Rating: 
Summary: after building a programmer..
Review: On the PCB that comes with the book in at least the first printing. the two transisters are laid out with the emitter and collector reversed. the 2n7000 and the 2n3906 need to be inseted into the board with the flat part facing the oppisite direction to the way the silk screen shows them.
Rating:
Summary: Over 1000 Pages of details without any filler or padding
Review: This book is full of facts, examples and detailed discussions of everything PIC. Need to interface you PIC chip to external serial EEPROM, RS-232 connection, or that dreaded LCD display.. Then have no fear; Myke has it all covered for you. Have one of the chips without the required interface you need. don't worry, Myke shows you how to simulate it with bit banging techniques. As to the El Cheapo programmer which has the PCB included in the book. R5 is 10k ohm. R2 should be 1k to work with more computers (or so myke says on his web site). R3, and R4 are 1k ohm; U3's part number is more likely 214-3339-00-602R.
Rating:
Summary: Great improvement
Review: Mr. Predko's first PIC book was a disappointment. At the time it came out it was the best book on the PIC, but unfortunately that was not saying a lot. The best feature of the book were the "experiments" and "projects", but the book was not very well structured and there seemed to be a lot of background information missing. What came through was that the author really knew his subject. The second edition of the book is a vast improvement, with much more in depth information and it is organized a lot better. The author again demonstrates that he knows the subject - in this edition he has communicated that knowledge in a much more concise and logical way. In terms of information, this book is so positively crammed with PIC technical information and suggestions that it seems a wonder that it is not larger.
Rating: 
Summary: Riddled with typos
Review: I'm new to microcontrollers, so I'll defer technical judgement until I finish the book - or at least get further along. However, one thing I find disturbing is the extremely poor editing. I'm only on page 60 and I'm finding numerous grammatical and typing/printing errors - nearly one on every other page. For example: the page headings for a section on "simulation" are "sTimulation". There are examples of phrases where "or" was replaced with "of", and there are paragraphs containing multiple sentence fragments. In short it looks like the "editor" limited his review to running a spell checker, and even then failed to pay attention to what words the spell checker was replacing. Perhaps these are minor issues, but it makes the book difficult to read, and one wonders if the technical content is as poorly edited.
Rating:
Summary: A Lifesaver!
Review: I was given the job to develop an interface between a PC and an Environmental Chamber at work. A coworker suggested Myke Predkos books and I bought this one because it's the newest one available. I'm really glad he suggested it because not only did it explain how the PICmicro works, but it had virtually all of the code I needed to make the application as well as the programmer. I especially appreciated all the space devoted to how a PC's RS-232 port can be connected to a PICmicro. This book is great and I recommend it to everybody that is going to work with the PICmicro. The book is clearly written and has a lot of little projects that Myke Predko calls "Experiments" that shows you how the PICmicro works and helps you feel like you can do the work on your own. Thank you Myke!
Rating: 
Summary: Overall Good Buy
Review: This is a great source for information on quite a few of the available PIC microcontrollers. I've learned quite a bit from reading this book and have enjoyed it as much if not more than the other PIC books I've read. My only dislike of the book is the programmer. The reader must pay very close attention, a few of the components must be rotated according to manufacturer, and the bill of materials doesn't match the schematic (help is stronly suggested if you are new to electronics)
Rating:
Summary: A Great Contribution
Review: I am still struggling to learn PIC basics, and fortunately came upon this book. This is, by far, the most accessible and complete PIC text that I have found. It has expanded and improved considerably beyond the 1st edition, and it treats clearly many of the things that I have wondered about.
Rating:
Summary: This book is an invaluable resource to the PIC programmer.
Review: The first edition was complete, concise, and well written but the second edition is simply incredible. Myke Predko is an inspiration to all those technically inclined. Most technical authors are married their products but Myke loves the technology not the product. This is proven in his book "Handbook of Microcontroller" where he gives a non-biased review of several different controllers. Myke has even written a book that teaches the reader to integrate, or replace standard microcontrollers with aPC If you enjoy any of Myke's book you will love this one, and if your new to this author I would definitely recommend checking out other titles you won't be disappointed
Rating:
Summary: Good clear reference, nice layout.
Review: This is a very complete book, taking you from A to Z in PIC land. It even includes a printed circuit board to build a programmer for a PIC, which makes the expieriments easier to follow and understand. I would divide the book into two parts, the hands on stuff, and the textbook part. Both are useful and compliment each other very nicely. The only complaint I have is that for bare bones beginners in everyting, it goes a little too fast. In a book with so much depth as this one, its hard to avoid.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book with Lots of Extras
Review: Not only is this a great book, but the CD-ROM and PCB that comes with it makes the whole package really special! I just finished building the elcheapo programmer PCB that comes with the book and I've started working through the experiments. I've never seen a technical book that allowed me to get started so easily. The CD-ROM that comes with the book is fantastic - it could be sold on it's own. Each experiment and project has it's own html page (including graphics showing you how to wire the circuits) along with all the tools that you will need to develop your own projects. I really liked all the web pages devoted to example code that you can cut and paste into your own PIC projects. The CD-ROM has two large (over 100 page) pdfs "Introduction to Electronics" and "Introduction to Programming" that will help newbies understand the background to how the PIC is used in circuits. The extras (PCB and CD-ROM) allow you to be productive with the PIC in a very short amount of time and give you everything you need to create your own applications
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