5 comments about The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide.

1. The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide
   
   Author: David J. Perdue
   website: http://www.davidjpredue.com ; http://www.nxtguidedavidjpredue.com
   Strengths: Very nice schematics, parts listings and visuals to highlight or the parts for the machines. Easily readable. Good for novice robot builders but also advanced users will find it helpful as well.
   
   Weaknesses: The book has black/white text.
   
   Novice/Intermediate/Advanced
   
   Rating: 5/5
   
   reviewed by Dr. Eric Flescher, Olathe, KS: (dreric1kansas@aol.com)
   
   
   Introduction
   
   I have been working with robot kits for many years. I started with the Fischertecknik robot turtle which I built and was able to use with the logo interface with my Apple IIE. Later on I heard about Lego Mindstorms and bought a set to use. It was tough going and after much delay because of the programming and the light issues with the brick, I was able to get legos finally working. Since then, I have worked with several kits and working with PC and Macintosh interfacing. But I was still looking for more a more helpful guides to build more interesting robots. I think I found one in The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide.
   
   This author David J. Perdue knows his stuff and Lego Mindstorms. He has been creating MINDSTORMS since 2001 and just won the NXT Camera Bot Building Challenge competition and is the author of Competitive MINDSTORMS (Apress, 2004). He has received three Special Mention awards for his creations on the official online MINDSTORMS and is a full time student, pursuing a degree in Management information Systems in Texas. So I opened the book to see what else I could find out and how I could use the book for my LegoMindstorms in the future.
   
   In the beginning, it was difficult to use Mindstorms. For me the kit did not work at all. Working with Macintosh was not an option. There were minimal additional information for working with the robots beyond the parts, software and initial schematics. I had to use a PC. This version works with PC (needs Windows XP or higher and will or already have shipped Vista version) or Macintosh OSX (version 103.9 and higher). It was not until later that I learned from a Legos salesman that the light in the room could be an issue. Its little things like this that kept me and possible others, from doing more with robotics.
   
   I was hoping that the book started with novice programmers and robot creators. This books has "novice " beginning information so this book can be used with those who are new to Lego Mindstorms or are upgrading to the NXT version. It is good to know that this advanced robotic author, is "down to earth" with his writing and when "speaking" the language of robots. I have not upgraded to the NXT version yet and so and wanted to see whether it is would be worth upgrading myself but if so how and what ways could the robots be used with this new version.
   
   The black and white screenshots are integrated within the instruction. The visuals are large enough to read and decipher what you need to know. The lack of color does not really hurt. I really liked the screenshots and illustrations listings of the parts for assembly. However it would have been nice if they were in color (the parts are a multitude or colors. Tables do however include numbers, piece names and the place color however. When you need more information about the parts, they are all there listed and illustrated/ photographed.
   
   Throughout the book, there are helpful ideas in the way of bold notes that are "peppered" throughout the tutorials. In addition, there are pointers that go along with the "balloons " which have text inside of them about related to the robot parts. Circles and arrows highlight the illustrated areas in the screenshots that the author is clearly targeting for his instructions. This makes the understanding of the parts even more explicit.
   
   The introduction introduces Lego Mindstorms, NXT, building , programming and starting and working with robotic projects. Here is an outline of the chapters and what is in store for you.
   
   Part I in entitled "Introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT". In the Chapter 1, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT starts off with building robots, the programming of robots, activating robots and what can you do with robots and NXT. Chapter 2 is includes solid but easy to understand information about starting with the NXT robotic set.
   
   Part II illustrates the building with 4 chapters. There is electronic pieces, understanding the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT pieces, the need and building sturdy structures, and working with and building with gears
   
   Programming section is in Part III . Chapter 7 introduction has a nice introduction to the NXT-G system. Later 3 chapters involve advanced NXT-G programming a. There is also more in the form of unofficial programming languages for the NXT.
   
   Part IV involves 6 robot projects and that is where your in-depth robotic education really begins. You are taught the author's Mindstorms method, and working with 6 nice in-depth but easy to understand projects.
   
   Appendices are good resources. Appendix A has LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT piece library. The Appendix B NXT-G has nice quick reference guide section that includes information for advanced programming to perform more intricate tasks. The author details a lot of the complexity, not only with words but also visually illustrates how to and in what ways to to complete the array of blocks, sensors and programming information. While it is not easy to learn, this section takes you "once step at a time". Appendix C informs with other internet resources.
   
   Conclusions
   
   I recommend this book highly for its in-depth tutorials, the visual schematics and the quality of the reading that makes the information well understood. No one said building robots was easy but with this book, you will learn and go further than you thought you could achieve. What I like about this book and the way the author has crafted this book is that he actually invited you to build robots in a none intimidating way. The in-depth information, the visual assemblies and tables, and the easy to read information along with the tutorials will allow you not only start but develop your skills in robot building. You will learn to be creative but at the same learning the logic of the machines and how to build robotics. I know there are many books that teach Lego Mindstorms out there but I am glad I chose this one first.
   
   
   
   
   
   



2. This is a great beginner/intermediate level book for both kids and adults. The building section is excellent at explaining HOW to use the technic pieces. The programming section is a very good primer for those new to the NXT-G programming environment and language. It sets you up well for the building & programming projects found later in the book. As a middle school teacher running a robotics club, I set some of my more advanced 6th graders to work on whatever project they wanted to from the book. They jumped into taking on the guard-bot and the golf-bot which are the more advanced projects. With little guidance from me, they were very successful and had a blast. That shows how well written and designed the book is!



3. This "Unofficial" book is very good. David does a great job of showing exactly how to build each project with informative snapshots from the program Lego Digital Designer. The programming was missing a little of information on what to fill in the for each module, but his comments provided enough information to fill in the modules. I did have a question for David and he responded with the answer I was looking for.



4. I'm a coach of a FIRST LEGO League team and I bought this book to help my son "get to the next level." I am making this book mandatory for every team member next season! It is informative, yet easy to read. It covers all the bases from good robot design to programming explanations. I can't recommend it enough!



5. If you are new to Lego Mindstorms then you are also probably new to Lego Technics. This book not only covers how to program robots but also how to build them with Lego Technics parts and makes use of many well laid out and easy to follow diagrams. This book should be included with every lego Mindstorms set.

5 comments about Feedback Control of Dynamic Systems (5th Edition).

1. It is a good textbook about feedback control design. A lot of examples from the engineering world are useful for undergraduate students. It well written and easy to read.



2. Beware of the International Version it is not the exact same as the Hardcover version just with a softcover. There are less problems, and problems are numbered differently. Those are the only differences found so far, as of two weeks into the semester of an advanced controls course.



3. Vague, poor/loose structure, plenty of discussion but fails to teach. The material is at a high level (senior or above), but that's not my quibble with this book. There are excellent alternatives though on control systems, most notably Norman Nise (currently in 5th ed.) and Ogata. (My bacground is in ME and EE, master's level.)



4. The Good:
   This text does hit on most of the topics in controls. It's manageable if you have a good instructor.
   
   Wide breadth.
   
   The Bad:
   The writing seems to go out of its way to be unnecessarily cryptic. It performs variable changes every chance it gets, skips steps in the examples (which are light in and of themselves). The figures in the last sections link back to the first. If you find yourself saddled with a hard-to-understand instructor (foreign-language Ph.D students come to mind), get the exercises from someone else and pick up Ogata's Modern Control Engineering (I literally understood Root-Locus more from twenty minutes of reading Ogata than two hours of wrestling with this text).
   
   Poor depth. Avoid.
   
   A note: You WILL require MATLAB. Don't try this material without it.



5. This text provides good coverage of the material.
   
   One neat feature of this book (fourth edition) is intros at the beginning of each chapter that explain the motivation for learning the concepts presented in that chapter.
   
   Note that the subject matter is not easy, so the first time controls student should be prepared to read each section of this (and any controls text for that matter) carefully - and not just skim it.

5 comments about Architectural Drafting and Design.

1. This text has the ability to encourage the student in architectural drawings because of its excellent use of architectural designs and actual color photographs which back up the drawings. Clear examples are used to make the drawings come alive to the student. The text is challenging but understandable to the college student. It is creativly written in a clear and concise way. Great work, Mr. Jefferis!



2. I have this book. This book is a poor atempt at up dateing a drafting book to a CAD world. The CAD parts of this book are small and short. They were added to an existing book to bring it into the 1980-90's. The seems to be witten by a school teacher not a practiceing Architect with very little background into what is done in a small Architectal firm. I have not looked at the new addition but here is what it needs, a total rework of the existing material to bring it up to the year 2000, along with a CD-ROM that includes all the question at least one or two full sets of house plans. First a stock set of plan would allow the teacher to due a room addition project, change to a set of stock plans. a second set of plans be unfinished just the outline of the house, and a door and window schedule with blocks of all the windows, other drawing could be started also. It's not worth the ..., when there are up to date books for far less money. A stock set of plan would allow the teacher to due a room addition project, change a set of stock plans. a second set of plans could be unfinished just the outline of the house, and a door and window schedule with blocks of all the windows.



3. I bought it used (1996 edition)at a bargain rate, in top condition. I'm changing from mechanical to architectural design and the book is priceless for me. It has all the basics, and lots of details. The book is a textbook with assignments and tests. Saves going to class. The focus is on design rather than CAD.



4. item was received in a time manner and in great condition at a cheaper price
   thanks, would like to do business again in the future



5. Just the book I was looking for. The price was right delivery was fast.
   I would buy from Amazon again.

No comments about AutoCAD 2009 & AutoCAD LT 2009 Bible (Bible (Wiley)).

4 comments about Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics and Student Study Pack with FBD Package (11th Edition).

1. When I first ordered this the delivery date said january 8th (order 12/28) when I checked again a few days later I was very upset to see that the date had changed to the 10th. I was on winter break and need this book for the 9th which was the day I was heading back to school. It ended up arriving even before the 8th which mad me very happy but I just wasn't happy about how amazon changes the dates all time. I know there isn't much they can do if it is in transit but if that is the case they should assume later dates instead of changing it everytime the date is approaching.
   
   Product was in condition promised.



2. I just received this book now(half way through the semester). I am impressed with it. I got sick of using the book required for the class and started looking for alternatives. Where the required book has a few 1/4 page example problems, this book has 2-4 full page examples per section and about 3-4 sections per chapter. It explains things logically and is fairly easy to understand. It also came with the FBD book that has chapter notes for quick reference. This is the third dynamics book I have purchased so far and also the best. I would recommend this book.



3. This book is useless. If you already know the material it may suffice, but you could do better. If you are going to try to learn dynamics using this book, good luck. The author's examples leave out key steps, and his notation is very unorthodox, making his examples a waste of paper.



4. I used Hibbeler's books in statics and dynamics and found them both to be great. He teaches through heavy use of examples with plenty of them gone through in an exceeding amount of detail. He then finishes each section with a bunch more, most of them having the answers in the back, but not being worked out. The actual text of the book is quite short and uses dense, heavy math that was often used to prove the existence and viability of the formulas. This was usually not needed as most of the time the formulas make intuitive sense once you work through some examples. Yet if ever they dont, the proofs are available to convince you. I suggest if you arent buying this for a class (and why would you be reading a review if you were) that you get a previous edition. There are very few changes and the older ones are a whole lot cheaper. Cheers.

2 comments about Fundamentals of Modern Manufacturing: Materials, Processes, and Systems.

1. I think this is a great reference book. I have had prof. Groover in 3 of my Industrial Engineering classes at Lehigh University. There is not a single semester when I don't go back to use the book as a reference. The book is very easy to read, and to understand.



2. The binding had seen better days but besides that the book is in excelent condition. Can't complain for a used book.

1 comments about Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Student Study Pack with FBD Package (11th Edition).

1. It's what I needed for my statics class, much better price than anywhere else, at least.

5 comments about Introduction to Heat Transfer.

1. The text provided a good basic explanation of the theories.My book was missing vital table A-1!!-thank-you-very-much!.No response from the company!
   Here,s the problem;You read the book,you are attentive at the lecture,you can't do the homework,you get the solutions to the homework,you still can't do the homework!For this book to be effective, an extensive supplemental solved problems programmed learning document must be authored! Silly me,I thought study hard be successful!Ha.Ha.Ha!



2. I don't usually write reviews of books that I have purchased but I felt that I had to for this one. Does a great job in explaining the concepts and doesn't leave you lost as it moves through the chapters. It is written clearly and very easy to follow. The answers(not the worked out solutions) are avaliable on the company's website. (....)



3. heat transfer, exchange of energy in the form of heat between bodies or parts of the same body at different temperature. heat is transferred by convection, radiation, or conduction. although these three processes can occur simultaneously, it is not unusual for one mechanism to overshadow the other two. for example, heat is transferred predominantly by conduction through the brick wall of a house, a pan of water on a stove is largely heated by convection and eart receives heat from the sun almost wholly by radiation.
   heat exchangers are devices that provide the flowage thermal energy between two or more fluids at different temperature.



4. One would think for $150, this book could have been printed on heavier weight and better quality paper. Either Wiley went overboard in trying to lighten physical weight for the student to carry, or they're trying to sqeeze even more money from already ultra-high book price mark-ups.
   
   I also have the Fourth Edition -- That book has a heavier cover and tough paper pages. With this one, you need to be careful not to tear the pages, and forget highlighting as the ink will soak though 2 - 3 of the pages underneath. Dampness/humidity ... the pages warp and wrinkle.
   
   The text itself is top-notch.



5. This book, I found to be very clear to follow on what's going on. Now that I think about it. This is quite pointless to write a review. Your professor assigns the book and you buy it. But to the professors. A book like this one that goes over the theory clearly and worked out examples in the text, is a clear winner.

2 comments about Machinery's Handbook Toolbox Edition (Machinery's Handbook).

1. it's all you need, the best in it's class. There is a little bit of everything inside...bible of engineering



2. Great reference book for the engineer or machinist. The book I purchased was listed as used and in excellent condition. It was as advertised, perhaps even better. Shipping was fast and ahead of projection. Couldn't be happier with my Amazon.com purchase!

5 comments about Design and Analysis of Experiments.

1. Design and Analysis of Experiments
   Dr. Montgomery has done his usual excellent job in presenting difficult material in an understandable manner. In addition to its valuable walk through theory, the text is filled with well-executed and informative examples. The homework exercises are the best in his series of books!



2. Doug Montgomery got excellent statistical training at VPI. He also has a wealth of practical experience from his consulting work. His books on regression, statistical design and response surfaces are all well written and understandable to engineers. This 4th edition published in 1997 still contains all the useful information on factorial and fractional factorial designs. Chapter 14 is a wonderful up-to-date chapter that covers important process optimization topics not often covered in traditional design of experiments books. This includes response surface methods, mixture experiments, evolutionary operation and Taguchi methods. It does not require high level mathematics.
   
   See Experiments by Wu and Hamada if you want a high mathematical level of presentation.



3. I haven't used this much for a class yet but it is definitely better and less rigorous than other statistics books, which easily become dry and boring.



4. I really liked reading and learning about Experimental Analysis and Design from this book. I think it is pretty well paced, and quite well illustrated with many examples. I addition, the author also provides an online space with further expansion to the ideas presented in the book, as well as digital resources to all the data used in solved examples, as well as question problems. I strongly recommend this book for anyone with moderate statistical backgrouns, wishing to learn about experimental design and analysis.



5. This is the sixth edition and the book has a lot of typos, please, somebody has to correct them before the next edition.