Customer Reviews

Contouring: A Guide to the Analysis and Display of Spatial Data (Computer Methods in the Geosciences)

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For the money, I expect the very highest quality. This book is on the other end of the spectrum. Three major disappointments:

1.) The book is physically small (6" x 9.25") and only 300 pages in length. For the price, I expected a much larger treatise.

2.) This is the worst production of a book I've ever seen; and I have a lot of specialized, scientific references from many different publishers.

The type face is ugly and very difficult to read. Tiring on the eyes, too. The chapter and section headings have blurred edges on each letter. Perhaps the production manager thought this looked "cute," but it is distracting. The typeface and fonts should not be noticeable by the reader. This one gets in the way.

3.) The programs used in part 1 and provided both by listing and on diskette were written in 1988 in spaghetti-coded BASIC and never updated. No C code, no reference to the fact that even in 1992 (when the book was first published) most readers had PC's with more than 64K RAM and faster cpu's than a 4MHz 8088.

Although the book has been reprinted three times, it has not been updated. The references to published algorithms date back to the mid-1970's and make no mention of modern ones (e.g., "Numerical Recipes in C.")

All in all, this book is terribly overpriced for the value of the content. Yes, this is probably still the best reference for understanding computer contouring algorithms and math, but it should be published in paperback for much less money.

If you need the information, borrow a copy via interlibrary loan and make notes on what information you need.

In large part, I agree with Dr Shepard. The book is outrageously overpriced and production is poor. But no-one seems to have updated the material into a better form. As suggested, get the book on interlibrary loan, but the diskette is a bit problematic these days! Also assuming the library's magnetic security system hasn't wiped it by now (ours have!).

But that said, it's not a bad book as far as content is concerned. I've used it in classes, although not as a required text! I just hope someone will produce a cheaper, updated version with a CD! One day, when I get time.....