Customer Reviews

Making Things Talk: Using Sensors, Networks, and Arduino to see, hear, and feel your world

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This excellent Second Edition of "Making Things Talk" by Professor Tom Igoe is an outgrowth of a course he teaches on "Networked Objects" for Physical Computing and Multimedia Work. The original edition included exciting projects involving an Interactive Stuffed Monkey with resistive sensors, web interaction and infrared and radio based interfaces to microcontrollers.

This edition has been thoroughly updated to include (for example) remote sensing of Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), extensive interconnection with WIFI; Web Services Software and Data Acquisition and use of Android phone-based Processing language data display. It has also been revised and augmented to reflect many new form factors of the Arduino Microconttroller and several Open Source Hardware projects. Extensive (illustrated indexes of tools and devices, as well as contacts with suppliers and manufacturers addresses, phone contacts and web sites. There is also an extensive chapter/appendix on the telecommunication protocols which make possible Web Services and communication with Networked Objects.

The project-oriented approach of this book, as well as the extensive illustrations and commented software listing make it an excellent addition to other works about the Arduino Microcontroller family.

--Ira Laefsky, MSE/MBA HCI Researcher formerly on the Senior IT Consulting Staff of Arthur D. Little, Inc. and Digital Equipment Corporation.

I had the old version of the book but the new edition is even better. This book is a must for those who want to develop solutions or products in the Sensor and Actuator space.

You can learn a lot from this book if you overlook the funky projects and don't let it turn you off. For example, a lot of knowledge is in the Pong project but I can do without the monkey. A couple of 10K pots will suffice. I also am not too fond of cats. That being said...the book is well worth having if you are trying to learn how Arduino and Processing can communicate with each other. It covers a variety of communication protocols. I can recommend it if you can stick your tongue in your cheek and soldier on. The author really does know his subject matter.

As one other reviewer said - you can't judge this book by its cover (toy monkeys?...I guess I don't have much of a sense of humor but I am glad I bought the book).

This book really sets out the process you need to follow to make your Arduino projects even more interactive, useful, and fun. I have remote programming experience and this book had me up and running in no time. It is well written and clear. A must buy for the Arfuino enthusiast.

Very good quality and fast delivery. Easy book with good simple steps.

Book is simple to handle and easy to use.