In reviewing a book in its second edition, there needs to be a discussion both of the merits of the book as originally printed and of the incremental improvements in the new edition. This is clearly a comprehensive book, written by a respected and prolific author, on a current topic, and heavy with mathematical derivations, black-and-white charts and figures, copious references, and a comprehensive index.
Even without access to the first edition (2007), it is clear that the second edition is only minimally more current. The second edition still contains code written in 1996 in Pascal, a language not much used nowadays. Most references still date from before 2000, and very few are less than ten years old. The revised book also includes some typos and leftover editorial placeholders—for example, the derivation at the end of Chapter 6, uses “…” instead of actual values.
Useful as reference for professionals, the book lacks application problems that would make it suitable as a textbook.
Review by Bogdan Hoanca, a professor of management information systems at the University of Alaska Anchorage, USA.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.