Book details of 'Principles of Modern Communications Technology (Artech House Telecommunications Library)'

Title	Principles of Modern Communications Technology (Artech House Telecommunications Library)
Author(s)	A. Michael Noll
ISBN	1580532845
Language	English
Publisher	Artech House

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Principles of Modern Communications Technology (Artech House Telecommunications Library)':

Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
While Noll does not touch on all forms of communications, the breadth of scope in this book is wider than most. Four parts of the book examine audio (generally music or broadcast), video, telephony, and computers (emphasizing text data). The coverage is not intended to be deep: this work is for the non-technician, and is intended to provide a general overview and communications technology literacy. Chapter one is a surprisingly brief review of the anatomy of the ear. In the abstract one can understand the need to deal with the human side of acoustics, but the text doesn't touch on neurology, psychology, or even the mechanics of changing pressure waves in the air into nerve impulses. A history of the phonograph, concentrating on biographical details of Thomas Edison, occupies chapter two. A start on the physical characteristics of sound, in chapter three, turns into a quick look at musical instruments and architectural acoustics. Chapter four starts into physics again, but turns into a confusion of Fourier analysis and spectrograms. After the earlier very brief chapters, chapter five's explanation of electricity is surprisingly complete. Unfortunately, the subsequent discussion of electronics, in chapter six, is a grab bag of topics. Digital sampling and compact disks finish off the section in chapter seven. Part two follows a somewhat similar pattern, in relation to video. Chapter eight does a good job of explaining the anatomy of the eye, the psychophysics of vision, and colour theory. Television basics are outlined in chapter nine. Chapter ten looks at modulation theory, but appears disjointed, as does the discussion of radio, cable, and satellite broadcasting in chapter eleven. The description of colour television, in chapter twelve, is full of details, but isn't very clear. Chapter thirteen is another grab bag. Chapter fourteen takes a quick look at human anatomy in regard to speech, but also looks at mechanical speaking machines. The telephone is explained in chapter fifteen, while sixteen provides much less detail on telephone networks. Transmission technologies are covered in chapter seventeen, switches are listed in eighteen, and various other topics mentioned in nineteen. Chapter twenty gives a history of writing. More history is involved with the telegraph, in chapter twenty one, and the computer, in twenty two. Standard overviews of computer hardware and software follow in twenty three and four. A miscellany of data communications topics are mentioned in chapter twenty five. Unfortunately, while the book is very easy to read, the structure appears almost random. Overall, it seems to be a collection of very superficial magazine articles. While the reader is presented with a number of interesting facts, concepts are not as evident. Therefore a familiarity with the technology might appear, but literacy will likely remain elusive. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2001
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