5 comments about Say Again, Please: Guide to Radio Communications (Focus Series).

1. I bought this book to prepare myself for my first flight to Class Charlie in years. I wrote a script from the information Bob has in the book. The communications with SPI went perfect. Low cost and high content make this a slam dunk.



2. Excellent book but it does require that the student pilot have some stick and radio time. Otherwise there will be information that simply doesn't make much sense.
   
   My one early beef with the book is that he doesn't talk about the essential mnemonic for radio communication with a tower: 1) Who are you calling? 2) Who are you? 3) Where are you? 4) What do you want? and, possibly, if you're taxiing, or inbound for landing 5) what ATIS information do you have?
   
   He does address these issues in a piecemeal fashion but I found the above memory device from my instructor extremely helpful.



3. I've been working with _Say Again, Please_ while studying for my US private pilot certificate, and it's been great. I live in a rural area, and there are no towered fields nearby for frequent radio practice. The book makes the different types of radio interaction much easier to understand.
   
   Gardner breaks down communications by airspace class, which seems pretty sensible. One thing I liked was its discussion of how to interact with Flight Watch, restricted areas, Military Operations Areas, etc. It has a chapter on IFR communications, though I'm not ready for it yet.
   
   The book explains clearly the reasons for saying things a particular way, and gives examples of correct practice. It's easy to understand, and well worth the price.



4. This book is the best way to learn the lingo expected of you, once in an aircraft. It will inform and educate you on all aspects of talking with towers, ground crews and the likes. As an aspiring pilot, I wouldn't have tried figuring it all out in the plane. Great read, and great instruction.



5. Should be required reading for all begining private pilots and some old pros could use it too.
   Clear and to the point. This will take you beyond just simple communication etiquette. I found the glossary alone to be worth the price of Bob Gardner's book.
   Communicating clearly makes all of us better and safer pilots.

5 comments about Electronics Projects For Dummies (For Dummies (Math & Science)).

1. If you're into electronics projects, this book gives you 10 great ones to play with-my favorite was the line-following go-kart that uses an optical sensor. The projects are well organized with parts lists and easy to read schematics. I especially like the clear explanations and the easy going writing style. My only complaint is there weren't more projects-where's the sequel?



2. I am a hands on handyman type of person. Electronics have always been something I have avoided because I felt it was too complicated. It delt with something, electrons, that I couldn't see or touch. Not like nails, pipes or wood etc. Saw the book and thought that I would give it a quick look. I now own it. It is funny, informative, covers more than just the basics. The book stresses fun and safety.
   I may not build my own computer, but I will build my own Go-Cart. If you have a problem you can actually contact the Authors at [...]



3. This book is well written and packed with fun, interesting electronics projects. This book provides a great hands-on way to learn the basics of electronics, how to set up your workspace, read circuits and get familiar with electronics components, especially for someone like me who is nervous about electrical things.



4. Years ago (many, many years...) I was an electronics hobbyist, and I even worked at Radio Shack. Recently, I came across some of my old "toys" and wanted to see what was going on in the world of electronics projects these days. A big fan of the "Dummies" books, I saw this title and took a shot.
   
   At first I was a little dismayed to find that there were only ten or so projects, and looking at them they all seemed pretty lame. But once I studied them I realized that these ten, fairly simple projects, were perfect examples of so many different concepts that were easily adoptable and transportable to many other uses, more like what I had in mind.
   
   Basically with these few projects you can learn about remote control, both IR and RF, speech recorder chips, speech synthesis chips, LED sequencing, light activated controls, motion activated controls, robotic propulsion, and even basics of radios and amplifiers, all using modern, easily obtainable parts.
   
   And in additon to great content, the writers have a great style, using an approach and language that is easily understandable to beginners but meaty enough for experts.
   
   If you are interested in an excellent book to give you a wide introduction to many different electronic concepts, this is the book for you!



5. This book offers no significant understanding of electronics or of the components used in it. Rather than encroach on the sales of his co-authored book Electronics For Dummies, Boysen simplifies his book of Electronic Projects to the point of incoherence. There is some explanation of what a component is doing in the circuit, but the explanations are very brief, and there is no background understanding provided for comprehending the significance of the explanation.
   
   There is no discussion of current flow (negative to positive vs positive to negative) and of how current flow determines where in a circuit a component is placed. There is only a brief discussion on how to read and interpret a schematic, the discussion being on the meaning of the symbols. The authors spend more time telling you how to use a soldering iron than how to understand what it is you're actually doing when you replicate the schematic on the breadboard. As they describe step-by-step (along with photos) how to layout and wire the breadboard, they do not associate the procedure back to the schematic. Never do they say anything such as: "Now here in the schematic we see x occurring, and so on our breadboard we do y."
   
   They very briefly explain how a breadboard itself is pre-wired but do not refer back to that explanation during the initial projects to clarify what it is they're doing. A study of the second project, a parabolic microphone, a less detailed project than the first, allows an easy comparison between schematic and completed breadboard and will clear up any confusion for the reader - no thanks to the authors. This completed breadboard is shown early in the book, with components labeled, as an example of what a completed board looks like, and shown again in the chapter on its project. But they don't take the trouble to be helpful to beginners and mention the IC is oriented top to the left. But then, the only help they're really giving anyway is telling you what to do, not why you do it.
   
   There are no design tips, such as: "If you want a circuit that does x then these are the electrical conditions under which x would occur and this is how you might go about designing a circuit to make x occur." They don't explain how they went about designing the various circuits in their projects. Nor is there is any mention of any useful conventions or possible mistakes in drafting a schematic. When a sub-circuit (potentiometer/IC amp/speaker) is literally duplicated from one project to another, they don't point that out. This modularity is significant and they see no reason to mention it.
   
   An advantage of the book, I suppose, is that you don't have to understand electronics to follow the step-by-step instructions for building the projects in it. Just skip the explanation of the schematic, which is only marginally helpful anyway, and connect the dots the way they show. Another analogy is painting by numbers. This color goes here, here and here, and this other color goes right there and nowhere else. You might learn how to paint that way, but it's a pretty mindless way to teach it.
   
   There is a glossary but it is elementary. The entry for current is: "The flow of an electrical charge", with no mention of Ohm's Law, which the authors stated on page 19. If you look up Ohm's Law in the glossary you read: "The equation that you use to calculate voltage, current, and resistance, or power", with no reference to what the law says or where it is given in the book.
   
   There are 10 projects. The first project results in LED lights that react to high or low frequencies of sound, so you get a blinking light show. That's followed by a parabolic microphone, then a circuit designed around a programmable IC sound chip that's activated by pressure switches which they put in a doll. Finally at project 4 you get to see the schematic for an AM radio, the first project that interested me, but since most of the electronics for it is on an integrated circuit, there isn't much to learn from this project.
   
   Next we get two plastic pumpkins, one of which transmits an infrared beam to the other. When the beam is broken, the other pumpkin is activated to speak or play a recorded sound. This has applications outside of pumpkins, for an alarm system, of course. So this project has some appeal.
   
   Project 6 involves timing a collection of LEDs to create a sequence of images, which they call Dancing Dolphins. Next they control a little 3-wheeled go-kart via infrared, which involves an infrared receiver and transmitter like in the pumpkins, although in this case the transmitter is a remote control for the electric motor in the go-kart.
   
   After that you get a metal detector with a maximum sensitivity range of about an inch, then a project called Sensitive Sam, which involves a motorized cart that can follow, via sensors, a track on the floor created by black electrical tape, as long as the floor is otherwise shiny or reflective. With a radio wave remote you build you can control the cart's speed, honk its horn or turn it off.
   
   The last project, which should have been one of the first, is a small box that detects its own motion off the horizontal via a tilt switch, which activates a sound chip. It contains a microphone for recording into the sound chip. This project does not require a computer to get your voice into the chip. It uses the same chip used in the talking pumpkin. In fact, the schematic for this is a slight simplification or variation of that for the pumpkin that receives the infrared beam. The authors do not mention this similarity, and because the schematics have to accommodate the few differences in the components they require, they are not drawn so that they mirror the similarities between them.
   
   They're of little help in gathering the components for the projects. An appendix with a comparative chart of the components used in the book would have been helpful. They list what you need within a project's chapter, such as "100 microfarad electrolytic capacitor", which does tell you what you need in this case, if you can figure out how to find that in the huge electronics catalogs online, but there's no general suggestions about capacitors and resistors for future projects using AA batteries or other low voltage projects. If you want to buy in bulk they don't point you in the right direction: "Get a bunch of these, and these, and a lesser amount of these, and you'll probably appreciate a wide assortment of these, and you won't need any of these for a while but you might as well get one or two of these." They're no help whatsoever in choosing a multimeter: what features would be useful to a hobbyist and which are superfluous.
   
   If you want merely to learn how to assemble some simple circuits and don't mind not learning any electronics along the way, and you like the projects the book offers, then this book can suffice. In the final chapters, the authors give helpful suggestions of where to go next. Among their suggestions the only two books they recommend are: Electronics For Dummies by Gordon McComb and Earl Boysen, and The Art of Electronics by Paul Horiwitz and Winfield Hill. I think I'll pass on the Dummy book.

5 comments about Handyman In-Your-Pocket.

1. This book is not what I expected. I saw it advertised in a newspaper for a good gift idea for a new homeowner. I thought it was a "how to" book for things around the house. I got two for my grandsons. But it is a very technical book; some of the topics it covers in the index are, Anchors, Belts, Pulleys and Gears; drafting symbols etc. and etc. I think it is for an engineer.



2. The "handyman" must be an engineer and you need to be one too! I was really disappointed as I was hoping for a "how to" manual. The are literally hundreds and hundreds of tables of, for me, totally useless numbers and specs. I don't even have any friends who might find this level of technical detail useful that I could give the book to. This is NOT the resource for your everyday handyman/woman.



3. This book provides the many little used or remembered variables to get projects completed correctly. Going to provide irrigation for your green house 118 feet out in your back yard? This book lets you know the friction losses of various types of water pipe you might use so that you end up with a stream instead of a trickle.
   Got 6/12 roof meeting a 10/12 and need to know how to use that combination square to get the right cut? This book has it. As Chuck Yeager says, don't wait for trouble; look it up and get it right the first time. A few bucks for this helpful little book can save you big in the long run.



4. We own a professional handyman service in Scottsdale, AZ and thought this might be handy to keep in the trucks. However, the information in this book is so technical, it is of no real use on a day-to-day basis. If you need to know (and even know that you need to know) the distance across squares and hexagons OR Maximum Horizontal Roof Rafter Spans, then this is the book for you. Otherwise stick to the practical books you can get at Home Depot or Lowes.



5. Thought it a real handyman's book that give a rule of thumb in simple tasks. It consists of pages upon pages of screw sizes and other very useless info. Buy for reference in regards to what size of this comes in, but for assistance in actual installation it's a big O.

No comments about iPhone SDK Development.

5 comments about Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits (4th Edition).

1. Many diagrams. Thorough. Discusses analog bipolar, CMOS & biCMOS design.
   
   On an unrelated topic,
   If you need or have solved problems related to Gray's book, email: m1hello@yahoo.com



2. This is good book for Analog IC design, but very complex to understand. Quiet good for senior graduate students.



3. It's a very good book but I think you need to have some knowledge of integrated circuit design and analysis before discovering this book.



4. I would say if you want to understand and do some analog circuit designs, you must have this book!
   
   It will help you go from a beginner to a master!
   
   Truly helpful and comprehensive from Professors at Berkley.
   
   Bible!!!!



5. I bought 2nd & 3rd edition of this textbook for collection because it is
   4th year undergraduate coursework for major in electronic which is not my major. But I bought 4th edition as the principle reference for research.
   This edition has additional chapter on Fully differential op-amp which is very useful for me but I still don't no why do we need CMFB circuit for single stage fully differential OTA. I think CMFB is necessary to set DC output voltage of foled cascode or cascode only and maybe it maybe used as
   a design variable to increase CMRR.

5 comments about Measuring ITIL: Measuring, Reporting and Modeling - the IT Service Management Metrics That Matter Most to IT Senior Executives.

1. This book is set up clearly within the ITIL framework, and a co-worker and I now call this book our "bible" as we review our organizational metrics. However, one thing I found annoying about this book is that answers are posed in the form of a question. Example: the KPI is Incident Labor Utiliation Rate and the Question Being Answered is How much available labor is spent handling incidents? The question I get is what does is mean not what question does this answer. They do not like being told what they want to know. Perhaps I'm not convincing enough in telling them they want to know this information - that remains to be seen. In short, I find this book very useful most most managmenent levels but not as exciting to executive level management.



2. Short book that has a quick (1 hour) read. Practical to follow, but short on depth. Get if you want to quickly implement reporting but do not expect details on actual implementation.



3. Randy Stienberg gets to the heart of the measurement and metrics very quickly with practical lists.
   I found the information to be an instant hit with my customer management and my team.
   
   -Arun



4. Wouldn't it be nice if you knew what you desired to measure and analyze prior to rolling out new ITSM processes or their enabling tools? What if you have no former point of reference or an entire lack of metrics? You could start from scratch or use this book as a starting point and modify accordingly. The later option will provide more time for determining how best to capture, disseminate, report and conduct trending - which is what you really care about anyways...
   
   Don't expect a silver bullet. This book (more like a booklet) provides generic quality metrics spanning the data, operational and service perspectives. It is short and concise using mostly tables and lists and draws upon many of the KPIs included within the ITIL core texts. It's a great way to save time and get diverse IT folks operating from a common reference but like all successful metric initiatives, customization and targeted efforts will still be necessary. It also includes a decent excel dashboard to get you rolling.
   
   As a previous reviewer mentioned, it is best when paired with other texts for a more comprehensive presentation of metrics theory, challenges, benefits and techniques. I too would recommend "Visible Ops" and add to that list "Metrics for IT Service Management" by Peter Brooks. Each book promotes a different perspective and breadth but together they cover all the bases particularly well.



5. I too agree with previous reviewers of this book. Unlike many ITIL books, you are quickly given Key Performance Indicators and Critical Success Factors that you and your team members can use and build on.
   
   I found that the included ITSM Metrics Model spreadsheet tool to be of some use. I was very surprised and disappointed that it can't be built upon/extended since the write permissions have been locked.
   
   However, I didn't find the included DICE model spreadsheet tool very useful for our needs since it is very basic.
   
   If you get nothing else out of this book, the author clearly tells you how to create KPIs, CSFs, Tolerances, and metrics that matter.
   
   Because of this, I've earned a lot of points with my boss and executives for just for purchasing this book and for trying to apply/create better metrics for our executives and a metrics program for our department.
   
   Don Neizer
   Change/Configuration Manager

5 comments about GWT in Practice.

1. My first thought upon reading the first few chapeters of this book was "Where was this thing when I started to use GWT a few months ago?" The authors have done an excellent job really showing how to use the Google Web Toolkit. My eternal fear when I read these books is that there won't be any content outside of what the product already ships with. Not so in this case at all.
   
   The authors cover the GWT basics, to be sure, but more importantly, they demonstrate a way to really use GWT. They hit upon one of my thoughts when first trying to get my head around GWT: GWT is not a framework; it is a platform at best. They recognize this and help you work with the power and around the limitations of GWT.
   The authors demonstrate common patterns and practices in the "language" of GWT. It was extremely satisfying to finally, with the help of this book, be able to articulate and execute all the patterns that I've been using in other systems, (e.g. MVC, PropertyListeners, etc.)
   
   The authors also demonstrate how to use GWT in a variety of environments and build system. These concepts were useful, but I found myself skimming over pages at a time to get back to the "good stuff." (This was my primary knock in not giving it five stars.)
   
   All in all, I highly recommend and I'll be ensuring that my team each learn the concepts presented.



2. I have only read the first two chapters of this book thus far (I will update this review when I have finished the book), but based upon what I have read this is an excellent book. I have been playing with GWT for a couple of weeks and, as another reviewer has stated, I wish that I had read this book earlier. I have one other GWT book that I purchased on Amazon, and it was very disappointing.
   
   The authors of GWT In Practice are clearly seasoned Java programmers, and even in the second chapter they have introduced patterns that are appropriate for GWT solutions. They explain how GWT meshes with the MVC pattern, as well as other relevant patterns. Also, even in the first example, they introduce user-defined classes that extend widgets ... a very promising example of their direction through the rest of the book.
   
   One caveat: I am not certain that this book would be easy to comprehend for someone who is a beginner. But I think this is generally true for GWT itself, and that anyone who wants to use GWT should have some training in Java.
   
   One gripe: This is an unfair gripe, because there is no way that the authors could have achieved what I would have liked to see, specifically, a book based upon the 1.5 version of GWT (the book is based upon the 1.4 version). I haven't used GWT 1.4, but I get the impression that there are enough changes in 1.5 to make the information significant. But I'll get over it, if the book is as good as the first two chapters promise!
   
   I don't often say this as fervently, but here's my recommendation: buy this book if you are learning GWT (and probably even if you already know GWT)! :)



3. For starters: I am one of the pilot developers in my company (a large Fortune 100 Financial Institution) doing GWT development. We are about to release our first product to the business. So I've spent the last 18 months or so learning and beating my way through GWT. In the process, I've bought all the GWT books that are out there. Straight to the point: this is the best one out there. Period. Cooper & Collins have produced an excellent book on User Interface development for the next generation....and you get an outstanding understanding of basic and advanced principles in GWT. Plenty of good stuff for the beginner as well as someone who claims to be fairly advanced. GWT in Action by Rob Hanson used to be my favorite...it still has a soft spot for being the first real GWT book, and a great reference book. Collins & Cooper have managed have the same energy that David Geary has in GWT Solutions (which is lofty praise if you've ever seen David speak about GWT!). I really like Dewsbury's GWT Applications, but GWT in Practice is actually better. There are 3 other GWT books (can't remember their names because they're at home), the 2 black and yellow ones and the flower book...I really like GWT in Action better. I've used gwittir, which is a binding framework from Cooper & Collins, so when I saw that they had written a book, I was psyched. In this day and age when book sales gotta be tough because of all the info on the internet, I was glad to see a book that I didn't think was just a rehashing of what's out there online. Good stuff guys...crank out a new version when GWT 1.5 is fully baked and I'll buy it!



4. As a beginner to GWT, I was interested in a book that provided examples and also explained components. This books does exactly both. The examples vary from very simple to complex. They really made it easy for me to understand how to actually us this in practice, no pun intended. I definitely agree with other reviewers that a background in Java will definitely be necessary to easily follow. Overall, this is one of the better technology books I have read.



5. GWT in practice covers the Google Web Toolkit at a level few books on this subject matter go into. The book is well written and also approachable for someone who is new to GWT. I particularly found useful the chapter on deployment which also covers deployment using Maven with the GWT-Maven plug-in, and the chapter on CI which covered Hudson. IMHO it is worth buying the book for these chapters alone as this information is hard to find anywhere else.

5 comments about Ham Radio for Dummies.

1. A great primer for the beginner who wants to learn the basics. Easy to read and understand. The author not only knows his "stuff" but conveys it in plain language. Helpful hints in getting started in ham radio and where to go for detailed specific information was very helpful in getting started in this wonderful hobby. Recommended reading to get started in ham radio.



2. THis is a great introduction to amature radio. If you already have your license than it is probably not needed, but for those that are just starting out it is fun to read.



3. This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to get into HAM radio or is new to the hobby. I am a general class looking at going for Extra in the next few months. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the hobby.
   
   73's



4. Ham Radio for Dummies is an excellent choice as a starting point for the person interested in ham radio. It covers just about any ham radio activity possible and explains them in just enough technical language to be understood. The engineering is left out!! Everything from antennas to equipment purchases is covered. I have been a ham since 1968, and I still found this book of interest. I learned quite a bit about the newer digital modes being used on the air.



5. I liked this book, though I was hoping for a bit more content, it's a good introduction fitting with the "Dummies" brand.

5 comments about Schaum's Outline of Digital Signal Processing (Schaum's).

1. The electrical engineering approach to teaching a subject can often be quite rugged in comparison with the other hard sciences. I believe that for many students, an honest and unbiased appreciation of this text takes quite a bit more time than other hard science texts. Treating this book with respect and his or her instructor with reverence, the talented student who dedicates herself or himself to be a disciple of DSP will profit from Discrete-Time Signal Processing.



2. This text was recommended as a companion to Oppenheim's "Discrete Time Signal Processing" for a senior DSP filtering course. If your school is like mine, you sit in three hours of lecture a week, nodding and agreeing and feeling like DSP is straightforward and intuitive. Then you sit down to do your homework and wonder, "where did this come from?" Schaum's helps to bridge this gap with compartmentalized topics and numerous examples. The sections help you quickly ascertain how the notation translates and how thoroughly the topic is covered relative to the coursework. The examples help because, let's face it, it helps to see certain types of problems worked through from start to finish. There are many, many examples within the sections and at the end of the sections, worked through in minute detail. If you're into or studying DSP as a senior engineering student, if you're not the top dog in your class but still want to do well, if you learn from examples and from working through many problems that you're able to confirm, then this book is for you. If you're looking for a "solutions manual" type of book, if you want a "cliff notes" type companion, or if you don't understand lecture concepts at all, then this book won't help you much. It's not an introductory text, although it covers introductory concepts, in my opinion there's not enough background on the rudimentary DSP topics to truly qualify as introductory.



3. The book came fast, was much cheaper than a new book, and its quality was practically new.



4. This book is mostly composed of formulas and math. It gives little background information on the reasons/motivations for the formulas. I would not recommend this if you are new to digital signal processing.



5. Unfortunately the interface for the digital version of this book is very awkward. I purchased the paper version of the book, and has proved to be quite useful. Hopefully the technology behind the web interface for digital books that Amazon employs will improve soon, as this method of accessing reference books makes perfect sense. Currently, however, I would steer away anyone thinking of purchasing a digital book of this kind, who is intending to use the web interface.

No comments about Passport to World Band Radio, 2009 Edition (Passport to World Band Radio).