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Rating: 
Summary: 3 stars BUT there is an error in this book which could KILL!
Review: There is one error in this book that could be life threatening and I am not trying to be sensationalistic!The authors talk about the various electrical generation and distribution systems found in boats and they mention a system known as the "ungrounded" system. They describe this system as having the live wires (hot and neutral) "float above" ground. This system (they don't mention) employs a generator wound in a delta configuration, that is, without a ground. They say that the beauty of this system is that if you touch a hot wire, rather than the current travelling through your body to ground, the current "prefers" to travel back to the source of power (that is the generator). So, according to the authors, you can touch all the live wires you want and not get shocked. This is ABSOLUTELY false. I have been a marine electrician for 15 years, the first ten years of which I worked on ships with exactly this wiring configuration. Electrical current ALWAYS travels to ground when it can. I have been shocked pretty hard on a couple of occasions on ships with the very system these guys are talking about. (...) I reread that paragraph about 12 times (no exagerration) just to make sure that they were saying what I thought they were saying and even showed it to my boss, but common sense and simple math prove they are wrong. (...) Believe it or not, this book is really good, other than this fact and the fact that the ABYC is a little more picky these days than it was when this book was written (for instance, now the standard for bonding wire is #6 AWG, not #8 AWG as this book states). I actually recommend this book. The reason is this: Very, very few people will ever actually be on a boat that has a delta wound generator and an ungrounded distribution system (they are very rare outside of military applications) and those that will, will probably not be bold enough to stick their fingers in a hot panel. Most non-electricians are scared to put their fingers in a DEAD (de-energized) panel! It was irresponsible of the Miller and Maloney to write such an obviously false and potential dangerous description of delta systems, but if you rip that page out of this book, you are left with a pretty darn good beginner's guide. Anything on the subject by Nigel Calder is better than this book, but then again Calder overestimates the intelligence of his readers, whereas these guys have a very arm-around-the-shoulder writing technique. Another good thing about this book is that they give a great description of gasoline engine ignition systems, whereas Calder (being the diesel mechanic that he is) stays well away from spark plugs. Miller and Maloney's description of ignition systems is very well written and informative. I literally knew nothing about ignition systems (outside of the very basics) before I read this book, and now there is hardly an ignition problem I can't solve.
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