This book is really well written. Not only is it comprehensive, but it is written in the active tense, and addresses the reader as "you", and talks about "we", etc. This is a big plus in book writing, as too many authors were incorrectly taught that they should write extremely difficult to read texts that are impersonal and unnatural to read (thus distracting the readers from focusing on the material, and instead spending most of their energy on decoding the text).
Mr. Katz knows how to write in a style that is efficient for the reader. His book is well organized, has nice graphics, great examples with accompanying graphically laid out solutions, and great illustrations.
Whenever i look for books, i make sure they have these qualities: 1) Pictures. Face it, w/ the possible exception of the blind, humans think visually. If you can't think of it visually, you won't learn it well. 2) Clarity. Don't waste time struggling with the text. You need that energy to struggle with the MATERIAL itself. 3) Examples. You don't just want example problems where you must do 90% of the work, when the author leaves out the most important and difficult steps. You want examples that really illustrate the the topic of interest while also reinforcing previous topics that are involved in the example.
Katz' book has all of these features. It is no wonder he won the Distinguished Teacher Award. This is the finest textbook i've used in college so far.
Some reviewers have difficulty with the material itself, and perhaps unduly blamed Katz, but i believe an objective analysis of textbook writing will prove that Katz is a very fine author, and this is a very fine book.
Katz ROCKS!
Rating: 4/5
Loved the book- all the way through. This was a required text at UC Berkeley College of Engineering for the 5 unit, upper division class I took there in my final semester of my senior year.
Not only was the book helpful to support the lecture notes and problem sets, it was also very helpful while I was designing one of the biggest projects I've ever done.
Clear, concise, well done Professor Katz!
Run as Fast as you Can
Rating: 1/5
We are currently using this book in my digital logic class and it is confusing. All my class mates agree that this book is terrible and we get little out of it. His explainations leave you saying ???What??? and there are no solutions to the odd numbered problems, a basic requirement for a text. We are learning soley from the lectures and other students who have some experience with boolean algebra and truth tables. The other reviewers that like his book must be friends of the author. If your college has chosen this text... Pray you have a good instructor!!!!
Mr. Katz knows how to write in a style that is efficient for the reader. His book is well organized, has nice graphics, great examples with accompanying graphically laid out solutions, and great illustrations.
Whenever i look for books, i make sure they have these qualities:
1) Pictures. Face it, w/ the possible exception of the blind, humans think visually. If you can't think of it visually, you won't learn it well.
2) Clarity. Don't waste time struggling with the text. You need that energy to struggle with the MATERIAL itself.
3) Examples. You don't just want example problems where you must do 90% of the work, when the author leaves out the most important and difficult steps. You want examples that really illustrate the the topic of interest while also reinforcing previous topics that are involved in the example.
Katz' book has all of these features. It is no wonder he won the Distinguished Teacher Award. This is the finest textbook i've used in college so far.
Some reviewers have difficulty with the material itself, and perhaps unduly blamed Katz, but i believe an objective analysis of textbook writing will prove that Katz is a very fine author, and this is a very fine book.