Book details of 'The Race for Bandwidth: Understanding Data Transmission (Strategic Technology Series)'

Title	The Race for Bandwidth: Understanding Data Transmission (Strategic Technology Series)
Author(s)	Cary Lu
ISBN	157231513X
Language	English
Published	August 1998
Publisher	Microsoft Press

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'The Race for Bandwidth: Understanding Data Transmission (Strategic Technology Series)':

Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
Increasingly, we are faced with choices about communications devices. Do you purchase a high-definition TV or a regular TV? An analog cell phone or a digital one? A 56K modem, an ISDN line, or maybe a cable modem? All of these decisions involve an understanding of bandwidth, which is a measure of the amount of data transmission and reception over a specified time. In The Race for Bandwidth: Understanding Data Transmission, the late Cary Lu has provided the material that enables you to make intelligent decisions about communication devices. Given the technical nature of the subject, one would expect a dry, very hard-to-read book. But be prepared to be surprised, since Lu's style presents the technical information in a clear and accessible form. Often, the book reads like a narrative that traces the history behind the technology. The chapters on broadcast bandwidth, audio, and video explain all the advantages and disadvantages of analog and digital for both mediums. The chapters on the Internet and the future of bandwidth technology are particularly good. It easy to recommend this book for both the communications savvy and the average consumer who wants to make more informed choices about the communication devices he or she will use. All readers will appreciate this well-written, informative book.
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
There is no statement of purpose or audience for this book, which makes a critique of it somewhat difficult. Chapter one provides a somewhat-simpler-than-layman's level explanation of bandwidth as a measure of information transmission. There is a scanty overview of the range of bandwidth requirements for different technologies, with a few mistakes (one comparison is off by a factor of fifty). However, there is also some social analysis of what the increase in bandwidth availability means, that may be missing from some purely technical discussions of the topic. The history of communications given in chapter two is simple, though probably interesting to the neophyte. There are still a number of minor errors, such as the dates of the first inception of the Internet, and the first fax transmission, that make other details sometimes suspect. Various ways of looking at bandwidth, and the tradeoffs to be made (with an interesting variation on "never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of mag tapes") comprise chapter three. There is also a good discussion of analogue and digital information. This is extended in chapter four with some comparisons of analogue bandwidths for various media, although it is unfortunate that the comparisons are not fully carried over into the digital realm. This is the more untoward since chapters five and six move into specifics of the audio and video standards for North America and Europe, and quickly become more technical than the prior background really supports. (It is also unclear what the point of these two chapter is.) The same holds true for chapter seven, which looks at the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), cellular, and modem technologies, as opposed to the broadcast concentrations in five and six. Chapter eight reviews a number of very important aspects of packet data networks such as the Internet, although, again, some of the significance of the discussion will be lost on some readers because of sections missing from the background information. An afterword closes out the book by noting that we will continue to want more bandwidth, more will become available, and that not every piece of information that we want is or will be available for transmission or access. Clearly, this book is not suitable for professionals. Too much is missing for those who really have to make informed decisions. For the amateur, wanting to start to get a handle on communications technology, the book holds much greater promise. It does not get bogged down in technical details, and it does stop to look at social and political issues along the way. While not always completely reliable in its presentation of the technology, it is certainly readable and entertaining. For those wanting to get a "feel," rather than a working knowledge, this is worth consideration. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999
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