Customer Reviews

Newton's Telecom Dictionary, 19th Edition: Covering Telecommunications, Networking, Information Technology, Computing and the Internet

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not sure what more can be said in praise of Harry Newton's Telecom Dictionary, but I'll try.

This oversized book is a whopping 859 pages. I don't want to even guess at what it weighs in at. It really is more of a telecom encyclopedia than a dictionary, and goes into extensive detail describing many words, phrases, acronyms and concepts. Many of the definitions take up an entire page, or more. It is absolutely crammed with useful information.

As if being the largest telecom dictionary isn't enough, Harry packs the book with his own style of telecom humor and wit. It's probably the only dictionary you will find that will make you laugh out loud. Harry is the premiere comedian of the telecom industry, and provides the only dictionary in the world that you will be tempted to read from cover to cover. Harry's writing style is uniquely his, and actually makes learning boring telecom definitions a fun experience.

Besides general telecom definitions, you will also find many terms relating to computers, computer telephony, the Internet, investing, electronics and more. An amazing accomplishment. You will not only understand what a word means when you read the definition, but will likely understand the concept behind it as well. This book goes well beyond the definitions provided in any other dictionary of its type. No other dictionary in the telecom, computing or electronics industries comes anywhere close to Harry Newton's Telecom Dictionary in either scope or depth.

The book is currently in its 18th edition, and is still going strong. It has three brand-new sections: 119 Best Money-Saving Tips: How to Save on Telecom, PC and Internet Expenses, Hot and New in Telecom: Best Ideas, Products and Industry Directions, and Disaster Planning: How to Maximize the Reliability of Your Telecom Network. This book truly belongs on the bookshelf of everyone in the telecom industry. It's worth every penny, and is pound-for-pound the best telecom book I have ever read.

Harry Newton is now on the 18th Edition of his renowned dictionary. Having worked in the telecommunications industry for 4 years, I can vouch for how valuable this reference has been for me.

Newton covers all the acronyms, standard terms, slang, etc. that anyone would ever be exposed to in the telecommunications world. These are not just standard definitions. Newton goes in depth for those terms that require extensive explanation. The definition for "Frame Relay" is approximately a page and a half. Even more impressive, you come away with a solid, basic understanding of Frame Relay.

What separates Newton's from other efforts is the extensive nature of the work, and the humorous approach to writing many of the definitions. For example, Newton's definition for "Intelligent Phone" starts off with "When the Bell operating companies get bored they occasionally fantasize about applications for the networks they provide." Believe me, if you have ever had to work with a Bell operating company (Southwestern Bell, Bell South, etc.) you'll get a lot of laughs from this kind of stuff.

From the first time that I refered to this dictionary a couple of years ago until now I have found it to be most informative and amusing. Newton's Telecom Dictionary is one of my most used reference works while studying for a Telecommunications degree. Studying for hours on end can be somewhat tiresome yet, I can always count on Newton to add a chuckle to a given moment, thank you. I look forward the the next edition.

I work for an ISP and I deal with Verizon on a regular basis. This book has been invaluable in helping me decipher Verizonese. I now have a much better idea of what is going on on the telco end. Newton does a great job of explaining all the telco terms in a conceptual manner as opposed to sending me searching even deeper for more techincal terms I don't know. You will have a hard time finding these definitions anywhere else! If you are planning on working as a CCIE then you better pick up a copy otherwise you may get befuddled in your dealings with the megatelco.

Less than nine months ago I started working for a software company that makes OSS/BSS solutions for Telecommunication operators.
As an economist I had a lot of problems understanding the sector and the acronyms that telecommunication people love to use. Having this dictionary at hand did definitively help me a lot. I do recommend it to every person wanting to get a general understanding of the sector. Only a pity that Harry did not include more graphics to help with the explanations.

As a telecommunications student, I was leery of all the abbreviations and unfamiliar terms. This book was very helpful in explaining new words and phrases, especially since the telecommunications industry is full of strange acronyms. Very worthwhile!

How do you improve on perfection? Hard work and new content. We may be in the middle of a once in a lifetime industry downturn, but Ray Horak and Harry Newton certainly haven't been laid off. They're busy getting us reading for the next innovation wave with the 19th edition.

I give copies of this book to every student who attends TrainingCity.com Voice & Data training classes, and everyone loves it!

This book is perfect for computer enthusiasts, business owners who utilize computers and telecommunications, scientists, a wide
constituency of educators, computer programmers, web designers and just about anyone who may need to understand computerese in simple English. Important definitions are listed; such as, ADCU, back lobe, card cage, isochronous distortion, etc. There are strategies to minimize calling charges by utilizing prepaid cards for national and international calls. Important computer user groups may be accessed at:
o atmforum.com
o ectaportal.com
o ecma.ch
o gigabiethernet.org
o 10gea.org
o 3GPP.org
o aitp.org
o ansi.org
o apcointl.org

The book is a solid investment for any computer professional, teacher, computer user group or business person.

I've worked in the telecom industry for years, and this dictionary accurately defines more telecom terms than any other. However, it is not very well-written. The style is really colloquial and inconsistent. One definition may read like it's straight out of IEEE-100, while others sound like a hallway conversation between engineers. Even within a definition, the same term may be capitalized in one instance but not in others. So, I'd put it in the library for sure, but get The Authoritative Dictionary of IEEE Standards Terms (IEEE 100), Seventh Edition and McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, too!!

If Amazon had a 20 star rating system, that is what this book would get. I keep mine located between my PC and my phone in the office...which is where I use it the most. And I use this book, literally, every day. I have only found one item I have looked for that I could not find between the two covers (a FHSS encoding method at 1Mbps). I emailed the author and it is due in the next revision. Most of all, don't let the title decieve you! This is NOT a straight telecom book. Need info on cellular, paging, wireless LANs, data networking? It is ALL there. This is the most used book I own and I own hundreds. The best investment in a book you will ever make!