4 comments about How to Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Alien Invaders, Ninjas, and Zombies.

1. heard this guy, Dr. Daniel Wilson on AfterDark. I had to listen to the full program. his tech knowledge is unbelievable and his mind is like an encyclopedia of cyber-geek-robot info. Can't wait to get the book....ordering another for my techno-son. can't believe I've never heard of him!



2. Wilson reviews the latest robotics technology and creatively tackles how we might best use it to conquer some of our most-feared enemies: Zombies, aliens, etc. While the read is light and hilarious, the advice is good and the science is sound. A someone who doesn't read anything like Popular Mechanics, this was also a neat update on real military robotics progress. I never knew that I might need to trick out my roomba to kill alien home invaders, but now I know how!



3. Daniel Wilson, robotics PhD, presents us with his third book regarding technology. He originally taught us how to survive when the robots eventually rise up against us in How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion. Now that we know how to defeat the robots, we can use them to defend us as we must be aware of other dangers such as zombies, ninjas, aliens, Godzilla, pirates, and great white sharks to name a few. Wilson's ideas are scientifically sound and completely viable as he uses his knowledgeable background in robotics for his writing. He mixes in humorous scenarios based on cliched Hollywood movies to give the reader a light spirited trip through a robotics debriefing lesson and where the world stands in robotic advancements. Not quite as funny as the first book but just as informative. The book itself is made of foil-edged glossy pages and filled with silhouetted artwork that stands out on its own. It's entertaining, educational, and amusing to read. Also check out Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived to round out his writing collection.



4. Daniel H Wilson has a very unique style of writing. His first two books How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion and Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived were absolutely brilliant, masterpieces in fact. How to Build a Robot Army although still good, when compared to those other two books doesn't come anywhere near to jumping over the extremely benchmark. The other books have a lot more humour and spend a little less time on the technical side and explain it in a lot more entertaining way than this. If you haven't read Wilson's previous two books I would suggest reading them first.
   
   Richard Horne (the illustrator) has done another magnificent job with this volume though. I can't fault him at all.
   
   How to Build a Robot Army is basically using your everyday robot companions to combat the Hollywood threat scenarios of aliens, vampires, Jaws and other unwanted visitors.
   
   Although Wilson stumbled to maintain his high benchmark with his third effort, Wilson's fourth book Mad Scientist Hall of Fame: Muwahahahaha! will be worth checking out.

5 comments about Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer.

1. Book came quickly, exactly as described, better than expected. Look forward to the next purchases.



2. A good overall review of heat transfer. Helpfull in dusting off the cobwebs when looking at heat transfer after many years.



3. This textbook is one of the best I've ever used. Incropera and DeWitt do a great job of explaining convection, conduction, and radiation. I have heard that the mass transfer portion of the book is lacking however, I am an ME major so its not an issue. The covering of conduction is especially good, it goes into great detail math wise although its well presented so you don't have to be a mathematical wizard to follow along. The book goes into a little bit of heat exchanger design, not very much but its a good introduction. If your instructor requires this book for your heat transfer class consider yourself very fortunate.



4. Este libro lo conocí al cursar la licenciatura en FIMEE, ahora que lo compré opté por la 5a Ed que esta mejorado. Es muy util para asimilar los conceptos y entender los fenómenos. Me gusta mucho por que creo que está muy completo y se explica muy bien. Es un libro que todos los Ing. Mecánicos deben tener. Los ejercicios son muy variados y de amplias aplicaciones, ello permite ver la amplitud de estudio de esta área de la ing. Vale la pena comprarlo (les sugiero la versión en ingles).
   GUZZZ



5. This book is very easy to use. all the chapters are well written and very easy to follow. If you want a book that covers heat transfer that is great for a class or great for reference then this is it.

5 comments about Vectors, Tensors and the Basic Equations of Fluid Mechanics (Dover Books on Engineering).

1. This would make a good introduction to tensors for physics students (e.g. for General Relativity), though the approach is a completely classical, using index notation; you won't find anything on manifolds or differential forms here. An interesting feature is an extensive chapter on local surface theory (e.g. Gaussian curvature, but only after introducing the full Riemann tensor), which is good for building intuition about curvature in higher dimensions. While the applications are all in n <= 3 dimensions, the mathematics is done in a way that easily generalizes to higher dimensions.



2. The title and many of the Amazon reviews of this book are misleading in my opinion. This book should have been titled `The Mathematical Foundation of Fluid Mechanics'. This book describes, in gory detail, the fundamental mathematics of viscous fluid flow. The text is, obviously, heavy on vector and tensor calculus. The first few chapters review the basic theorems of vector and tensor calcular relevent to fluid dynamics. The basic equations of fluid dynamics are then derived, and the analysis is extended to viscous flow. Finally, Aris discusses coordinate transformation and tensor analysis (that is really more of a lead-in to GR than fluid dynamics, although it is interesting to see how this all ties together!). This is NOT a `complete' text in hydrodynamics. There is no discussion of turbulence, supersonic flow, instabilities, etc. This is a text on the mathematical (and geometrical) foundations of hydrodynamics. As such, I view this as an advanced text for a researcher who wants to understand hydrodynamics at it's most complete, fundamental mathematical level. If you are searching for any other type of hydrodynamics text, just move on. The reason that I only gave this book four stars was because I feel that hydrodynamics is a much richer discipline than what is contained within this book. Some of the most enthusiastic reviews greatly overstate the value of working through this book. You will learn quite a bit by going through this book, and it is a great text IF you want to study the foundations of hydrodynamics in great detail, but you will need (alot) more if you want to begin to appreciate fluid mechanics.



3. There is some very important information given in this book. However I still need to do much reading around tensor calculus as I feel that there were not enough worked examples using Christoffel notation.



4. the book was gr8!!
   
   brand new as promised of course, and promptly delivered. im verrry happy



5. this is really a nice book if you want to work on fluid mechanics. it provides you the equations of fluid mechanics in different coordinate system.

5 comments about Applied Statistics and Probability for Engineers.

1. The answers it gives you are sporadic and some are hard to follow. I was expecting solutions to all the odd problems and a little more detail with the solutions. I would not recommend buying this unless it were $10 or less.



2. This book is not recommended for self study or distance courses. There are only sporadic answers to odd problems, most books of this type have answers for every odd problem. The student solution manual is even more worthless, some chapters have only 2 or 3 worked problems per chapter. Learning statistics with this book in a distance education course is really more painful than it should be. If you have to get this book, do not waste your money on the student solution manual.
   This book may be a good reference to someone who already knows statistics, but to someone learning, especially without the benefit of lectures, the description and examples are way too sparse.



3. This book covers almost everything useful about statistics and probability. It has good examples, good explanations and good applications to engineering problems. Useful for students, professors and profesionals.



4. Not enough solutions were selected to help me out for the class of Statistics that I was taking. Instead of every odd problem it was more like one out of every 5 or 6 problems.



5. I bought this book for my statistic class. this book is great. Examples are easy to follow and the theory is easy to read.

5 comments about The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design.

1. There's minimal reading in this book, which is nice since it's good for reference. The reading that it does have is very simple with bulleted paragraphs full of information that you can't get from looking at the diagrams.
   Great diagrams for industrial design students (I got this for one of my classes), gives you the measurements, reach, sight and motion range, pretty much any numeric info you need to know for the 1 percentile, 99 percentile, and 50 percentile man/woman.
   Also has nice chart of child development w/descriptions of what the ave. child can do at each age, as well as diagrams for the elderly (and in wheelchair). This book is essential if you are going for product design or interior design.



2. I found a handful of pages out of this book useful for space planning. Not worth fifty bucks unless you are designing equipment and products.



3. I'm studying furniture design and this book will be extremely helpful for me. It gives tons and tons of measurements throughout the human life span. All kinds of positions, arrangements, etc. There is section on every age, even infants and elderly. It's also just an interesting thing to read, regardless of being an awesome reference book. I loved reading about how different abilities/capacities develop at certain ages. This way you can know when humans are able to do what. This can help better understand human's needs, in a physical and spatial sense.
   
   Great book, just get it.



4. As a design student this is a very useful book. It makes assignments sound great when Information in this book is referenced. The drawings are very simple and easy to understand, however it is cramped full of numbers and stats (or 'data'). So u should only be buying this book if that's what u are looking for. It covers a diverse range of human factors in design like optimal reach, grip, vision length, working temperatures, noise, radiation, lighting, ect...
   
   This is exactly what i wanted so i am extremely happy with this purchase especially since it was in high demand in my uni library.



5. This book is an excellent resource for designing products that must accomodate various shapes and sizes of people. The charts provide a useful starting point for design. Some data, however, is quite old which dilutes it's relevancy. Also, do not purchase the instant, online access to this book. There are many dimesions and small details which can't be read due to the poor resolution of the on-screen viewer.

5 comments about Engineering Design with SolidWorks 2008 & MultiMedia CD.

1. There are many SolidWorks books that are being offered in today's environment. It is difficult to know which book is right for you. As an Inventor user who moved to SolidWorks, I am looking for a detail book that provides information in a structural format to educate me in a new software package. I am also in search of a book that will keep my attention, move at a reasonable pace, and cover major feature, sketch, drawing, assembly and analysis topics and tools. This is a very good book for the person that is looking for the above like me. The multimedia CD is a plus, but just reviews what is in the book. Additional details and tips would be nice.



2. This book has good, easy to follow instructions that step you through a process that starts out from beginner and ends up with a good understanding of the power and utility of SolidWorks 2008. The only negative is the lack of color, the text looks a little plain and could use some spicing up. However, as far as the utility goes, this is an excellent manual.



3. I've been combining my retraining in 3D modeling and learning SolidWorks specifics with the help of two SolidWorks books; Engineering Design with SolidWorks and A Commands Guide for SolidWorks. Both books deploy a step-by-step very well illustrated instruction approach.
   
   I'm rather new to 3D. I found the two books to be extremely useful and easy to follow. In a previous life, I was an AutoCad VAR, although that is going back quite a few years. Part of my learning process has been unlearning some of my AutoCad approaches. This takes time, but is well worth it. SolidWorks is a great software package.
   
   Engineering Design with SolidWorks walks you through SW in no time by combining parts that you create with sub-assemblies and assemblies. The numerous illustrations with the easy step-by-step procedure makes this book ideal for the self taught person or the classroom environment. Example: In the assembly section, there are screen shots of each selection; edge, face, etc. and then a screen shot of the model with the Mate PropertyManager to inforce and guide you through the process. This is very helpful for any new user. This type of illustration is provided throughout the book.
   
   At the end of each chapter, additional parts and sub-assemblies are available to build your confidence. The book spends a great deal of time addressing geometric sketch relationships, and the ability to edit a sketch or feature in a model. This is time well spent.
   
   The drawing chapter takes you through setting up a sheet format, detailing drawings with multi sheets, multi views, setting part numbers in a BOM, revision tables, and inserting design tables with configurations. All great things.
   
   The included CD has all the lessons animated. Great work here. If you get bored reading the book, pop in the CD, sit back and enjoy some Solidworks modeling.



4. I am not a beginner in Solid Works, but I noticed the book is very specific with detailed lessons. It is a good source of learning!



5. I'm a new user to Solidworks and I purchased Enginering Design by David and Marie Planchard because of their extensive experience in Solidworks CAD modeling. The book is project based and very easy to follow along. I've been a Pro engineer user for 4 years and want to also learn Solidworks. This book gives a solid foundation on the basics and I would recommend it to new or experienced Solidworks users.

2 comments about 2006 International Mechanical Code - Softcover Version (International Mechanical Code).

1. We received this book so fast we couldn't believe it, and that was with regular shipping. The book was brand new as advertised and the packaging in great shape.



2. This is a fascinating account of the use and installation of mechanical systems integrated within buildings. Although the chapters seemed to be disoriented with one and another, the level of detail is comparable to a James Michener novel. I never really understood the plot line, and the tempo was slow at best, but this is bound to be a classic, read and re-read by thousnds of building officials across the USA. Enjoy!

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 Schaum's Outline of Feedback and Control Systems (Schaum's).

1. I'm currently taking a Feedback Control Theory course at the undergrad level, and I think this book is an excellent exposition of classical control theory. Our text for the course is Feedback Control of Dynamic Systems, written by people from Stanford. Schaum's Outline actually has more *theory* than the textbook we are using. It eliminates all of the frills and pretty colored diagrams in favor of exposing everything an undergraduate would have trouble with. And for those people who think the emphasis is only on problem solving, this "Outline" has more mathematical proof than the book from Stanford I just mentioned! I highly recommend using this book to get off on the right foot in control systems, whether you are an engineer just learning the material or an undergraduate; it solidifies the foundations of the theory so that practical problems will come more easily. Also, it is a practical book as well.



2. I am a student of Graduate School, and my major is Adaptive Control. I consider this book very good book for me, especially because it summarizes and covers most of the basic concept and method about control engineering, which I sometimes forget. So, by having this book now, I can anytime find and reread the part I have forgotten. Of course, it will be better if you also accompany this book with others books which explain more detil about control.



3. This is one of my favorite books. Once you have the basic theory behind you this book shows you the techniques to quickly simplify control blocks ( You want to be able to solve questions more than one way to check yourself) . I just keep this book handy and have alots of added notes for specific control models. It helps round out other books in the end i found this book by itself with some photo copies from other texts was enough for me. There are alot good text books for control theory. I prefer ones with matlab / simulink exercises.
   The text Ogata is a famous quality standard univeristy text worldwide which has plenty of exercise/ solutions.( I like that style of text).



4. The book is good. It covers most Control sys concepts. However, the chapters on Nyquist, Bode, and Root Locus are a little convoluded. I have yet to find a Control Sys. book that covers these concepts well. Otherwise, a great reference for those taking a course, and contains a good number of workable problems and solutions.



5. A great reference for those who have already had a class in classical control. The text includes a terse review of all of the essential analysis and design techniques, but more importantly it includes a wealth of fully solved problems.

5 comments about FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide.

1. This book is a must have for all the First LEGO League teams, and their coaches.
   Although I'm an expert on LEGO MINDSTORMS, I still consider this book good value for money, it contains a lot of expert tips and tricks in getting your team organized and well set for the tournament. The easy writing style is even for non native English readers good to read. The layout is comfortable, and the side notes are a real added value.
   
   The first chapters handle some background that is good to know, to make the team enthusiastic about the FLL games.
   Chapter 4 contains a downloadable fundraising letter that shows that FLL goes beyond playing with LEGO robots, it also explains how to do business in real live.
   Then the chapters about managing the team, is a must read for new coaches, but also experienced managers could learn form it.
   The technical chapters, near the end of the book, handle a lot of tips and tricks on how to improve your LEGO robot and its program. I consider that many teams still can learn from these chapters. During several FLL finals, I was present as a "technical first aid doctor" for the teams that ran into "unforeseen" problems. I'm sure with this book at hand those problems would not have occurred.
   
   This book really handles FLL form start to end, and encourages you to participate in the Fist LEGO League.



2. Oh how I WISH I had this book three years ago when I started my team. It covers just about everything you need to know about starting and keeping a First LEGO League team. From basic teamwork strategies to building and programming tips and tricks, this book has it all. It is the perfect compliment to the official coach's guide provided by FLL. It's informative and easy to read without being either dumbed-down or over your head.
   
   I highly recommend this book and I'm going to keep my copy table-side every season. Thanks James and Jonathan for putting together such a great resource!



3. This is a great book for new coaches looking for advice on how to manage a team. But since it is written in a kid-friendly manner, it should also serve as an invaluable reference for rookie team members wondering where to begin. Veteran teams will benefit from this book as well, as it covers advanced building concepts for managing attachments and vehicle alignment.
   
   The authors have presented the content in a well thought out and informative way without giving away any mission solutions - so I applaud them for that. I'm now a third year FLL coach and am presently preparing for the up and coming season so this book could not have arrived at a better time. I only hope it survives the onslaught of my ten member team of 5th and 6th graders. :)
   
   David Levy
   Virginia USA



4. FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a program for middle-school age children to explore robotics and a global theme that has grown to be a worldwide phenomenon involving thousands of children and adults. While that sounds very impressive, it's also very intimidating. With so many people already involved, how can a new person start a team? Is there a right way? How can a team grow and succeed?
   
   FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide, by James Floyd Kelly and Jonathan Daudelin, is an excellent introduction to FLL for those wanting to start a team. Going through a step-by-step formula, the book explains everything about FLL from information about the program itself to starting a team and competing.
   
   Every step is almost exhaustively documented - I say almost because the writing style is far from exhausting. The books voice is a very relaxed one, much like a tour guide that really enjoys talking about his tour route. Such points as fundraising and team management are covered in the book, which are very important yet not really mentioned anywhere else.
   
   Building the team is a large component of the book, but so is building with the MINDSTORMS system, and a majority of the book is devoted to building and programming robots. Again, the text is engaging and step-by-step, showing how and more importantly, why a process or build method is advantageous. One inadvertent side effect of reading this is realizing what a successful team has to know - while my respect for FLL competitors is high, the Unofficial Guide gave me a much higher appreciation of the work needed to make a quality team.
   
   And I guess that's the best way to describe this book - it's a quality book that I strongly recommend. For a group wanting to form a new team, this will be an invaluable resource to guide the kids (and adults) to competition. For those who have been in FLL, this book is also good because it has some nice tips and advice - the sidebar about test driving a robot on page 170 is a great piece of advice to both new and experienced teams!
   
   And it has me wishing I could start a team...



5. I've reviewed a copule of these LEGO books by No Starch and I think they are all well written and have great content but until I see one of these in color I cannot give 5 stars. Publishers these books simply NEED color. LEGOs are a dynamic topic and just throwing together a B&W book is not the right solution to creating the best book you can.
   
   Having said that, this book is another great release content-wise. You'll discover everything you need to have the best FL League you can.
   
   Chapter Listing:
   
   01. First LEGO League Basics
   02. How FLL Works
   03. Rules
   04. Equipment, Mentors, Funding
   05. Starting a Team
   06. Managing the Team
   07. Team Experience
   08. Coaching a Team
   09. NXT vs RIS
   10. Basic Building
   11. Building Techniques
   12. Sensors
   13. Getting Organized
   14. NXT-G Programming Concepts
   15. The Project
   16. Tournaments
   
   Good book but could be better, still worth a purchase though
   
   **** RECOMMENDED