Lasers, Ray Guns and Light Cannons

Rating:
Summary: much better than the title or cover
Review: I purchased this book in spite of the title and cover because the table of contents indicated it covered the subjects that I was interested in. As with other books by this author the subject matter is lightly covered with little detail or depth.

If you are an absolute beginner and are unable to search the internet for information, then this book might provide useful information.

Rating:
Summary: Skip this if book!
Review: I purchased this book in spite of the title and cover because the table of contents indicated it covered the subjects that I was interested in. As with other books by this author the subject matter is lightly covered with little detail or depth.

If you are an absolute beginner and are unable to search the internet for information, then this book might provide useful information.

Rating:
Summary: much better than the title or cover
Review: I've worked in optics and interferometry and was absolutely delighted with this book.
Lots of tricks for hardware-store improvisation!

If you're not a tinkerer, this is not the book for you. There's little technical depth and no really good experiments or instrument design in it. (good experiments for this kind of book have either enormous educational value or reproduce poorly-understood phenomena).

If you know what you're doing though, this is where to look for tips on building your own optical bench, etc. All the student tricks I'd picked up along the way and then some. I've recommended it to a couple of past colleagues, too.

Rating:
Summary: An update of a classic
Review: This book is actually an update to The Laser Cookbook, also written by G. McComb, and which is apparently still in print. That book has gotten very high marks here on Amazon; Lasers, Ray Guns, and Light Cannons contains everything in Laser Cookbook, plus new information on laser diodes, and several additional projects.

Apparently, some folks get upset when a book, like this one, tries to be camp with a playful title and comic-book art. It's what's inside that matters, and there is lots of good information here, from a writer who clearly knows how to explain technical details. For my money, this book is a terrific introduction to the world of hobby lasers.