Reviews for Power Electronics Design Handbook: Low-Power Components and Applications

The average rating for Power Electronics Design Handbook: Low-Power Components and Applications based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-12-02 00:00:00 Linda Atwood I'll begin by saying that this might be an obscure book or reason for a book to people outside the University of Washington or the sundial community. Or maybe not; what do I know? Woody Sullivan is ... well... he looks a bit like an eccentric scientist, with his scraggly beard, hiking shorts, and high socks. I took his History of Science, Physics, and Astronomy class at the UW my first official quarter at the school, and boy was I intimidated. He's hella smart, and I felt totally out of my element when I tried to follow all of his lectures about the history of science and about how this scientist led to that scientist, and this theory interwove with that theory. At some point, though, I learned that he makes sundials, which is pretty cool. But I didn't realize the grandness of his sundials until I was long out of the UW. I mean, Bill Nye! He's worked with Bill Nye the Science Guy (which, in the Seattle area, is WAY cooler than it is to the rest of the world. I mean, I understand that Bill Nye is impressive everywhere, but in Seattle, he's even more of an icon)! And put a sundial on Mars?!? His sundials are so spiffy that local media will do a story on him every now and then, which is a far cry from just the mad scientist teacher I thought he was (He made us shock ourselves with Leyden jars or some other contraption he showed us on a tour of the spooky basement of some crazy science building! I still don't know where we were that day or how we got there. But there it was: a spooky basement with crazy contraptions lining the hallways.) Okay, so he makes sundials that are pretty cool and have gone to other planets. THAT is cool. But then I didn't know how even bigger he was in the science community, in general, until I was listening to a podcast (a local podcast, sure) earlier this year and he was mentioned in reference to the search for life in other parts of the universe, and his many books and articles were mentioned. What? He's written books? He's enough of an expert that he's referred to by other members of the science world? What? The crazy guy I had for that one class? Really? So then I started looking up his work, and found this book: The New Astronomy: Opening the Electromagnetic Window and Expanding Our View of Planet Earth: A Meeting to Honor Woody Sullivan on His 60th Birthday. They had a conference in honor of his birthday! With scientists from around the world presenting papers! Holy crap! I was in the presence of greatness that quarter and never realized it! So now the book: there are 18 articles about various topics in science and astronomy, including astrobiology, radio astronomy, and... sundials! Some of the articles are really good, some went over my head, some were brief overviews of a topic or a specific scientist, and some were just short and I wasn't sure why they were included. But my favorites, by far, were the two about sundials: sundials in history, making new sundials, making art out of sundials (The UW had an art/science class where the students learned about, and then made their own, sundials! I wish I'd been there!), and making other optics-related art. So now everyone should look up Woody Sullivan and his sundials. They're pretty damn cool! And if you've ever thought about looking for life on other planets, think about Woody when you think about SETI.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-10-30 00:00:00 Jane Scifleet ??