will think twice about what we've sacrificed for the sake of 'technology' - everlasting life on earth.



3. Honestly, if I could give this book 10 stars, I would.
   
   I was worried this would be some hippy-dippy, new age ride, based on some of the chapter headings. But concealed behind the facade of odd chapter headings is a truly amazing scientific work. I'm blown away. Becker & Selden go into excruciatingly beautiful detail of any number of experiments exposing some of the electrical plumbing and electrical signaling going on in complex bodies. This includes bone regeneration through electrical currents, partial or complete limb regeneration in Rats and salamanders through electrical processes. It refers to known cases of young children (under 11 y/o) regrowing fingertips that have been severed in accidents and NOT been operated on, or had skin grafts that inhibit the regenerative process. They also go into the removal of bacterial infections with positive silver electrodes approximating the body's natural healing electrical currents. (I think I now know why colloidal silver is popular as an anti-infections agent and silver nitrate {I think?} is used when babies are born to ward off infection...)
   
   This book is written with the lay reader in mind. You don't need a medical background to understand and be enraptured by this book. As I may have said already (or not), I can't put it down. It's THAT GOOD! I hope this stuff is taught in medical school and more research goes into this field. I have the feeling it holds the key to higher level human regeneration and life extension (through making use of and maintaining the body's existing electrical systems)...
   
   Just... WOW!



4. The information was not what I expected in regard to a misleading title. Anyone in the acupuncture field, as I am, should not be persuaded to buy this book. It basically deals with reptilian experiments done 50 or more years ago. It is a biology book, in a sense. I wish I had not purchased it!



5. This is an amazing book. It's required reading. After watching a friends severed fingertip grow back (No it wasn't sewn on, it literally grew back with nail and all), this book goes right along with what I've seen with my own eyes.

5 comments about Classical Electrodynamics Third Edition.

1. This book is an excellent assembly of theoretical classical mechanics. I am an undergrad physics student and I do admit that most of the time it is difficult to understand the basic concepts of electrodynamics, something Griffiths does much better. However if there is any need to go deeper into the mathematical rigor of the theory, look no further. This book is right up there with all of the Landau's collection. A true masterpiece. If you just need a textbook though Griffiths is a much better choice, but both of them are well worth your money.



2. Excellent masterpiece of the subject. Surely not a "Electrodynamics for dummies" book, but a good reference for graduated students and experts. The exercises are quite hard, but... that's physics!



3. According to some other reviews this text makes an excellent reference for professionals. However, they've already taken the tests, and been through the classes. In short they already have their Phd. If you know the majority of readers of your book are coming to you to improve their understanding or learn entirely new material, why would you make difficult stuff even harder by intentionally omitting derivation steps in every section of every chapter. With the deadlines and time constraints associated with student life it's almost impossible to get through all the difficult derivations in the reading before even getting to the sometimes insane problems in a reasonable time. Either try to make the reading as clear as possible, and the problems challenging, or reduce the difficulty of the problems and have the reading challenging like it is now, but don't challenge the usually involuntary student readers with both difficulties. I may change my opinion later, but for now I feel that the level of difficulty and style of this text is based largely on the cruelty of the author.



4. I, like many others, used this book for graduate E&M. The text is easy to follow, however, for those who haven't seen the mathematical derivation techniques for quite some time, it is best to pause and take a moment reviewing how one equation becomes the succeeding equation. Jackson often, but not always, quotes what technique was involved so it shouldn't be too hard to look up vector identities and techniques involving standard functions (orthonormal, Green, etc.) in any advanced calculus text. For those who love the challenge of solving a variety of problems, this is your book. Jackson exercises your mind in such a way that you should find yourself pulling everything and anything you can remember (as far back as those unpleasant undergraduate days) applicable to the problem at hand and piece the puzzle together until you arrive at "a" solution. During my graduate studies, we used F. Melia's "Electrodynamics" alongside Jackson. However, it was extremely cumbersome working with something in Gaussian units and MKSA at the same time between the two books, but there was a good reason to use both. Melia's book was first written to accomodate Jackson's 2nd and other E&M books written in Gaussian units, so I'm sure that the 2nd edition Jackson would work very well with Melia's book. Melia most respectfully spells out the conceptual ideas (physics) for you and Jackson will nail you with the mathematical techniques involved, especially in his problem sets. Overall, I rate this a 4/5 stars simply because the 3rd edition used MKSA units, where I think Gaussian is much more elegant. Jackson explains why he decided to do this in the preface to the 3rd edition and it's all fair game. Use this book to brush up on your mathematical techniques. To be honest, Griffith's "Introduction to Electrodynamics" would be an excellent text to use before you even decide to read Jackson's or Melia's. If you can master Griffith's book first, then it would make your life better when you adventure into Jackson's 3rd.



5. This book is tough and the problems can be a 'nightmare', but it is a great book. I am a graduate student in physics and I just love how it goes into so many aspects of Electrodynamics and in detail.

5 comments about Electric Circuits (8th Edition).

1. The book is organized very well. It's clear, uses appropriate boxes/highlighting, and succinct. It was more explanatory than my teacher was most of the time. Doesn't shirk from doing the math, but not too math-based.



2. I'm only 4 chapters into this book, but so far i like it pretty well. It seems more readable than other physics texts ive had. It seems like the biggest complaint ive read about is it being too hard, or not having answers. I have every answer in the book, since it comes with p-spice and i can check them. As far as being more difficult than the examples, that seems to be the case in any physics course ive taken, and i've just gotten used to it i guess. I suppose the fact that i have a great teacher helps a lot, but i definitely dont think this book is as terrible as everybody on here is saying. Just a quick word to the post "a stinker", we were assigned problem 2.11, and using p=IV and V=IR, its a simple problem.



3. I bought this book for a undergraduate University course. The book is extremely thorough in the topics discussed and has plenty of examples. My only complaint is not having all the answer values in the back of the book, this makes checking my own answers difficult.



4. This text is alright, but it does assume prior knowledge of circuits. The exercise problems are way more difficult than any of the examples in the text and not all of the answers are provided in the back of the book. Also, (VERY IMPORTANT) this ISBN does NOT include the PSpice manual that is usually required for a basic circuits course.



5. This is a classic work delivered in a top-notch modern layout, with very clear organization and focus. The first edition was written before the modern-day era of sidebars, extra features, and time-consuming case studies. The eigth edition does have some added extra-material (like chapter openers), but not to the extent that a clear-cut presentation is jeopardized. In particular, this sets it apart from Alexander/Sadiku (3/ed.).
   
   It also has a more modern and efficient feel to it than Dorf/Svaboda, which is also a classic, albeit one to be steered clear of; it has not been modernized like Nilsson's book and was less clearly written from the start.
   
   I enyojed Nilsson/Riedel's narrative, the in-chapter excersices (with answers and with suggested end-of-chapter problems), and the problems (many with answers). With Nilsson, you know your learning is in the hands of an athorative educator.