[SI-LIST] Re: Books/references on power/grounddistribution
- From: "Martin Euredjian" <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2003 19:32:46 -0800
>> $125 for a book is ridiculously expensive.
I think that characterizing a book as "ridiculously
expensive" --particularly without having read it or seen it-- is not fair at
all. It's actually not appropriate to take such a stance in a professional
forum such as this one. That's a private opinion and one that should be
discussed privately, if you wish.
I have lots of books that I consider expensive at $50 because they are junk.
I'd gladly pay $250 for a book that delivers usable and relevant material.
Think of it this way, if a book saves you time or helps you avoid a re-spin
of a board, what's that worth? For the right book $125 is nothing, unless
this is hobby for you.
Further to that, a specialized book for a relatively small community such as
SI should be embraced and not criticized this way. Price is irrelevant,
only content matters. There has to be an incentive for anyone to take the
time to write a book and share his/her knowledge and experience. I'm sure
we all like to get paid fairly for what we do for a living. No difference
for writing a book. The "that's too expensive" attitude, if pervasive, will
simply scare people away from the book writing/publishing business. If
you've never tried to write a book you might not know just how much work
goes into the process.
I'd say, have respect for the work and effort that was put forth and buy (or
don't) the book based on your own realities. If you consider $125 to be too
expensive don't buy it, but don't criticize the guy. It's his business and
only his business to decide what he thinks his work is worth. The market
will, ultimately, decide whether or not the appraisal was on mark or not.
I'll agree that more detail (like a table of contents) is required to at
least do a rudimentary evaluation of the suitability of this book for one's
intended purposes and needs.
Engineering is about constant and continued learning. You can do that
through formal classes offered by private entities or at university
extension programs, through books and periodicals (maybe the WWW) or,
finally, through self-discovery. The first can be expensive and very
inconvenient (with work interruption being a big issue), the last option can
be just as expensive and take a very long time and costly trial-and-error
runs. Frankly, a well written book or article can be worth its weight in
gold and be the most efficient means to learn new skills.
And so, I repeat, characterizing a book as "ridiculously expensive" outside
of the context of having read and studied that book is, well, pretty
ridiculous on its own accord.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian
eCinema Systems, Inc.
voice: 661-305-9320
fax: 661-775-4876
martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ecinema@xxxxxxxx
www.ecinemasys.com
============== HIRING DEC '03 ====================
Looking for two full-time embedded/fpga engineers.
8051, ASM, C, C++, VB and related skills.
Image processing experience desired.
Los Angeles (Valencia) area.
Send resume to email above.
No head hunters/agencies please!
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