Communications Systems and Networks

Rating:
Summary: Well organized and comprehensive
Review: I found Mr. Horak's recent edition of Communications Systems and Networks to be a great addition to my technical library. It is well written and comprehensive. It has become one of my basic reference books when training new employees because it exposes technical issues in a complete, common sense manner. In my consulting business, I'm often confronted with the need not only to find the answers, but then to help clients to understand why we make certain recommendations. In this third edition, he brings the areas of telecommunications, media, transmission, networks, hardware and software up to date.

Rating:
Summary: Advanced for beginners
Review: Let me start off by saying that I am not a network/telephony person. I have no background in it and I have very little work experience in that arena. Thus, I was looking for a book that would teach me the fundamentals of how telecom networks are structured in a clear and simple manner, but also deal with advanced topics. I was disappointed in this book because the author assumed a great deal of prior knowledge. The text was littered with acronyms and terminology from the very beginning, making it hard to follow. Also, the progression of the chapters did not make much sense to me. A person with a baseline familiarity of telecoms may have an easier time with the text. Also, I found the writing style difficult to follow. The text was very dry and the paragraphs seemed to jump around a lot; there was not a clear flow of ideas. If you're a total beginner, I wouldn't recommend this book. If you're familiar with telephony and want a deeper understanding, this might be a good choice.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: Ray Horak has gone beyond what any other author of this kind of text has done before. It is comprehensive, detailed and flows logically. It is a good read, AND a good reference. If I could take only one book with me in the field it would be this one. Recently, a freind of mine with software development experience was promoted to a position that oversees network ops. I recommend this book to her and no other. It is by far my favorite. Whether you are simply curious, or in the field, or any where in between, this is your book. Hopefully, Ray will read this and someday do a third edition as well.

Rating:
Summary: Communications Systems and Networks
Review: Review of Communications Systems and Networks by Ray Horak

During the mid 1970's in our Voc Tech High School Data Processing class we were taught that all our information either acquired or given must be Pertinent, Accurate, and Understandable. Or PAU.
Currently a Cisco Networking Student I have many questions about communications systems. This book is more than a PAU resource. With clear explanations and illustrations .From UTP to STP to Coax to Fiber to the Wireless! From LAN's to WAN's to Multi-Media to the WWW. All explained and tied together. Chapter 12 has a section dedicated to the Misuse & Content of the WWW. Also Internet Oddities,Screwball Applications, and Some Really Good Ideas. Each well worth the few minutes it takes to read. Last but not least is the Accronyms, Abbreveations & Symbols Appendix because everyone remembers what VSLEP,JBOD,MEO,and WMBTOTCITBWTNTALI stand for right?
Thank You Ray for balancing the tech language with the human !!!

Communications Systems & Networks gets my 5 star PAU rating!

Rating:
Summary: Complicated and Informative
Review: The claim that this is written in plain english is silly. THe major problem is the overwhelming use of acronyms; so many that they will leave you constantly referring to the back of the book. Still, if you want to understand one of the technologies covered byt his book, you can't do much better.

Rating:
Summary: Light reading
Review: There are many telecom books around that try cover as much as topics as possible, this one is no different.
Main advantage of Ray Horak's book is it simplicity, it is very easy to read and understand and organization of the overall text is also quite good. Book also covers fairly large portion of today's telecom world, although, due to the sheer size of the subject, it is lacking in details.
I'd recommend this book for junior (very junior) students or for new-commers in the field.
On the other hand, european engineers should try to avoid this book due its US-centrism. Author mostly ignores European systems or provides very shallow and short reference.

To finalize, good book, but don't ecpect it to make you an expert in the field.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent text for anyone needing more telecomm knowledge
Review: This book is excellent reading for most every skill level in telecommunications. If you are starting out, it will help you with a basic telecommunications foundation. The book is easy to read and written in a way you can actually understand it. Even if you are more advanced in your understanding of the subject matter, you will certainly still learn something from it, besides it is an indespensable reference.

Rating:
Summary: Well organized and lucid
Review: This book is not for beginners. If you are looking for a really good beginner's book for non-techies, Annabel Dodd's 'The Essential Guide to Telecommunications' would be a good start for you. This book assumes a fair bit of knowledge on the part of the reader and is loaded with a lot of technical language, but if you are even a little comfortable with the telecom language, there's a great deal to be learned from this book.

Two things I really like about this book. First, the material is very up-to-date. In one chapter, Horak explains various 'flavors' of DSL very well--differences in how they are provisioned. He also spends a lot of time covering LAN and data networks, which is great considering most telecom traffic will eventually be data (not voice). Second, the diagrams showing how the networking equipment work and connect with each other is very helpful, especially for a guy like me with a non-engineering background.

I usually don't use the term 'gripping' to describe a technical book, but Horak's book is just that because I get hungry to learn more about how the whole telecommunications-network-thing works. Perfect to use in defense against those engineers who have looked down on the liberal arts grads for our ignorance of technology!

Rating:
Summary: Preferred Text
Review: This book is organized well and is packed full of relevant information. I teach a Data Communications course, and I currently use 'Voice & Data Communications Handbook' by Bud Bates. That book isn't bad but has a lot of fluff examples. After reading both books, I much prefer Horak's book as a text for the class. I prefer it because it contains less fluff, is better organized, and is more concise.

Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: This is a good book, I also found Broadband Networking, ISBN 007219510X, to be very good and more current.