(...) There was a cast of ten which made up the Colorado River Exploring Expedition . Led by John Wesley Powell. None of them had ‘white water' experience. Many were barely 20 and 7 were Union Army veterans. There was no record of persons having gone down the thousand miles of this journey so they were floating blind. It lasted 111 days.

They were to use wooden boats made in Chicago Illinois. They would put in at Green River Station, Wyoming at the point where the recently completed transcontinental railroad had been celebrated. It was chosen because the [4] boats could easily be delivered by rail freight to Green River Station from Chicago. (...) This is a history and Edward Dolnick has done his best to use the notes and writings of Powell, Summer, Bradley and other of the expedition. Powell's book was written some years later but the crew wrote more personal and soon after the trip. They reveal some pain and misery that Powell in his enthusiasm for the mission - geology exploration of the earth including flora and fawna - avoids.

Dolnick has also told the tales of others who ventured on the Colorado River and who were reported in the press of that day. But, none had done what this mission did; namely go the distance without any real briefing and not any knowledge of these tales. On the river they were out of touch with all - alone. A person of ill repute reported after the first month that the party had been destroyed by the river and only he had survived. He was widely published in the press including his tale of how he got on the expedition. But, like story tellers he had dates wrong and Emma Powell, John Wesley's young wife read the stuff and informed the press that he couldn't be believed. They did more research and began retracting the articles. The good effect of this was that the Expedition got more press than they had had before they left. Of course the voyagers did not learn of this until many months later.

Dolnick has a couple of chapters about Powell's military service as an artillery officer in the Grants army at Shiloh. Here Powell lost an arm which comes in for some interesting comments during the voyage down the rivers. Emma is a heroic and fascinating wife of great personal support to Powell. One of the boats is named after her; Emma Dean.

Dolnick seeks to tell it as it went along, not to sum things in advance. So there is an air of adventure - what will happen next?
Sumner was of great value to Powell and all the men seem to have followed the decisions - there Army training is reference as an aid in this respect. But, some of the trappers didn't cotton to the order giving; still they did their part.

There is detail about the boats and equipment - built in Chicago - the best for the lakes - but not properly designed for the river. But sturdy. Still they lose one to the rapid while still in the three hundred mile stretch of the Green River. And, 1/3rd of the food and other supplies went down with that crash.

Powell is the focal person. He had the crazy idea and he had the energy to make it happen with little money and little backing and many persons of repute advising against the venture. It is a crazy thing to do given the level of experience and knowledge that was the foundation of this expedition effort.
BUT - the beauty and grandeur does grab your imagination and it did theirs too.
They often stopped to look, if they could stop, or linger if camped at a place of special interest to Powell. They took side walking trips. And the number of times they climbed to get a better view of the prospects of the river ahead were legion. YOU are presented with their wonderment and deep appreciation for the trip - that seems to have been its saving grace. For they were called upon to live with privation and the rain. I couldn't believe the number of times they had severe rain storms especially in Arizona. (...)

The author has placed a little map of the segment of the river they were about to enter at the beginning of each chapter. It helps keep you oriented. There is also a photo section which provides enrichment of the principals and some locations.

Now, the story itself builds to a natural climax that will begin to grab you midway through the venture. You will sense the feeling of eternal repetition of the river and its mad behavior. It becomes a kind of tormenter. When will they be through with the trip? The men become restive and short tempered. They do not all like each other all the time by any means. And, although Dolnick doesn't stress this he has to report what they write in their notes. And, there reflections of the trip. They are caught up in the reality that they volunteered and they are responsible for their own fate; yet they are in a very intimate situation which requires them to note the flaws of others - especially the leader. It is hard work and Powell expect them to do their job. Because he has only one arm there are many tasks he cannot perform, this becomes an aggravation too, but they all knew this in the beginning. Yet there is, as Dolnick tells the story, a need to be loyal to the mission and the needs of others; and so they have their experiences where great joy and satisfaction is express by the group after some tough experience. (...)

Because it is a history, not a novel, the author tells of the future lives of the men. He tells what he can based on

If you enjoy adventure and American history you are in for a treat. My knowledge of John Wesley Powell and his cohorts 1869 trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon was nonexistent so anything I read was new to me. In addition to literally riding the rapids with Powell's group through their three months trip we are also given a history lesson on Powell and the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War in which a number of interesting facts are given to illustrate the horror of the Civil War. Powell was extremely interested in geology and he was thrilled with what he was experiencing on the trip through the Grand Canyon and oblivious to the fact that his mates were experiencing frustration at his leisure pace while starvation loomed due to inadequate provisions. One individual of the ten men crew left the group after the first narrow escape and three others left only one day before exiting the canyon and were eventually murdered under mysterious circumstances. Powell made a second trip a few years later but aborted the trip when halfway through the canyon. What became of the remaining six members of the ten man group who made the 1869 trip is also provided in addition to interesting facts about the Grand Canyon that will most likely be new to you. You shouldn't hesitate to give this book a try. I'm sure you will not be disappointed.

I have never been down the Green River, the Colorado River or even to the Grand Canyon. Having read Dolnick's book about John Wesley Powell's first expedition, I definitely want to go there and read more about this. Dolnick's writing is so vivid, and clear that you almost feel like you are on the expedition too. It would be hard to write a fictional account of an adventure that would be more exciting than Powell's expedition. Every day there was some thing more awful or wonderful than the day before. Real unexplored territory! Looking at the bibliography and chapter notes, it is obvious that Dolnick did a great deal of research before he wrote this book. The use of the primary sources, especially diaries of men on the expedition, add a great deal to the delight of reading this book. You get to know some of the "characters" quite well. A highly recommended read.

Fitzgerald, Hemingway, C.S.Lewis, John Cheever. If any one of these authors was ever important to you, please pick up O'Hara. He's critical to understanding twentieth century American authors. At the very least, you can engage in the unending debate on whether he's worthy of joining this pantheon of writers. Worthy of an airport paperback rack? Smalltime trashy romance writer? Or do you think he paints a richly textured canvas of an America and its high society about to be turn the corner on the first half of the 20th century? An important Irish-Catholic writer?

My tip: read this book. If nothing else you'll learn about bituminous and anthracitic coal, the United Mine Workers, how to mix a martini, (and throw one), why fraternities were ever important, and what a flivver was. It's certainly a period piece, and O'Hara does not hold back with the language of the jazz age...which may confuse modern readers (it was a gay party, his chains dropped a link, etc.) In fact, O'Hara was an early adopter of using slang and vernacular in writing the spoken word, and you can be the judge of whether or not he gets an Irish mobster's (or a "high hat's") tone correctly.

He's really at his best with character development, because Julian English (our protaganist) is our bigoted confidante, our tiresome spouse, our wretched boss, our surly neighbor, our spoiled college-boy brat, our pretentious friend and our preening big man about town all in one. O'Hara waltzes us through Julian's demise and we root for him, for one more chance, all the way down.

At the end of every year, Brian Lamb talks to three authors on a special Booknotes on C-SPAN. Last year one of the guests was Shelby Foote & he said that he was reading some great American authors who folks had sort of forgotten. One of them was John O'Hara. Now I've seen dozens of his books at book sales, so I knew two things: one, he sold a ton of books; two, folks aren't reading them anymore. So I picked up From the Terrace, Appointment in Samarra & a couple collections of the short stories & loved them all. It was very heartening to see that he made this list (Modern Library Top 100).

Appointment tells the story of Julian English, a WASP nervously perched atop the social heap in Gibbsville, PA. At a Christmas party in 1930, he throws a drink in the face of the town's leading Catholic businessman and thus begins his downward spiral.

O'Hara etches very sharp portraits of characters from the varying strata of society & presents a vivid tale of an America & it's establishment shaken by the oncoming Depression and the rise of new Ethnic groups.

GRADE: A

'Appointment in Samarra' is a great novel. I was led to read it by an article in the Atlantic Monthly that lamented the pretentiousness of much of contemporary writing. Not only is the writing pretentious, but it doesn't say anything intelligible. 'Appointment in Sammara', by contrast, tells a story in a direct manner while still revealing to us hidden truths about the human spirit. It's not giving anything away to say that the story concerns the self-destruction of one Julian English. Julian is suave, Protestant, lives in the finest neighborhood, and hangs out with the in crowd. But Julian makes the mistake of throwing his drink into the face of a powerful, nouveau riche Irish Catholic. Suddenly, Julian's support structures don't seem so firm. Julian's descent is heart breaking because, although he is not an especially likeable person, John O'Hara still manages to make us care for him. O'Hara's book was prophetic in that it portrays the end of WASP domination in America. The book takes place in 1930 and was published in 1934 ' just six years after the Catholic Al Smith was denied the presidency by a virulent anti-Catholic backlash led, in part, by the Klan. We're told that some of the locals in Pottsville are members of the the Klan. Twenty-six years later, in 1960, an Irish Catholic would be elected president. Appointment in Samarra is a must read for those who are serious about the American novel.

Three young men seek entry to one of the strongholds of the extraterrestrial Masters who have conquered the earth. Two are successful, and they strive to learn as much as possible about the enemy so that they may report back to the last existing colony of free humans. I preferred this novel to the previous one, "The White Mountains." Both novels share the same deficiency, a tendency to relate certain events too sketchily and a failure to develop key characters, in this case the German boy, Fritz. However, the Masters themselves and Wil's adventures in their city are fascinating, and John Christopher's style does make for a fast-paced story. My interest is piqued and I look forward to reading the final book in the trilogy.

John Christopher did a really great job with the sequel to 'The White Mountains'.

In 'The City of Gold and Lead' the White Mountain's leader, Julius comes up with a plan to stop the Tripods. They will go to the 'Games" and compete, hopefully winning, and go to the City of the Tripods to study them. Will, Beanpole and a new character named Fritz are chosen to go and compete in the Games. Fritz and Will are winners and are carried in a Tripod to the City. The two boys are separated and become servants for different Masters. The Masters are what control the Tripods. During his time in the City, Will learns a lot- why the Tripods invaded Earth, why they capped people, what happened to Eloise, and where the Masters and the Tripods came from.

This was a really good book to answer questions about 'The White Mountains'.

I am an avid fantasy ansd sci-fi reader. If you like either Genre this is the book for you. It is well thought out and has a very involved plotline. If you enjoy reading i suggest this and the other books in the series...The white mountains...The city of gold and lead... and The day the tripods came

Steinbeck carries over his characters from Cannery Row to Sweet Thursday. It is helpful to read CR before ST, but it probably isn't 100% necessary to do so.

Once again, Steinbeck breathes incredible depth into the characters. I didn't detect any radical changes in the players that came through from the previous book. There were a few new ones that were just as likeable as those in CR.

The main story line is more emphasized in this one compared to CR. There were far fewer side stories. This book also continues the humor that went with CR, which made the characters all the more life-like.

Steinbeck has a unique ability to portray simple exploits of life and weave them into lessons of life that we should all know. He understands the ideosyncracies of the human spirit and subtleties that many individuals don't often pick up on. This is a great, relaxing read, from which many of us can learn a great deal.

Many readers may disagree with my analogies, but with Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, Steinbeck is actually a lot like a Seinfeld. He can take seemingly uninteresting situations, and develop them into humorous portrayals of quirky people. He takes personalites that everyone is familar with, and just stretches with a little neuroses.

I had read Cannery Row several times before I got my hands on a copy of Sweet Thursday. I was skeptical that a sequel could possibly live up the epic greatness Cannery Row and I was worried that Steinbeck would somehow ruin the wonderful characters of the "palace flophouse." Sweet Thursday is every bit as magical as Cannery Row. The new characters are beautiful and the old characters are so expertly polished that they shine brighter than ever. The book picks up the lives of the Row characters a few years after the events of the first book. Steinbeck masterfully chronicles the rise of an unlikely hero as a frightening crisis threatens the Western Biological Supply. The only mistake I ever made was seeing the movie based on Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. It was horrible - a crime against Steinbeck.

John J. Nance knows how to keep a reader in suspense. This book goes up there with Pandora's Clock as enjoyable novels.

The story is about a mad scientist who creates a bomb in order to get even with government and torture his wife. This bomb is one-of-a-kind in that it can knock out all electronics and destroy the economy. That's one problem, but there's another. It is also a thermonuclear device that is being transported by a 727. On top of that the crew is flying in probably the worst hurricane storms in the country. Those are the major problems, but as known by Nance, he adds more complications for the 727 crew to handle and it will be their decision that decides the outcomes.

Medusa's Child is a page turner with on-going twists and turns. You don't know what will happen next. Unfortunately, the book loses a star from me to become the best because the ending seems so implausible, you are asking yourself, is that possible?

Anyhow, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book just because it is a exciting read and a great alternative to movies!!...

I'm not the biggest Nance fan, so I was surprised when I enjoyed "Medusa's Child". Medusa is a bomb designed and built by a truly mad scientist. Powered by a 20 megaton nuclear warhead, Medusa uses EMP to knock out virtually every microchip within a huge range of fire, and corrupt any data written near the time of the blast. The former defense researcher/would be destroyer-of-worlds even programs the machine to heap abuse on his poor wife. Completing his mysterious device before dying, he manages to cajole his poor former wife into delivering it (the unfortunate ex not knowing of its purpose) to the Pentagon. Strapped into a 727 freighter flown by a former fighter driver named Scott Mackay, the device arms too quickly (flown over the Pentagon, Medusa's GPS sensors can't distinguish between being in the cellar of the Pentagon, from being 20,000 feet above it) triggering a computer which (having been programmed by a certifiably evil genius) details exactly what it will do. Among other things, the computer also warns about a special safeguards meant to insure that his hated wife accompany the machine to its final debut (one of the device's sensors is keyed to her pacemaker). Mackay now battles a freak hurricane and his own dwindling fuel supply to deep-six the bomb over the mid-Atlantic, setting off the sort of crisis response that insures that we'll see plenty of fighter jets, generals and powerful politicians in settings where they will be surrounded by high-tech. But, at its heart "Medusa" excels because it's a very character driven book - the occupants of Mackay's stricken 727 form relationships that transcend what would otherwise be a straight-to-cable movie like "Pandora's Clock" or the one made of "Glass Cockpit". I've only read "Final Approach" and "Phoenix Rising" - this is the most human of the three.

Medusa's Child is one of the most suspenseful books I have read in a LONG time. The basic plot is a cargo 727 is carrying a live thermonuclear bomb that, in the process of killing millions, will destroy all of the world's computers, shutting down our society. They have to try to stop it in an airplane all in the middle of a tremendous hurricane. Everything that could go wrong does and Nance's ability to make an action scene is amazing. I read Pandora's Clock and liked it so I picked this one up. I thought there would be no way I would like MC better than PC. But I did. I recommend this book to everyone, fan of the genre or not.

In this highly touted collaboration between author Mark Olshaker and former FBI profiler John Douglas, the storyline seems secondary to the ruminations of a former career-focused criminologist. While the information that the authors impart in telling this story is somewhat engaging, the language used felt flat and unimaginative. Even the emotional makeup of the lead characters, Jake Donovan and his supporting crew, seemed as if they were filtered through the same electronic surveillance devices used by the Agency in gathering evidence. Had the story been told with more dynamic flair for the material, it would not have resembled a walk through a garden papered with cut-out impressions of real flowers. The ideas were intriguing, but not enough to carry the idea through to a satisfying end. It is as if this book exists primarily to cash in on the popularity of the science of profiling, as done so well in "The Silence of the Lambs".

After a badly managed standoff between a survivalist group and the FBI, agent/profiler Jake Donovan is forced into retirement as part of a major upheaval at the FBI. Soon afterwards, the Director of the FBI is found dead of a gunshot wound. It looks like a straightforward suicide, but was it? And if so, did the burned photos in the fireplace indicate blackmail which might have provided the Director with a motive? Donovan is summoned back to Quantico and asked to run an independent investigation to ensure (1) that the death was, in fact, what it looked like and (2) whether the Director was the victim of blackmail and, if so, whether the basis of the blackmail could be kept quiet. We all know that "independent" is anathema to a federal buraucracy, and suffice it to say that the book hits the ground running from there. Donovan manages to assemble a team of FBI misfits and rejects, financed by the widow(?)of a missing/dead statesman/crime lord. The team kicks butts and takes names and knows how to get the job done, never mind that nothing is who or what it seems. The novel is replete with intrigue, mistrust, grave robbing(!) [by the good guys!], forensics, sexual chemistry, and plenty of insight into how the FBI operates. I saw a great deal of autobiographical material vis-a-vis John Douglas, which worked superbly to make the pot boil faster. The novel could be construed as a giant nose-thumbing at FBI rules and regulations. I love it! The authors left the door wide open for their next collaboration, and I will eagerly await it.

Broken Wings is absolutely intriguing, but what else would we expect from best-selling authors Douglas and Olshaker? These two authors have traditionally written amazing non-fiction books, but I absolutely could not wait, aftering hearing Douglas was coming out with a novel, to delve myself right into reading it! The main character in Broken Wings, Jake Donovan, fulfills Douglas's actual vision by starting up a flying squad that will be ready to fly to the scene of a crime, fully prepared to analyze and solve criminal cases. This novel gets a strong five stars and a pat on the back to Douglas and Olshaker, for another job well done.

In the exciting conclusion of the Tripods series, the resistance movement has finally reached the point where they are prepared to take decisive action to foil the alien Masters' final plan to claim the Earth. Will, Beanpole, Henry and Fritz, the boys who have figured prominently in the previous two novels, are destined to have pivotal roles in this final struggle as well. The strengths and weaknesses of the other books are evident here, too. John Christopher has devised a great story with a satisfying ending, as our central characters rededicate themselves to the challenges confronting a post-Masters Earth. However, Christopher's story is really too big for the minimalist style he has adopted. Years pass in the course of a few pages and I was left with the feeling that I was being allowed only a glimpse of what could have been a richly detailed, fascinating world. Of course, this book was written with young readers in mind, so brevity was a natural concern. Christopher's Tripod books follow the primary adage of show business: always leave them wanting more.

The exciting conclusion to the White Mountains series does not disappoint the reader.

Will and Fritz have escaped the City of Gold and Lead and return to the White Mountains. They begin a journey to recruit young boys into their resistance, taking a long journey across Europe and the Middle East and back.

After they capture a Tripod and a Master named Ruki, they inadvertantly discover the Masters' weakness to alcohol. And Fritz and Will lead a team back to the city.

The book ends full circle from the beginning, and still leaves questions in the end.

This is an excellent read and an excellent conclusion to an excellent series!

I want to begin this review with a disclaimer. I only read one book in this trilogy. That book was The Pool of Fire. It recaps the events of the last two books. Will Parker, his cousin, Henry, a German named Fritz, and a French boy, real name Jean-Paul, nicknamed Beanpole, because he's tall and thin, fight the mysterious invaders known only as the Masters. The Masters want to take over Earth and turn it into their new home. Will and Henry were sent to the City of Gold and Lead to spy on them. TPOF is set months after the events of TCOGL. The Masters still want to take over Earth. It's only a matter of time. To stop them, Will and his friends must be willing to pay the ultimate price. One of them does. Hint, hint, if you want to know who it is, read this book. If you loved these books, watch the series. Back in the '80s, there was a series called The Tripods on Channel 11 in Durham, New Hampshire. It was an Australian series distributed by Lionheart Television, the U.S. distributor for the BBC's programs.

When he sticks to the heart of his touching story about death, caretakers, and searching for love, Dufresne's book is powerful. Unfortunately, his "story within a story" about Laf's unpublished novella concerning Dale and Theresa is boring and adds nothing to the book; I kept wishing he'd just get back to the main story line. The best parts of this up-and-down novel are the insights into the pain and suffering a cancer patient must endure; Defresne handles the age-old dilemma of whether the "cure" is worse than the disease itself with unusual insight and compassion.It's a shame that he marred this insightful story with his ramblings about Laf's unpublished (and rightfully so) works-in-progress.

This is a book about some ordinary people who encounter life's inevitable challenges of love and death. The protagonist is an average bloke with failings that seem to outnumber his strengths, yet he is a quiet hero in his role of caregiver to a seriously ill lover. I am a reader who is in a position to be acutely aware of his mortality, and was quickly caught up in the main theme of this poignant story.

Dufresne handles the basic plot with a serious tenderness, but in other subplots involving human trauma he seems to switch into black comedy. One wonders how Laf's sick lover is as well adjusted as she seems to be when her family is so full of strange people who are often either killing or being killed. Some of their antics were a bit jarring and at times tended to upset the mood of the book. All in all its a book well worth reading.

If you're looking for a book to lift your spirits and set your heart soaring, "Love Warps the Mind A Little" is not the book you're looking for. Dufresne's novel tells the story of Laf Proulx, a man who has quit his regular job (he is an aspiring writer) and left his wife (or more accurately been thrown out for his indescretions with another woman). More accurately, perhaps, this novel tells the moving story of the other woman -- Judi Dubey. Not long after Laf moves in with Judi, she discovers she has Term IV cancer and the majority of the novel deals with the wrenching, painful reality of her disease and poignently describes how she (and to a lesser extent those around her) deals with the disease.
This is a powerful novel with some lightness early on as Laf tries to figure out what to do with his life and whether or not he loves Judi or the wife he left (the only sure thing is his love for his dog Spot). Once Judi's cancer is diagnosed the novel moves quickly and despondently toward its conclusion. Judi's suffering through chemotherapy and desire to live are documented in such a way that the reader actually feels involved (albeit miserable) with the characters in this story (most of whom are fairly quirky). There's some talk of life after death, reincarnation (Judi believes she's led several lives), hope for an afterlife and salvation, but the narrator (Laf is apparently an agnostic) offers little encouragement for these ideas thus adding to the weight of dread ensconcing the reader as this book lunges toward its end.
Overall, this is more a well told story of a woman's bout with cancer and those who surround her than a story about love and its trials. It's not uplifting, but it is thought provoking and poignent. Recommended.

I used the author's book "Digital Signal Processing" in my college study, and I also read and cite the 1st Edition of
"Discrete-Time Signal Processing" during my work experience. That's a very good reference. But I don't have the
2nd Edititon.

However, after going through the Table Of Contents of the 2nd Edition of "Discrete-Time Signal Processing", I
think Oppenheim&Schafer did a resaonable tradeoff to reflect state of the art in DSP domain.

They add: Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) which is mostly used in image compression, Multirate Signal
Processing which is used widely in modern DSP, and Oversampling and Noise Shaping Sampling for A/D and D/A
conversion.

In consequence, they remove: Lattice Structure, IIR Filters Design, Cepstrum Analysis (often used in speech
signal processing) and Homomorphic Signal Processing, which are a bit sophisticated. And I guess the reason to
remove IIR Filter Dsign is there exists many computer-aided tools on digital filter design, and made this very easy.

I am referring here to the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) that the authors wrote in the 1970's or earlier versus the more recent editions of Discrete-Time Signal Processing (DTSP).

I have both the DSP version and the 1st edition of DTSP, and used them for coursework. From my personal recollection: I tried to take an introductory graduate-level DSP course twice, once with the old DSP text (but did not get to finish), and the second time completing the course from another college with the DTSP text. DSP, in spite of its introductory and pioneering nature, turned out to be the more readable and better organized textbook among the two. It is shorter by many pages, less verbose, less "heavy and circular in arguments", and quicker to come to the point, not to mention being clearer, more lucid, and well-illustrated with good examples and diagrams without overwhelming the reader. The beginning chapters are well written with introduction to the applications of Complex Variables in the context of DSP as an EE subject. In short, DSP by Oppenheim and Schafer is the less ambitious book of the two, but really accomplishes much more by doing less and focusing on the essential concepts underlying DSP.

I can see why and where many beginning EE Signal Processing students tend to get frustrated. DTSP, 1st edition, is actually a rewritten version of DSP, albeit meant to be a major extension (or expansion, if you wish) with more applications appended and "heavier expositions". (This reminds me of many other books by MIT EE faculty on the market.) I find the most frustrating part of DTSP is the chapters on transcending from the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) to Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Why? All you have to do is look at the way the authors present the DFT, then get to understand the truncated DFT, and try to follow the steps that supposedly get one toward FFT's - not at all clear or well-connected conceptually. It is even more obvious when one tries to do the moderately difficult and somewhat tedious exercises at the back of each chapter. While it is true that DTSP appears superficially "precise and rigorous", I find it a bit convoluted and too ambitious in its treatment of digital signal processing topics, indicative of a desire to reflect trappings of the latest applications by demonstrating the power of the theory presented. Why not just return to the fundamentals of DSP and limit the topics to a manageable level, thereby retaining a high degree of visibility for the more average EE student. (Maybe DTSP was meant to be taught by the authors themselves, or by their Ph.D. students. That way, the obscure points, discussions and topics in the textbook could be explained away in live classroom lectures via student interactions. Right?) In spite of all this, I think DTSP has intrinsic value in EE Signal Processing, being that it retained much of the key concepts in the older DSP text with some original flavor.

Suggestion to authors: Write another book on DSP, but limit the book to concepts and some elementary applications, just like the 1970's original, or better still edit and update the original to be published as an inexpensive classic by, say, Dover. Rewrite DTSP as the follow-on textbook. How about it? I really miss the lucid style of the more original DSP textbook by the authors. And I mean it, seriously!

This is probably the most complete reference in DSP. It's full of examples covering the whole stuff in DSP. However this is certainly not fur use as an introductory book because the aim is not the explanation of fundamental concepts in DSP (for that go to Lyons "Understanding Digital Signal Processing"). Maybe it is possible to learn DSP with this book but then as a companion of a good undergrad course, not for self-study.

As stated by another reviewer, this book is over-crowded with developments, details and examples that could be overwhelming to the newcomer. This is probably its biggest drawback, in that its completeness hinders on its readability. So be aware that this is not an easy DSP book, it's THE DSP book.