„I found the book to be a well written wealth of knowledge.“(ACUTA Journal of Communications Technology in HigherEducation, Summer 2008)
I recently had the pleasure of reviewing Ray Horak's book, Telecommunications and Data Communications Handbook. Thebook's 791 pages, divided into 15 chapters, cover everythingfrom legacy technology such as basic telephone switching to leadingedge technologies such as DWDM optical networks, 3G wirelessnetworks, and IPTV converged video. I have read other Horak booksin the past, but this one is the most comprehensive one that he hasdone to date.
The book appears to be best suited as either a text book for atelecommunications class or a reference book. Using Texasterminology, the book is a mile wide but not very deep. You wouldbe hard pressed to find a topic that was not discussed in thealmost 800 pages of the book, but most topics are covered in lessthan one page. It is an encyclopedic work, not the reference thatyou would use if you needed a comprehensive understanding of anyspecific technology. On the other hand, if one of your peers bringsup a new technology during the course of a conversation (forexample MMS), and you want to know what he or she is talking aboutto avoid appearing uninformed, this book could prove to beinvaluable. In other words, it doesn't paint the wholepicture in high resolution, but it provides a lot more than asnapshot.
A few of the topics that I found of the most interest included thesections on Broadband over Power Line (BPL), HiperLAN, VDSL, IEEE802.16 WiMAX and IPTV. There are a few topics that I would like tohave seen covered that were not, but this leaves open theopportunity for the next edition.
Overall, I found the book to be a well written wealth of knowledge. I plan to use it as the text for my undergraduate course intelecommunications in the spring.
--Reviewed by Walt Magnussen, Director of Telecommunications, Texas A& M University (ACUTA: Journal of CommunicationsTechnology in Higher Education, Summer 2008)
„If you can have one book on voice and data communications, thisis the book to have.“ (The Prepaid Press, May 14th,2008)
„The book is very well written and accessible to the averagereader.“ (Computing Reviews, May 6, 2008)
„Readers wanting to gain insight into the terminology of thefield would be advised to consult this outstanding reference book.“(American Reference Books Annual, March 2008)
„A must-have acquisition for both beginners andpractioners... highly recommended.“ (CHOICE, February2008)