Estimating Device Reliability: : Assessment of Credibility (The Kluwer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science)

Rating:
Summary: The best reliability book out there for my money
Review: Most reliability books end up being very dry, and filled with equations with little explanation of WHY each of the distributions are used, or how you can go wrong. This book is very different. The author brings up concrete examples of mistakes which are routinely made by inexperienced engineers. He explains clearly which distribution is reasonable for various types of applications. The book is interesting to read, for the most part. (Okay, it still has a few boring chapters at the start, which I recommend skipping.) He even uses the example of human mortality to clearly illustrate concepts of "failure rate" in a way which gets rid of confusion. Finally, the book concludes with a case study for qualifying a high-reliability laser for use in undersea fiber optic communication links. While Franklin Nash's short course is the best I've ever taken, short of seeing him in person, reading this book is the next best thing. (In fact, I'd recommend the book even if you were going to attend the short course.) I've read it several different times in my job as a reliability engineer, and have obtained an understanding of the field that I haven't seen explained as well anywhere else. I give this book my strongest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: The best reliability book out there for my money
Review: Most reliability books end up being very dry, and filled with equations with little explanation of WHY each of the distributions are used, or how you can go wrong. This book is very different. The author brings up concrete examples of mistakes which are routinely made by inexperienced engineers. He explains clearly which distribution is reasonable for various types of applications. The book is interesting to read, for the most part. (Okay, it still has a few boring chapters at the start, which I recommend skipping.) He even uses the example of human mortality to clearly illustrate concepts of "failure rate" in a way which gets rid of confusion. Finally, the book concludes with a case study for qualifying a high-reliability laser for use in undersea fiber optic communication links. While Franklin Nash's short course is the best I've ever taken, short of seeing him in person, reading this book is the next best thing. (In fact, I'd recommend the book even if you were going to attend the short course.) I've read it several different times in my job as a reliability engineer, and have obtained an understanding of the field that I haven't seen explained as well anywhere else. I give this book my strongest recommendation.