Planar Microwave Engineering

Let me first say that I might be a little biased because of the rave review Tom Lee gives to my sampling review paper in this book. But, I have to say this is the most entertaining engineering book I have read in quite some time. His writing is colloquial --- which I personally favor. It's full of witty asides (like this one on E&M: "More than a few students have caught on to the fact that electrodynamic equations ... are a devious invention to torment hapless undergraduates"). The writing is clear and he takes the time (and ink) to derive various results. His experimental hints (such as how to build probes) are the kind of useful bits you'd like to see in a practical book. Coupled with the CD in the back, this is really a complete book for the RF and Microwave student. I am sure that some of the more anal retentive engineering types won't like some of the gloss given to their favorite subject. That's OK --- this book is not for them. It's just too bad that most engineering books can't rise above the hum-drum writing and presentation that gives engineering a bad name. This book isn't one of them --- it's terrific.