Customer Reviews

Wavelets Made Easy

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

 

 

This book was quite a disappointment. It was not, as titled, Wavelets Made Easy. Despite the author's claims to the contrary, the book was not easy to read, largely due to the strongly professional mathematician's approach with unnecessarily obscure and involved notation. Later in the book the author adopted the mathematical formalism of proposition, proof, and lemma which is out of place in an introductory text aimed at non-mathematicians. Though the book treats a variety of applications of wavelets, little attention is paid to the background for these applications. Again, mathematical formalism takes precedence. Not recommended except perhaps for mathematicians, and for these, better texts are available.

When I first saw this book, which is heavy on equations, I thought "wow, if this is wavelets made easy, I'd hate to see the hard version". And indeed this book is not light reading. But it is clear and there are plenty of examples. This book is far and away the best book on wavelets that I've found.
Wavelets are a complex topic. It would be unfair to think that you can pick up a book like this an read it like a popular science book. Reading a book like this takes concentration and effort. Implementing wavelet software is even more work, since some of the "in-place" algorithms are difficult. "Wavelets Made Easy" is a great foundation for anyone who wants to apply Haar wavelets for data analysis and filtering.
...

Nievergelt's coverage of Daubechies wavelets is not as
good as his coverage of Haar. He clearly explains the matrix
(linear algebra) view of Daubechies wavelets. The
coverage of edge effect issues is also good. However, as the
chapter proceeds, it fell apart, at least for me. There
appear to be errors in some of the algorithms. For example,
Nievergelt uses an average of the input time series over the
Daubechies wavelet. As far as I can see, this average cannot
be inverted to yield the original time series. Nievergelt's
Daubechies algorithm also does not seem to match algorithms
like the one published in Numerical Recipies.

So in summary, I'd say that this is a book that started out
well in the first few chapters but became less useful as
I worked through it.

Thank Yves.

I enrolled in an online graduate course for wavelets and could not understand the book and the professor liked to give very few problems with very little help to ensure that he would not have to grade many problems and to ensure that we would not understand the material well. I searched the web and checked out about 10 wavelet book in the library and still I could not get a clue on wavelets in how they actually worked and the mathematics behind them.

But, ... with Yves' book, ... it does still take some mental effort, but his book is readable and the homework assignments are doable without an instructor leading you or mis-leading you as the case may be.

Wavelets applications fascinate me and without Yves book, I still wouldn't have a clue.

The book is excellent in the sense that it has the right mixture of both theoretic and practical aspects. The portions on Fourier transforms also are apt for a newcomer to understand the theory. Of course, the first impression formed by seeing the title is that the matter inside would be plain english without any mathematics. However, the mathematics in the book has been kept elementary and in places where that wasn't possible, a thorough introduction has been provided.

The applications are explicitly mentioned and algorithms are written down clearly, instead of simply providing the theory and leaving the implementation for the student to figure out for himself. For the less mathematically oriented, the exercises at the end of each chapter will provide a good intuition to what will be encountered in the consequent sections. Once this book is read, other books that concentrate on specific aspects of wavelets will appear to be more understandable.

There's not much easy in this book; it's neither intuitive nor graphical. Instead, you're guided through a rough introduction and then given authoritative proofs of all the relevant material. The book is quick, though, and doesn't waste time on non-applicable topics (save for a rehashing of Fourier theory that seems out of context). If you're interested in getting a fast but authoritative introduction to the math required for wavelets, this is a good pick. Just don't rely on the title to mean anything.

Para los que recién comienzan a investigar el tema en forma autodidacta es excelente y fácil de comprender.

Wavelets have been making a splash in some circles. Here is a chance to acquire a rigorous education in them. Basically, wavelets are a topic in advanced Fourier analysis, as the book makes clear. In fact, of the book's 3 parts, one is a recap of basic Fourier analysis. It is somewhat of a pity that the author included it. The coverage is a synopsis of standard texts on Fourier analysis. Omitting it would have left more space for wavelets.

Along these lines, the last part, on computation and design of wavelets, has one of its three chapters being a standard discussion about Fourier transforms.

Of the book's 9 chapters, only 5 are on wavelets. Too few.

Wavelets made easy, the title is sarcastic. It only uses high school algebra or basic trig functions? WRONG! It starts out as advanced text to 2nd year grad students or those working on a PhD, almost every page has unproven formulae, its up to YOU and your team of 10 or so grad students and billions of dollars in lab tools and resources to double check the work they provide.

Professors of Math or those with 20 years of wavelet research may be able to mull thru the book in a few months perhaps. The style of writing is typical of authors who dont want to explain the concept but only pretend to appear smarter than they really are.

This is an excellent book. Wavelet IS a quite advanced concept in Math. The author did a good job to minimize the math backgrond needed to understand wavelet. DON'T BLAM author because you have way too little math training.