Customer Reviews

Electronic Circuit Guidebook, Vol 1: Sensors

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Joe Carr has a very clear writing style and illustrates all concepts with simple circuits. His general approach is that of an electronics technologist educating a hobbyist or technician. He does a great job at this, but unfortunately devotes no effort to proof-reading. His books are flawed by numerous mismatches between text and schematics, improper symbols, etc. This will be very frustrating for the novice and obscures the points involved.

Looking at its contents the book seems to be very adequate for introducing undergraduate students (in science or engineering) to topics such as sensors and electronic instrumentation. Unfortunately some topics, i.e. analog (?) amplifiers, are presented in an oversimplified and confusing way which leads students to get wrong concepts on them. Others, like signal classification (chapter 2) are quite arbitrary and lacking foundation. At worst the book has some severe errors, for example in chapter 1 page 9 , or the description of RTD senesors. I think the book needs a detailed revision in order to find other gross errors. With respect to topic presentation I think it is always possible to explain the right ideas without using neither complicated math nor basic semiconductor theory. Finally, for the professional the book does not add anything valuable. You get neither new concepts nor information.

I bought this book thinking that it would give great examples and explanations of various sensors and sensor interfacing. The book does cover the idea behind many sensors, however, I think think the author tries to get overcomplicated by backing up sensor operation with calculus and other "Overkill" equations.

I am getting into motion detection design and bought this book to aid me in my research, however, the author fails to mention the one sensor that is the defacto standard of motion sensing, the PIR! Also, if you are looking for real world applications and example circuits, this book will disappoint. The only chapter which I thought was benificial was the chapter on op amps, although it to was heavy on theory and equations and hardly mentioned any pratical applications. Most of the info in the book concerning sensors is simply a repeat of equations and theory already readily available on the web. I was really hoping for some new, fresh ideas with this book and it failed to deliver.

I found 'Electronic Circuit Guidebook Vol 1: Sensors' to be quite useful. The book includes a section on real world op amp use wich I found immediatly useful as it explained a problem I had been having at work with an integrating amplifier. There are good background sections on most kinds of sensors although capacitive sensors seem to have been omitted for some reason.

Unfortunately, out of 325 pages, only 70 pages are devoted to the subject of sensors. Perhaps the title should be re-considered.