Definitive Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: Good content, but fatally flawed illustrations.
Review: This is a first impression, and may be upgraded later. The textual content, including appendices, is good. Unfortunately, the illustrations have inadequate contrast, and are difficult to interpret even under very bright light. This is due to extensive and unnecessary use of gray scale, both in assembly drawings and flow charts(!). While it is quite possible that Apress printed the grayscale much darker than Mr. Baum intended, I believe the decision to use gray scale at all was flawed. On the other hand, the use of isometric ("3D") projections is entirely appropriate. If reprinted with isometric line drawings (no gray scale) I'd probably rate it 5 stars (especially if I could trade in my gray scale version).

Rating:
Summary: Good content, but fatally flawed illustrations.
Review: This is a first impression, and may be upgraded later. The textual content, including appendices, is good. Unfortunately, the illustrations have inadequate contrast, and are difficult to interpret even under very bright light. This is due to extensive and unnecessary use of gray scale, both in assembly drawings and flow charts(!). While it is quite possible that Apress printed the grayscale much darker than Mr. Baum intended, I believe the decision to use gray scale at all was flawed. On the other hand, the use of isometric ("3D") projections is entirely appropriate. If reprinted with isometric line drawings (no gray scale) I'd probably rate it 5 stars (especially if I could trade in my gray scale version).