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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: A wealth of information! Such incredible projects! Video, Remote Control, Robotics, Servo, RS-232 Serial I/O. The author does a superb job at explaining many complex topics, and makes the instruction set easier with diagrams. The book is not really about the 8051 Microcontroller, but rather the family of 8051 compatible devices, which uses the Industry Standard 8051 set of instructions.
Rating:
Summary: This book is a MUST
Review: I have read a lot of books on the 8051 for several years. If you want to learn about the 8051, this book is a MUST. Easy reading, lots of WORKING examples, complete projects, and an included development system! No wonder this is the best book available today for the 8051. I am not saying is a perfect book, but darn close. Additionally, Myke has taken of his time (without knowing me) to answer all my questions with amazing professionalism. I marvel that someone could have time to write so much, and pour years of experience into paper. CONGRATULATIONS Myke, EXCELLENT job!
Rating: 
Summary: a disappointing book
Review: Oh, he may know his business, but I never got far enough into the book to find out. It was downright painful to have to contend with the lack of copy editing that showed up with singular/plural confusion, past/present confusion, people "who's backgrounds" and other spelling confusion, and other garbage. Our language is called English, and most publishers can afford a copy editor.On top of that, and particularly painful, was a hilarious misunderstanding of the history of the von Neumann architecture for computers, about which he apparently has only a smattering of confused hearsay---possibly a dimly remembered class. He has it begin in a competition between Harvard and Princeton Universities (actually Princeton University had absolutely nothing to do with it, nor did Harvard) to improve naval artillery (pure fiction), a project of which a man named von Neumann was chief scientist. In fact (I was there) von Neumann was one of the world's greatest mathematicians (not a functionary running a minor Navy program), the project was at the Institute for Advanced Study (which is housed in the town of Princeton, but has nothing to do with the University), and the work there was aimed at weather forecasting. I won't even touch his confusion about the architecture itself. None of this disqualifies him as an 8051 guru, but it sure does detract from his credibility. I found I just couldn't go on.
Rating: 
Summary: Muy util
Review: Si Ud. ya tiene experiencia con microcontroladores, este libro es de mucha uitilidad para revisar soluciones prácticas a problemas típicos. Yo personalmente ya realicé el experimento del control remoto (pág 371) y funciona muy bien, me estoy divirtiendo bastante y mi próximo objetivo es el NTSC.
Rating:
Summary: Don't judge one book by its thickness...
Review: The author give me an impression that he just started to learn about 8051 right before starting to write this book.
In this book, it is not much explanation on the hardware features. Being able to connect to external memory is one of the biggest strength of 8051. Surprisingly, the author failed to eleborate on it. His book on PIC is a great book. However, I think he treats 8051 as PIC, which is not the objective of the 8051 book. The projects included in this book are more like PIC project, where small memory, I/O circuit is needed. However, the programming portion in this book gives rather simple and not bad explanation to assembly language beginner like me. I think that is the only useful part in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Painful
Review: There is probably some really good material in here somewhere but I haven't been able to find it. The book is disorganized and downright painful to read. There are lots of diagrams but they are equally painful. Simply put, the information content is too diffuse for what should be a crisp technical presentation. The book has to be edited and shortened to one third its current length and maybe then it will be a good buy.
Rating:
Summary: Covers hardware and software with great working examples
Review: This book explains the architecture of the 8051 microcontroller in a structured manner with plenty of good diagrams to clarify. There are many examples of how the 8051 may by interfaced to various common (and some more unusual) external devices. Each example discusses the relevant issues from both a hardware and a software viewpoint. The author has taken time to ensure that all of the items necessary to get your first 8051 project up & running are included. For example, there is a circuit which shows how to make up simple power supply unit for an 8051 and details of how to reliably reset the device. I especially liked the fact that the popular I2C and CAN busses were covered and that an example of a simple Real Time Op System was built up from first principles. The appendix lists many contact points where a reader can find out more about the 8051, some frequently used software routines, a discussion of the popular simmstick format and other handy resources. The accompanying CD ROM containes a demo copy of the popular UMPS assembler/debug environment as well as data sheets for many of the devices used in the book. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has thought about using a microcontroller device, but hasn't had the necessary hardware and/or software know-how to get started. It would also be a good reference volume and source of new ideas for existing 8051 users.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Bunch
Review: This is a must have for anyone learning to program and understand the 8051. This book follows Myke's usual well written and very informative style without all the technical overkill. There are ample "real world examples" and plenty of information on items such as programmers. If you have not purchased the book you are missing out. For all the Robotics fans it is also extremely helpful... Take advantage of this book!!
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