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Rating: 
Summary: Pass on this one if you can
Review: Sloppily written, poorly edited and overpriced. It makes me wonder how well the writer really knows her subject. The illustrations don't shed much light, either.
There are inaccuracies or misleading assertions on nearly every page. Consider this gem: "The use of dual paths over a single transmission medium is called half-duplex. In half-duplex or HDX transmission, two wires are typically used: one to transmit and one to receive. As data is transmitted over one path, the other path remains idle waiting for the the signal to change direction or perform what is called line turnaround. HDX transmission is used for the application described as well as the first portion of voice or data transmission."
This was a required text, but I won't be keeping it around for reference.
Rating:
Summary: The worst technical book I've ever read
Review: This is the worst text book I've read. I would not waste any more time reading this book if it weren't required for a class that I am taking. The author makes many mistakes that show her lack of professionalism. First: Terms are used in the book long before they are defined. Terms are frequently used out of context, and then defined several pages later. Many terms are not defined at all, and are not in the glossary or index. Second: Whoever edited this book must have been napping on the job. There are several "sentences" which say nothing because they are not actual sentences. I had a hard time learning from this book. As I read, I kept a pencil in hand and edited the misleading grammar as I went. Bad grammar in a technical book is a serious problem; technology is not open to interpretation, so when the language is ambiguous, critical information is left to guesses. I am pretty sure the author of the book (and probably the editor) is not a native speaker of English. Third: The illustrations are so simplified that they do not convey an appropriate amount of technical data. Fourth: Charts and Illustrations are sometimes not labeled; since I need to review chapters for tests, I penciled in chart titles and labels as I read. Fifth: This book does not have the latest and greatest (which is a big part of technology). In a section listing common operating systems, the newest PC OS listed is Windows 95. A little outdated? Conclusion: Not only is this book poorly written and sloppily conceived, but it is out-of-date and not very valuable. Save yourself some frustration and find a book written by someone who is better organized and who spent the time and money to hire a real editor. An excerpted non-sentence from the book: "By grouping binary digits into packets of 7 or 8 bits in length, control information needed to keep the data, such as a resume, intact along with the data can be represented and distinguished by the communicating devices." The sentence was missing a critical word, "protocols," which is subject of the sentence. It should have read: "By grouping binary digits into packets of 7 or 8 bits in length, [protocols] control information needed to keep the data, such as a resume, intact along with the data [that] can be represented and distinguished by the communicating devices."
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