Lets talk about VTVMs

[bcarso]

[quote author="mwkeene"] Probably the first electronics book that has actually made me smarter rather dumber.
[/quote]

I was sorry as well to learn, from one of the Amazon reviews, that Abe Pressman is no longer with us.

Yeah, it is amazing how many people are writing books that ought not to be, or at least need way better editors. Anything that costs that much is suspicious---it reminds me of the old Subaru ads with Paul Hogan, where after quelling the angry owner of another vehicle somewhat he says, "Well at least you paid a lot more for yours."

On the other hand, once books are out-of-print you can pay quite a bundle if they are really good, since owners are less likely to part with them. The ironies that do occur---I'll buy a book with a remainder mark that indicates it didn't sell well at first, which may now be going for a few or more times its original price.

I notice that I have made lots of recommendations of books in here, but no warnings. Suffice it to say I've purchased plenty of turkeys and other gobblers as well as the gems.

 

[PRR]

> once books are out-of-print you can pay quite a bundle if they are really good, since owners are less likely to part with them.

Or there's my technique.

My town has large-trash pick-up each spring. Lot of old ex-engineers in this town. They pass away, or go to a nursing home, or just clean-out the attic, old-old tech text books go out to the curb.

This year it rained. We took a quick runabout in a break in the clouds, I opened a damp box, and tossed it right in the car. Back home, I quick-sorted the junk, then put the good stuff in our "greenhouse", which is now our wood-shed for curing fresh-killed trees in a summer. Solar heat dries books as good as wood, and the peak temperatures discourages musty-fungi.

Aside from the usual lot of intense detail engineering, there is one book about general engineering problem-solving. Sadly it was the top book and badly soaked. But one page shows how GM mounted tires on rims. Think how you mount a tire by hand, and by local-garage tire-machine. Pry, wiggle, jimmy, flip..... someone at GM got completely outside the box and devised an incredibly simple way to mount tires on rims at high speeds.