Rating: 
Summary: Flawed gem...
Review: As so many others have said, this book could have been outstanding. Instead, the copious errors mean that it falls short of that. The concept is great, but the number of errors makes one question the credibility of the content. More disturbing than tiresome grammatical and other errors in the English, were the technical errors spread throughout. The first indication I got that something was amiss was when the author admitted that the voltage dropped across a conducting LED was unknown to him. But that's true for everyone at some point, so I continued, albeit slightly puzzled that an experienced engineer would not have come across this. Several other significant technical errors later left me thinking that the best way to treat any information in the book is as a starting point - don't trust it implicitly, but take what you can from it and check everything yourself. Recommended for experienced engineers who are comfortable challenging the contents, and who want to get up to speed with PIC microcontrollers.
Rating:
Summary: Technically good, but painful to read
Review: As a published author, it hurts me to see a book that's so full of good, useful, technical information get sidelined by terrible writing and editing. The author is an expert on the subject, and his contributions to the art extend to the Internet as well, but while he may write great code, he writes awful English. The book is well-organized, and the CD & project board are valuable bonuses. As a reference work, it's an indispensible part of my library. BUT ... When I pay... for a book, I expect to see better writing than this. Every single page of my copy is marked up with corrections to spelling, grammar, typography and even factual data. It's almost as if his editor skipped the editing step and went straight from manuscript to publication. Predko's "PC PhD: Inside the PC" had the same problem. I was hoping this book would be different. This book deserves five stars for technical content, but zero stars for the dismal language and editing. Averaging and rounding up, it gets three stars.
Rating: 
Summary: My head is exploding!
Review: This has to be the most complete chip book I've ever seen. The author works through the PIC, starting at the bottom and works his way up to creating very complex applications. This is a HUGE book and while I'm not finished yet (I'm on Page 1,054) I feel like I can choose the best PIC for a job and be able to make a plan for doing the circuit and programming code. The plethora of what is called "experiments" as well as the projects really shows how to use the PIC (the programmer PCB was a nice touch). I can't say enough good things about this book because after fifteen years since I started programming, I FINALLY UNDERSTAND INTERRUPTS! Thank you Mr. Predko.
Rating:
Summary: The best PIC book on the market. Period.
Review: This book is simply the best book on the PIC Microcontoller. The CD-ROM and the printed circuit board that come with the book are awesome.
Rating:
Summary: An Extremely Flawed Jewel
Review: I work as an editor and technical writer, so I feel I can speak with some authority when I say that few people know their subject as well as Predko, BUT... the lack of proofreading, and the manyfold technical and grammatical errors make this book a tool that must be used with great care. The problem here is not dissimilar from having a wandering lover: so much about them is great, but you never know when you are hearing the truth. In this book, the annoying sentence fragments and back-to-back contradictions are bad enough; but more worrisome is the fact that the errors are so prevalent that everything, from code to the PCB that comes with the book, must be viewed with great skepticism.
I am surprised that McGraw Hill would publish this book in its present condition; and I am as surprised that this author would submit it for publication with so much work obviously left undone. His other books are clearly better, so it's not like Myke doesn't know what should have been done here.
If you know PIC programming well enough to know when Myke is mistaken, or when the manuscript misrepresents his thoughts (and good luck knowing which), by all means buy it. For those who are just starting out with MCUs, don't buy the book just now, unless you want a good lesson on the arrogance of the publishing industry when it comes to your money.
Rating: 
Summary: This one is going back to the bookstore
Review: I must confess that I only read through the first 200 pages, but in those 200 pages I found a great many typographical and grammatical errors, many more than I would expect in a second edition. I also found several errors of fact, the most serious being Figure 5-40 on page 228. There is a diagram of a PICmicro(R) MCU being interfaced to two devices on an I2C bus. It shows the SDA and SCL lines being pulled up to Vcc through a 1 ohm to 10 ohm resistor. What if some beginner actually tried to wire up a circuit like this? As an engineer, I am greatly offended that someone as technically competent as Mr. Predko seems to be would allow this kind of error to slip through. With all the errors I have seen so far, I feel I cannot trust the text, the code samples, or the schematics. It is too bad that the publisher fired up the presses before having this book thoroughly reviewed by technically competent people, or at least by someone who majored in English. This one is going back to the bookstore.
Rating:
Summary: This book would be a bargain at several times the price.
Review: The CD-ROM has a nice course in basic electronics that I worked through from start to finish--I've searched the web and have never seen such a nice primer. The software to program PIC processors, also on the CD-ROM... has a really cool step-by-step assembly guide in it that prompts you to solder in a few components then test your work with an inexpensive multimeter before moving on to the next step--the program even interacts with the board so that you can make sure it is communicating with your PC properly. Each step is illustrated showing what parts are installed and where to read the voltages from... Myke Predko's amazing book is full of real intellectual property: original circuits, sample programs, experiments, circuit boards, tutorials and utilities... There is no shovelware on this CD-ROM it's all great stuff. I would agree that this book is not trivial to work through, but who ever said programming an embedded RISC processor in assembly language was easy? If you think you need some more hand holding (I know I do), buy this book plus another book like "Easy Pic'N", which is allegedly easier to understand.
Rating:
Summary: Very hard to get in Pakistan - but worth it
Review: I got this book while on a business trip to the United States and I found it to be one of the best technical books I've ever found. I rate books by how much I learn from them. Mr. Myke Predko's book taught me a lot and helped me to better understand programming and electronics. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Still has a long way to go.
Review: I bought this book primarily for the elcheapo programmer included. I followed all the instructions, looked past the inaccurate details, corrected them and then again with the updated version online (which is also inaccurate) I get to a step in the build/debug stage that states to email Myke (the Author)if the problem I'm having is encountered. Two weeks and three emails later and no reply. WHATS THE SECRET. Having read other reveiws on this book errors in text(also online and on the CD)have been a common complaint. If your just learning, how can you tell fact from fiction! If the rest of the book has as many errors as the elcheapo section it is going to be hard to trust anything you read here. Sorry Myke
Rating:
Summary: Did I get a different book?
Review: I'm kind of surprised by the last three comments - I think the book is one of the best technical books I've ever read. I found the format to be very logical (especially considering the breadth of information contained within it) and I haven't found any significant code problems (the one problem I did find, Mr. Predko had a fix for it). I'm kind of confused about the comments about the poor proofreading - my copy seems fine. I've worked through all the "Experiments" and except for the one problem mentioned above (which is running a 16f877 with the "ledon" program) everything ran great and I've really learned a lot about the PIC. The only problem I had was with the programmer PCB that came with the book, but when I checked Mr. Predko's web page, I found a later version of the code along with suggestions for getting it running on my PC. I have no trouble recommending it to everybody that wants to learn about the PIC - it's up to date and comprehensive. Martin
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