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Disclaimer: I was given a free copy to review

Books on embedded systems come and go, and over my ten years of experience I've seen quite a few. Most books will only go into detail about one particular subject; programming techniques, specific hardware or sometimes even a how-to for one specific situation. This book is different, for once an author goes into detail on just about everything.

Making Embedded Systems by Elecia White is not a bible, for some people it will not go into enough detail for specific parts of making embedded systems, but the domain itself is so vast that I really can't see how any one book could cover everything. Elecia goes into detail about the key functionalities of embedded systems; for example, power conservation, interrupts and timers. Everyone has heard about interrupts, but just what overhead do they create? When would I need them, when should I avoid them? Little details like this that are crucial for embedded systems, but that no-one really talks about, Elecia White lists them all.

Elecia also goes into a little more detail about another part of embedded systems; the teams that have the responsability of designing and building them. Just what makes an engineer suited for the job? What do you need in a team to give the best chances of success? This book has a few little extras about job interviews and trick questions, that while not necessarily required, always provide a welcome break between two subjects, and make you thin (the fridge question would have scared me!)

This book is aimed for beginners; most high-level engineers will already be looking for books on very precise subjects, but as a primer, it is great. With ten years of experience I didn't necessarily learn anything new technically (but a refresher is always welcome), but I now have a few ways of explaining things to junior members of my team, and a new way of thinking.

This book is full of technical detail, but more importantly, it is full of wisdom. I had fun reading this, and to the question would I recommend this book to a friend? I already have, to junior members of my team.

When you think about geeks, you rarely think about them cooking; most people instantly imagine them with pizzas or crisps, not in front of ovens. Jeff Potter, the author, explains why most geeks are shy of kitchens. Being a geek himself, he explains cooking in software development terms; compiling food, defining vegetable variables, overclocking the oven, and looking at recipes as source code. He explains everything with a sense of humour that is a joy to read. This book had me hooked right from the beginning, so when he started to talk about cooking with stuff that can kill you; liquid nitrogen ice cream or electrocuted hot dogs, I couldn't put this book down.

Jeff starts off the book with easy recipes, with the explanation that if you want to learn a programming language, you don't start off by writing an operating system. The same thing goes for cooking; start off small, learn to read a recipe and learn to change elements to suit your style. Source code isn't static; you can always change it to suit your style. Jeff takes you through it step by step, but he goes one step further. Geeks aren't just interested in following steps, they want to know, and need to know why. Why do you need to cook at a certain temperature? Why do you need to add an ingredient before another one? Cooking isn't just about blindly following recipes, its science!

Cooking for Geeks isn't a reference book. Whilst it does contain recipes throughout the book, it isn't a book that you will idly pick up to make a meal for friends. You will learn what sort of a cook you are, and help you focus on what you are good at. It will help you select kitchen hardware depending on who you are and on what you want to do. It will help you prepare and calibrate your tools, especially your oven. Once you are comfortable with the basics, you learn more advanced techniques, finishing with some extreme science. Scattered throughout the book are short recipes to keep you curious, clear illustrations and interviews and contributions from famous geeks or scientists (notably Adam Savage from Mythbusters and Tim O'Reilly, the CEO of the publisher).

One of the many things I loved about this book is the fact that all weights, temperatures and measurements are in both imperial and metric, meaning that everyone can dive in straight away.

I knew how to do basic stuff in the kitchen before reading this book, but never really enjoyed cooking. For me, it was just to prepare a basic meal, something I had done over and over. After reading this book, I have a whole new view on my kitchen. I now know exactly why I need to use a particular tool, and find myself really enjoying preparing food. I now understand why I need to cook at a certain temperature, but more importantly, this book has also awoken my curiosity. Yes, you can be a geek and a cook at the same time. However, this book isn't just for people who don't know cooking, far from it. I showed a chapter to a close friend who is very good in the kitchen, and who can easily make her guests jealous of her cooking skills. She admitted that while she could bake just about anything, the oven was black magic for her. She isn't a geek, but she loved what she read, and she now understands what happens, and more importantly, why.

Don't just make food; understand the science behind cooking, and create food.

Score: 5/5. 

During my studies, I used to do temp work here and there to pay bills and to buy geeky stuff. Most people ended up, at one point or another, following builders and helping them on site. It taught me a lot, but it especially taught me one thing in particular, if you want to do a good job, you have to have good tools. You cannot do better than the tools you work with. Take care of them, because sooner or later, it will pay back. At first I thought that on building sites tools were just lying around, but it is not the case, far from it. Builders take extreme care of their tools, and pride themselves on their quality.

A few years later, and a long, long way from building sites, I still follow what they taught me. As far as tools go, I naturally use computers in various forms; keyboards, mice, screens, CPUs, etc, all need to be high quality. But that isn't all. Picasso once said that computers were useless, as they only give answers, and true knowledge was contained in books. I've tried a few editors, and there are a lot of good books out there, but as far as complete series go, nothing in my opinion beats O'Reilly. Physically, their books are of the highest quality, and my oldest book is probably close to ten years old, but you can't distinguish it from the others. They have been tortured, being taken on trains, planes, boats and other forms of transport. They have been moved from flat to flat over the last five years. As far as content goes, I haven't found better. All of their books have the same layout, despite an amazing number of authors. Each author is an expert in his domain, and is passionate about the way he transmits his knowledge. They are backed up by solid examples, be it in programming, real-world physical examples or use cases. Another thing that I really love about O'Reilly is their eBook philosophy. I have a collection of about 10 eBooks now from them, they are DRM-free, meaning I can put them directly on any device. They are available at any time on their website, in several formats; PDF, ePub, Kindle, etc. I am warned when an update is available, and their web interface is as easy to use as it gets. But O'Reilly doesn't stop there, their website is full of information, training, web seminars and videos.

So, when O'Reilly gave me the chance to review some of their books, I jumped on the occasion. I didn't even think about it, I just clicked on "Yes". My first book should be available soon, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. More to follow soon!