Textbook Review: Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics 6th Edition

 

This book was used for my Fundamentals of Thermodynamics class, which was one of a handful of electives I had to choose from to get my EE degree. We used the 8th edition in class, but aside from the homework problems, the 6th edition had all the same explanatory material and tables, and I was able to get a used copy for $25 as opposed to a new copy of the 8th for over $200.

I would call this a decent textbook. The explanations were fairly clear and it gives quite a few example problems at the end of the chapters and often showed a couple of different ways to solve the problems. Luckily I had a teacher who walked through a lot of examples in class, and sometimes she made things a bit easier than the book's explanations. The one nitpicky point is, as others have pointed out there are no answers in the back of the book (or on CD) to any of the problems. And as is the case with most math, science, and engineering textbooks the amount of (and difficulty level) of the problems in the set at the end of the chapters far exceed what is shown in the examples either in the chapter text itself, or the more detailed fully worked out examples will show you how to do. So having some kind of answer key to check yourself would be helpful.

Overall I would say it is a good, but not a great book. The chapters can get a bit long, and honestly, I think the publishers would do a service to students to put out a version of the book with just the material that a one-semester-long fundamentals course would cover. That way students who have to take a full year and get the longer version of the book and students who are just taking the one-semester can get it a little cheaper. But, it is better than some math and science textbooks out there.

Textbook Review: Modern Control Systems

 

This book is very mixed. It does some things well and some things very badly. What it does well is give a lot of real-world examples and great explanations of the theory/concepts and definitions. What it does horribly however is actually teach you how to do the problems. The approach the authors took to writing this would be much better for a masters level control systems class where you presumably already know the basics and are more interested in designing systems than you are trying to figure out how to actually work through the problems by hand. The only solutions it gives are for the multiple choice problems (which are mostly testing whether you know the concepts). There are no solutions for the problems you actually have to work out. The examples in the text itself are basic to intermediate, but provide little to no help for how to get through the harder exercises. They also have mistakes and the examples sometimes omit very critical steps in showing the solutions to the examples. And it does not just steps like taking a derivative or doing integration, which by the time you get to the point in an undergrad degree when you are taking control systems you will use MATLAB, Wolfram, or your calculator to do anyway, but actually omitting steps in setting the problems up.

Like most of the other reviewers, I think it is way too dense to be of much help in an introductory undergraduate class. The authors seemed more concerned about showing how much they know about control systems than they do actually teaching students how to do the work. If they took about half of the explanatory material out and put in more useful examples then it would be a much better book. Given that this thing is the size of an old-school phone book, it should be much more helpful than it is. If you have a good teacher you can get around some of this book's limitations. If not you will probably need to look on YouTube or do some Google searching to figure out how to do problems.

I debated between giving this two or three stars. Honestly, I see it as a 2.5 overall. If you are in an undergrad class just learning the material it is definitely closer to two stars. Once you actually understand the topic though, and are not as concerned with how to do the problems by hand, then I could see this book being more useful.

Textbook Review: Electric Circuits 9th Edition

 

There are worse textbooks out there than this one (for example the textbook I had to use for multivariable calculus) but not many. The problem is that the authors seem to want to skimp on explaining the theory and providing examples and get right to the problems. As a result, you get very little guidance and background on key concepts, a couple rather basic examples, and then a bunch of problems only a few of which the examples provide guidance in solving. If you have an instructor who goes through a lot of examples you can get around some of these deficiencies, but if not you will be lost. In fact, even some of the instructors at my school complain about this book and its lack of guidance.

If you do not find your instructor all that helpful I recommend looking into the MathTutor DVD circuits lessons. Those are DVD sets that do a far better job of explaining the concepts from the course, and more importantly, the instructor goes through many many examples of problems. You can tell that he used a version of this book to select problems from because some of the examples he worked through are number-for-number problems from this book. In all those 6 DVDs cover about 90% of the material in a first-semester circuits class (with the exception of the material on Op-Amps and the complex power material). If you need the book in order to do your homework problems you will not have much of a choice but to get it, but I would not spend a ton of time trying to do any in-depth reading of it because it probably will not help much.

Book Review: Walk Jog Run: For Wellness Everyone

 

Most likely the only reason you would get this is for a class that you are taking in an exercise-science program. While it does have some useful information in it, there is nothing a couple internet searches won't pull up. Some of the things the book does talk about are presented in such a dense manner that your eyes kind of glaze over trying to get through it. For example, when the author talks about putting together a walking or jogging program, the author puts together a bunch of tables with abbreviations and acronyms in them which you then have to look up in the text to figure out how to interpret it.

If you do not need this for a class, there are better, more user-friendly books and articles out there. If you do have to get this for a class, it is not really a hard read, just dry and boring.

Textbook Review: Precalculus: Enhanced with Graphing Utilities

 

This is actually a very good math book. It gives lots of examples and clear explanations (at least as clear as any math book does). I have yet to come across a math book that is an "easy" read, at least until you are about three classes beyond your current class, but I understood this one pretty well when I was taking precalculus. I did luck out and get a really great teacher for precalculus so I really did not have to read this all that much when I was in class, but when I had to, it made sense. There were times however in Calculus I, II, and III where I had to refer back to this and found exactly what I was looking for and could follow the explanation easily.

I also used this book when I tutored students so I often times have to re-read parts of it to brush up on concepts. I think it does the balancing act of giving you enough information to help guide you, but still leaves you to have to figure some things out on your own. While it is not perfect, compared to some math books out there (the crappy one I had for Calculus III springs to mind) it is pretty helpful.

Textbook Review: Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics 6th Edition

 

This is a good engineering textbook in terms of explaining the theory. In that aspect, it is clear and concise and provides many good examples in the chapter text to guide you in doing the homework problems. All of the problems sets are long and the problems get more challenging as you get into the later problems, and generally, each problem sets up the next problem meaning the technique that you have to use to solve one problem gives you a guide for how to approach the next one, but the next one will have some twist or wrinkle that makes it a bit harder. And, some of the problems are actually two-part problems in which the solution to the first problem is then used to solve the next problem. The one drawback is that the book (at least the sixth edition) does not provide any answers to problems, even the odd-numbered problems, which makes checking your work very difficult. One of the big plusses that the book provides that I wish more math and engineering textbooks did is a summary at the end of the sections, just before the problem sets, that list out the equations from that section and tells you the kinds of problems each of the equations is used for. So, while the book is not perfect, it is definitely one of the better textbooks that I had to use while getting my electrical engineering degree. 

Textbook Review: Vibration Spectrum Analysis

 

I used this book for an independent study class in my electrical engineering program. I was building a vibration detection device and used this to get some background on the theory to be included in the final paper. It is well-written and concise. It is not likely a book that someone is just going to pull off a shelf and read for pleasure and you need to have the math and science background needed to get into an engineering program to really understand it. But, if you need something that lays out the concepts without having to do a bunch of searches online, this is a good resource.

Textbook Review: Fundamentals of Physics

 

This is the physics textbook by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker which is the required textbook for many calculus-based physics classes. It is what I would describe as a pretty standard textbook. It gives you a pretty good explanation of the theory, and because it is for a calculus-based physics class, it has a lot of proofs/derivation of the equations (which is mainly how calculus is used in calc-based physics classes). Because of that, it does not have a ton of examples, especially examples that give a lot of guidance for the hardest problems in the problem sets. It covers all of the main topics in the first two semesters of physics. The last couple of chapters cover more advanced topics like nuclear physics and particle physics to bridge to the concepts (like quantum physics and relativity) that would be covered in a modern physics class. You definitely need to have the first couple of semesters of calculus under your belt to understand the math being used to derive the equations. A couple of concepts from multivariable calculus do get used in the book, but it is mostly you just need to know how to take single-variable derivatives and integrals. 

The problems are broken down by difficulty level. Level one problems are the easiest, and can basically all be solved by reading the chapter and understanding the examples. Level two problems are harder and require more thought and a deeper understanding of the concepts. Most of them can be solved if you understand the last example or two in the chapter text, but that is not the case with all of them. The level three problems are the hardest and the ones that are most likely to trip people up. I am a big advocate for working as many problems as you can. In a perfect world, people would be able to work through all of the problems, as the level one problems help you to get the skills to do the level two problems and so on. Of course, if you are taking a class as opposed to self-studying, that may not be possible, but if you can do it, that is the best way to use the book. I do think it is helpful to pair this with a study guide, especially one that has a lot of worked-out examples because you will definitely get stuck at some point when working on the problem set.

While I do not think the book is perfect, and honestly in all the math, science, and engineering classes that I took, I never did have a book that I would call perfect, it does give you a good presentation of the theory and has a decent mix of problems. If you pair it with something like the Schaum's 3000 solved physics problems guide, you will get through the material.

Textbook Review: Stewart's Calculus 6th Edition

 

This is the textbook that was required for my first two semesters of calculus when I was working on my electrical engineering degree. Then, in my multivariable calculus and differential equations classes, we switched to different books. The multivariable calculus book I had to use was not worth the paper it was printed on and my differential equations textbook, while better than that, was not all that easy to follow. 

This version of the book covers all levels of calculus including multivariable calculus and differential equations (there are also versions that just cover the single variable calculus material and versions that just cover the multivariable calculus material). I got this because I still tutor from time to time and need to keep up with the material. This, of all the math books I used, was one of the better ones, but not the best. It does give a decent breakdown of the theory in the chapter text and has good chapter summaries. It does fall into the trap that many math and engineering textbooks do in that the examples in the chapter text only help with the easiest problems, but if you get assigned something from the end of the problem set, you do not have a lot of guidance. 

So, I would definitely pair this book with something like Schaum's outline of Calculus, which definitely explains some of the theory better than the book does. But, the book makes a decent presentation of the theory and provides some useful examples, which is more than some other books do. It is not perfect, but if you pair it with a study guide or two with more worked examples, you can learn from this.

Textbook Review: Fundamentals of Electric Drives

 

This was the book required for my undergraduate electric drives class in my school's electrical engineering curriculum. This book is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, according to my professor, it is pretty much the only textbook on electric drives that is suitable for an undergraduate-level class, as other textbooks get into detail that is appropriate for graduate-level classes. On the other hand, it has a lot of errors, most of which would be impossible to discover unless someone who knows the material tells you about them, such as errors in the equations. The book has a ton of equations, with little explanation beyond just a couple of examples in the chapter text of what they are useful for and how to apply them. The one plus is that the problem sets at the end of the chapter are short, but trying to figure out how to solve them with the instruction from the chapter text is not the easiest thing in the world. Unfortunately, the author of the book has passed away, so unless another professor takes up the mantle of updating the book and putting out a new edition, then this is the only edition that is going to be released, with flaws and all. So ultimately, if you are looking to teach yourself the material in the book, I would definitely look for a study guide so you can double check the material in the book, and if you have to use it for class, be prepared to ask a lot of questions.

Textbook Review: Microelectronic Circuits 6th Edition

 

This is a huge book (over 1400 pages) that is used for a two-semester class in an electronics class in an electrical engineering curriculum. It is so big that it could also likely be used for a master's level electronics class as well. The book is definitely kind of a slog to get through. Thankfully, my teacher did not teach directly from the book, and taught pretty much just from memory and experience, and created his own homework, quizzes, and exam problems. So, the book, while required, was more of a reference guide. The handful of times I did have to read anything out of the chapters I could follow what was going on, but I cannot really say how much the theory and examples in the chapter text prepare you to do the problems.

Generally, I would say that it is not likely to be the easiest book to teach yourself the material from. But, if paired with a decent study aid or supplement you can likely use it if you are trying to teach yourself the material. It does review some of the material that you would learn in the first year of circuits, but the focus is definitely on transistors, diodes, and how circuit components such as operational amplifiers are made using different types of transistors, and then gets more advanced from there.

Textbook Review: Engineering Statistics 5th Edition

 

This is basically a statistics textbook with examples and problems that are geared more toward engineering contexts than what you would see in a statistics class in a pure math curriculum. Like many textbooks, it falls into the trap of giving you the basic theory for the various concepts and showing you a couple of easier examples, then giving you a problem set with a bunch of problems that are harder than the examples in the chapter. Many of the problems require the use of statistical software (in my class we used MiniTab), but the book is not really keyed to any particular software program and as a result, does not give anything more than basic instructions about how to approach those kinds of problems.

Overall, I would say the book is okay, but not great. To be honest I hated stats in general and had to really grit my teeth to get through it. I would not say that this is something you can easily teach yourself from. It explains some concepts well, but others, not so much. For example, I never did understand ANOVA no matter how many times I read the chapter text. Most people are going to get this because it is required for a class they are taking, in which case you are going to have to get it regardless. If you are looking for something to learn stats from I would definitely look for a non-textbook study aid.

Textbook Review: Radio Astronomy

 

This is a textbook for an advanced physics or engineering class. I picked it up to help me with a project for my radar engineering class that I did on Radio Astronomy. It assumes that you have been through the calculus sequence and taken some physics. I did not really work on any of the problems in the book, so I cannot really say how well the theory in the explanatory text guides you in doing those. But, assuming you have taken enough classes to understand the material, the book does explain the theory quite well, and understandably. It is not something that an astronomy hobbyist who has not taken calculus and physics is likely to get a ton of use out of, however.

Textbook Review: Radar Systems Analysis and Design Using MATLAB 3rd Edition

 

This book was originally assigned as the textbook for a radar engineering class that I took as an elective in my Electrical Engineering program. The teacher then decided to use a different book but I kept this one for the semester to help flesh out the theory when I did not understand a concept from the other book. So, for that purpose, I found it useful. Unfortunately, I never did get a chance to try any of the MATLAB exercises or do any of the problems from the book, so I cannot say how good those are, but I did find that it explained the theory clearly and in enough detail to get a good handle on it.

Book Review: Fundamentals of Ethics for Scientists and Engineers 1st Edition

 

This was a book that was required for my Engineering Ethics class. It has some good material, but honestly, I think it focuses too much on made-up scenarios that are kind of scripted and sometimes silly and focuses too little on real-world situations. For example, in one of the early chapters, there is a discussion of the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the lead-up in which the engineers at the company that made the rocket boosters were warning NASA not to launch. There was about a page to a page and a half on the most basic details, but it left out a lot of important information. Thankfully, my professor expanded on it a lot and devoted a good portion of a class period to the topic, but that is really only one instance in which the book could have provided much more than it did.

Realistically, this is probably a book that someone is only going to read because they have to do so for a class. If you can get a used version, I would do that because it is definitely not worth more than about $20, but the price to purchase it new gets jacked up because it is technically a textbook.

Textbook Review: Elements of Electromagnetics 6th Edition

 

This was my required textbook for Electric and Magnetic fields and Distributed Networks in my electrical engineering undergrad program. This is okay (but not great) at explaining the theory but it is light on useful examples. So, if you have to use this book, I would get one of the supplement guides that are out there to pair with it to flesh out the theory a bit more in spots where the book is weaker in explaining things and to have example problems that can help you get through your homework. My teacher in EM fields was pretty good at explaining the material and used her own homework and quiz problems so I did not have to use the book very much. I am still, to this day, not exactly sure what my teacher in Distributed Networks was doing, but he did use problems from the book for homework and exams, so I used the book more in that class along with supplements, to figure out the material.

Textbook Review: Signal Processing First 1st Edition

 

This is a book that is used as a part of some electrical engineering curriculums for classes such as signals and systems or signal processing. Generally, I would say that it gives decent explanations of the introductory material, but it is very light on helpful examples and thus the problem sets can be very hard (if your professor assigns them versus making up his or her own problems). It does a bit of the review of the math you should already have been exposed to many times over in the first couple of chapters and then gets into the new material. Several of the exercises in the book are keyed to MATLAB, which some professors use more extensively than others. In terms of doing actual problems, the MATLAB material in the book is probably the most helpful. But, the book does follow the pattern that far too many math, science, and engineering textbooks do, in that they explain and give examples for the very basic material and then have problem sets with material that is much harder and sometimes impossible to figure out based on what you have read. Personally, I think that is fine if you are in a Master's level class as those should prepare you for real-world engineering problems that you have to figure out and will not have the ability to look up. However, at the undergraduate level when you are learning the introductory concepts, the problem sets should be representative of the explanatory material so that if you have read the chapter text, you should be able to figure out the vast majority of the problems. So, overall, I do not think it is the worst textbook out there, but it could be a lot better.

Textbook Review: Engineering Economic Analysis 11th Edition

 

This is a book for an engineering economics class, which you will be stuck taking regardless of what branch of engineering you major in. It basically covers how to value property, determine the life of assets, making business decisions based on an economic analysis of one choice over another, or inaction version taking some action, etc. I found the class mind-numbingly boring which definitely skewed my opinion of the book. Overall, I think the book does a decent job explaining the concepts but falls into the trap that many math and engineering books do (although there are some things that it does gloss over a bit). Namely, the examples in the chapter text show you how to do the most basic problems but give little or no help when solving the more advanced problems. And, of course, the answer key in the back only gives you the answers for some of the problems, so it is hard to check yourself.

So, I would say that it is a pretty standard textbook in what it does and does not give you. It is not the best textbook I have used and not the worst. Realistically, you are going to be stuck with it if your teacher assigns it, but you will likely not be able to learn everything you need to know for the class just by reading the book.

Textbook Review: Statics (Engineering Mechanics) 13th ed. Edition

 

Statics and its horrible sibling Dynamics were my two least favorite engineering subjects. They basically take the worst problems in physics, make them harder, and then uses them in a full semester-long course. This book just covers the Statics material. There is a different edition that covers both Statics and Dynamics, and an edition that just covers Dynamics.

How helpful the book will be to you I think depends on i) how good a teacher you have, and ii) the kind of homework problems he or she assigns. Overall, I found that the theory was explained fairly well and the examples gave you a good idea of how to approach solving many of the problems in the problem sets. But, as pretty much every math, science, and engineering textbook do, this one does have problems in the problem set that are much harder than the examples in the chapter text. So, if your professor assigns the harder problems and/or is not easy to follow, you will probably need to get a study guide to supplement the textbook. But, if you have a pretty decent teacher who assigns problems from the chapter that are similar in difficulty to the examples in the chapter text or that are shown during lecture, then the book will give you a pretty good understanding of the material and you can probably understand it without any additional supplements or study guides.

Textbook Review: Karel++: A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Object-Oriented Programming

 

This book is essentially a follow-up to the book Karel The Robot: A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Programming. Where that book was focused on introducing students to C programming, using a much pared-down programming language, this one introduces students to the concepts used in C++ and other object-oriented programming languages. Like the first book, this is tailored specifically to the Karel world and instructions. The programming language used is more complex here, as you would expect. That said, the information in the book is very basic, and it is really intended to be used in an intro to programming class. So, if you have pretty much any programming experience (and still remember it), you will be way beyond what this book will teach you. That said, if you have only done a little programming and do not remember much of it, this will definitely help refresh you on the basic concepts.