More Hot Air [Paperback]

Tony Kordyban (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2005 | ISBN-10: 079180223X | ISBN-13: 978-0791802236

More Hot Air is the long-awaited sequel to the author's popular ASME Press book, Hot Air Rises and Heat Sinks: Everything You Know About Cooling Electronics Is Wrong. This new book continues in the same humorous and easy-to-read style of the earlier book, with all-new, original case studies in the field of electronics cooling. Each case study, told as an anecdote, is designed to teach a basic concept of heat transfer, as applied to keeping electronics from overheating. Because of the constantly shrinking size of electronics, the job of cooling electronics continues to get tougher. Many people not trained in the basics of heat transfer have been roped into doing this job out of necessity. For those who lack any formal training in heat transfer, the case studies explode many of the myths about cooling electronics and replace these flawed practices with sound engineering, based on actual heat transfer theory. The case studies and humor in this book are also entertaining to those well versed in electronics cooling. A must-read book for all engineers and their managers concerned with electronics packaging.

Product Details

• Paperback: 291 pages
• Publisher: ASME Press (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) (January 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 079180223X
• ISBN-13: 978-0791802236
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,017,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have been a writer all my life. I was nine years old when Mom said it was OK to use the Remington typewriter she got at the rummage sale, as long as I promised to push down only one key at a time and always have a sheet of paper in the roller. Within two days I had pecked out my first adventure tale, "The Babies Underwater," featuring the charming and mischievous Baby Bwudder and Baby Bwat. The plot was heavy on sound effects, and included a trampoline capable of propelling the twin babies all the way to the moon. The story was a hit with my younger sisters, especially when read aloud, and I never stopped writing after that.

Growing up in Buffalo, New York, and later, Detroit, provided me tons of Jean Shepherd-type material to work with, even though I was deprived of his Depression-era advantage. As I was graduating from the University of Detroit, ready to become a cartoonist, the next great American novelist, or perhaps a newspaper editor, AT&T offered to pay me to go to graduate school in California to become an engineer. So I ended up as Dilbert instead of Scott Adams, engineering my life away in a cubicle. Eventually I specialized in the obscure field of cooling electronics (basic secret: if it gets hot, point a fan at it).

Although I had sold out for mere monetary security and technical challenges, I never stopped writing stories. At work I circulated a simple newsletter about cooling electronics. In it, my fictional character Herbie kept making cooling mistakes, and I had to keep fixing them. The newsletter was well received, so I cranked them out regularly to a growing audience. In response to popular demand, I collected the stories into a couple of books that were published by ASME Press: "Hot Air Rises and Heat Sinks," and "More Hot Air." They have been praised as being "the funniest books ever written on keeping electronics from overheating." Honest. Humorous technical books. That should tell you something.

My latest book, a fun novel based on the mostly imagined memory of people I grew up with in Detroit, sprang out of a simple idea. What would happen if you went to a town and everybody you met there was insane? How would you know you weren't the crazy one? Doesn't it seem that way when you visit the town where you grew up? I sat down at the old Remington with just that one idea, and as I started to type, the characters appeared and started to play out the story. All I did was watch them and write it down. OK, maybe that makes it seem like I'm the crazy one. Does it seem crazy to title a book "The Loose Meat Sandwich King of Hamtramck"? I think it's better than the original working title, "A Dead Guy Stole Your Identity." And it has hardly any cooling of electronics.

I am a great admirer of the action books of Elmore Leonard (a fellow Detroiter), but my storytelling tends to lie somewhere between the colorful nostalgia of Leif Enger's "Peace Like a River" and the goofiness of Dave Barry. I'm not in the same league with these writing giants, I'm just giving you some familiar literary signposts for the neighborhood I'm writing in.

I have lived my adult life (when did I become an adult?) in the Chicago area, where I continue cooling electronics and writing amusing stories. And I still struggle to outdo my best opening line ever, which my wife discovered in a pile of papers in the basement. In the eighth grade I scribbled down a short story that starts:

"I was sleeping as peacefully as could be expected ... for a spy."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More hot air, the continuing saga of what you know is wrong, August 2, 2005

By 

E. Davis - See all my reviews
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This review is from: More Hot Air (Paperback)

This book is great for practical applications. Anybody involved in application theroy besides just working out the formulas should read this. There is a common disconnect between the EE, ME and the understanding of what really is going on in the workplace with interaction in the lab. Tony really understands the dischord and presents the issues and how to deal with the conjecture, even though it is fictional. His style of writing reminds me of Dilbert. Comical but right on the money in his analysis of the Electronics world and misconceptions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny Stories, January 18, 2008

By 

R. Michael Friends (Round Rock, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: More Hot Air (Paperback)

More Hot Air by Tony Kordyban is a collection of articles formally published in Hot News. They are case studies in electronic cooling. This is not a text book, nor a reference book. There are very few equations, no tables of material data, nothing like you would expect to find. Instead, they are humorous stories of thermal design cases, with lots of good advice and common sense. It is actually enjoyable to read, with somewhat useful advice. I would recommend it, except for the insane $45 price for this little book of previously published material, I do not understand how that price was set. The cover artwork is one of the worst I have ever seen - what were they thinking?

5.0 out of 5 stars Kordyban has done it again, October 11, 2010

By 

Willey Bear "Mike" (Garland, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: More Hot Air (Paperback)

If you liked "Hot Air Rises and Heat Sinks" you need to get this book too. I learned even more about getting heat out of electronics assemblies and, in particular, put my new knowledge to use on a difficult heat problem the same week the book arrived.

Fun read, very informative.