123 PIC Microcontroller Experiments for the Evil Genius

Book Description

Microchip continually updates its product line with more capable and lower cost products. They also provide excellent development tools. Few books take advantage of all the work done by Microchip. 123 PIC Microcontroller Experiments for the Evil Genius uses the best parts, and does not become dependent on one tool type or version, to accommodate the widest audience possible. Building on the success of 123 Robotics Experiments for the Evil Genius, as well as the unbelievable sales history of Programming and Customizing the PIC Microcontroller, this book will combine the format of the evil genius title with the following of the microcontroller audience for a sure-fire hit.

Customer Reviews:

123 PIC Microcontroller Experiments for the Evil Genius.......2007-09-15

I wanted to learn to program in a C language and this is perfect so far. Well explained and the projects are actually pretty cheap.

Quite frustrating to learn from, missing important stuff.......2007-07-15

Myke Predko obviously knows his stuff, and can relate it pretty well to the average person. However, this book is FULL of typos. I'm talking at least every other page has one. Some of these in the actual code, making it quite a challenge, and almost impossible to debug.

The CD was NOT included, nor is it on the website the book claims it should be. This is quite a hinderence. Also, Myke's website(www.myke.com) is long overdue for an update. To the point this book isn't even mentioned on it.

I would be embarrassed and ashamed if my name was on the cover of this book. I can't recommend this to anyone, even "Evil Genius" fans.

Misleading Title, Full of Errors, Abandoned by Author.......2006-12-07

This is a Tale of Two Books.

One Book misrepresents itself as a compilation of "123 PIC Projects for the Evil Genius." Wannabe Evil Geniuses everywhere will be mightily annoyed when they find out - after purchase - that this is not at all a listing of evil projects. It gets worse: The book is full of typos and coding errors.

The "Second" book - while physically the same book - is actually/potentially a very good hands-on guide/course to learning PIC Microprocessor programing and system development. The name of the book should be changed to something honest, such as "A Two-Semester PIC Programming Course." Predko is obviously a very good PIC programmer, and his language prose skills (or his re-writer's skills...) are impressive; one of the few authors who uses semicolons consistantly and correctly. Nevertheless, there are many gramatical and wrong-word errors in the text - which can't easily be found with a spell checker. I think after completing all 123 experiments, a reader would be a pretty fair PIC programmer. I imagine two months of every-day effort would be enough to get up to speed. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, even the source code and schematics have errors, so a student or teacher should hesitate to use this books as a one or two semester class unless someone -a summer test student maybe - had taken a run through the entire book and noted all discrepancies. It's not a good start that the author's instructions for initial laoding and setup of PICC LITE and MPLAB IDE don't work as detailed, and that suddenly an unexplained HI-TIDE IDE is offered for download without explanation.

Mostly it bothers that the author seems to have abandoned this book. No forum, no errata list. No forum discussion of HI-TIDE. Did the author just take the money and run ?

Could be a lot better.......2006-06-23

As a PIC beginner I was hoping for more than this book provides in the first few chapters.

As already pointed out the title is very misleading; there certainly aren't 123 "experiments". Many of the 123 articles are to do with the ins and outs of programming in C.

The typos and other mistakes don't help either and don't fill you with confidence when what you do doesn't reflect what the book says will happen, e.g. experiment 7, p31 where the LEDs I get aren't the same as indicated, and looking at the circuit, you'd never get the LEDs lit as indicated in the book.

Sloppy.

Good circuits, terrible explinations.......2006-03-03

This book is very difficult to follow. It isn't intended for beginners, I guess, but even novices will have trouble following the information here. The circuits and ideas are good if all you want to do is build someone else's circuits, but if your goal is learning about microcontrollers, this one is somewhat poorly written and tough to follow. Also, as other reviews have stated, expect MANY typographical errors!

MORE Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius

Average customer rating:

Excellent book
Evil Genius for Grandsons
son is pleased
"MORE Gadgets" better than first book
Interesting projects - but not for the unsupervised teen

MORE Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius
Robert E. Iannini
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0071459057

Book Description

This much anticipated follow-up to the wildly popular cultclassic Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius gives basement experimenters 40 all-new projects to tinker with. Following the tried-and-true Evil Genius Series format, each project includes a detailed list of materials, sources for parts, schematics, documentation, and lots of clear, well-illustrated instructions for easy assembly. The convenient two-column format makes following step-by-step instructions a breeze. Readers will also get a quick briefing on mathematical theory and a simple explanation of operation along with enjoyable descriptions of key electronics topics such as various methods of acceleration, power conditioning, energy storage, magnetism, and kinetics.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book.......2007-03-10

I bought this book for my fiance. He is really into electronics and he loved it because the book is well set up and explained. Just one problem thought. The book arrived from amazon totally wet and when I tried to contact them the form was returning an error. I was very disappointed because the pages were literally stuck together!

Evil Genius for Grandsons.......2007-01-12

;This book sure served the purpose for the Grandsons Christmas present. I live so far away from them, it sure is nice to shop through you and know that it will arrive on time and is just what I ordered. It was greatly appreciated.

son is pleased.......2007-01-10

My son being a computer geek asked for this book at xmas when he opened it he was like a little kid again (he is 26 )

"MORE Gadgets" better than first book.......2006-04-18

The first Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius book had devices that were a bit more sci-fi and cool, but although the information was interesting, not many are going to actually be able to build any of them, as parts will be expensive and hard to find. This second GADGETS book actually has a few circuits that you could actually build with parts that are more available.

As I said in the other reviews on this series of "evil genius" books, be carefull as there are many books in this series, but it is the one that states "GADGETS" in the titles that you want, if you are wanting the circuits that will make you rub your hands together and twist your mustache as you make that sinister laugh.

Interesting projects - but not for the unsupervised teen.......2006-04-16

Mr. Iannini continues the tradition he began in his first "Electronic Gadgets" book by offering up more than a fair share of laser devices. For this reason alone I don't think it is a good idea for your high schooler to play around with building the devices in this book unsupervised. Then there are the devices such as the "Marx Generator", which is a clever way of charging a number of capacitors in parallel, then discharging them in series. Originally described by E. Marx in 1924, Marx generators are probably the most common way of generating high voltage impulses for testing when the voltage level required is higher than available charging supply voltages. Again, this is another high voltage device which along with the Tesla coil and 400K volt DC generator can be potentially dangerous. The third category of projects that require adult supervision are those that invade the personal space/privacy of others - i.e. adults should always be on hand to explain why it is not OK to nauseate, confuse, and snoop on others for the purpose of learning electronics. The projects are interesting, but the reader/hobbyist should be an adult who is already knowledgeable of electronics and electronic construction techniques. The instructions in this book are not detailed enough for the novice. Also, the price tag on most of the devices is greater than $100, so they are not cheap either. Finally, and most importantly, the reader should have a penchant for safety. Thus if you want to get your teenager interested in electronics via interesting "cool" projects, and you are already knowledgeable yourself and willing to do full-time supervision of the construction, this is probably a good book over which the two of you can both learn and bond. Amazon does not show the table of contents, so I do that here:
Chapter 1: 100 milliwatt green laser pistol
Chapter 2: 50 watt carbon dioxide burning laser
Chapter 3: Visible blue laser ray gun
Chapter 4: Nd-GI/ruby/yag laser
Chapter 5: 20 watt diode laser
Chapter 6: Rail gun
Chapter 7: Magnetic cannon
Chapter 8: High energy radio frequency pistol (HERF)
Chapter 9: Marx generators
Chapter 10: Flux compression generators
Chapter 11: 400,000 volt dc generator
Chapter 12: Six-foot spark Tesla coil
Chapter 13: Microwave gun
Chapter 14: Dog bark controller
Chapter 15: Ultrasonic cleaner
Chapter 16: Electronic ventriloquist
Chapter 17: Ultrasonic hide and seek
Chapter 18: Body heat detector
Chapter 19: Telephone line grabber
Chapter 20: Snooper phone
Chapter 21: FM VOICE transmitter
Chapter 22: FM TELEPHONE transmitter
Chapter 23: Tracking transmitter
Chapter 24: Bug detector
Chapter 25: Sonic nausea
Chapter 26: Therapeutic magnetic pulser
Chapter 27: Mind mangler
Chapter 28: Magic man
Chapter 29: Hypnotizer
Chapter 30: Telekinetic enhancer
Chapter 31: Light of life machine
Chapter 32: Mind controller
Chapter 33: Personal neon display
Chapter 34: Automotive neon
Chapter 35: TV and radio jammer joke

Average customer rating:

A Wonderful reference and study tool.
Great Introductory Book
Very disappointed
Horribly written and illustrated
excelent book for beginners

Electronic Circuits for the Evil Genius
Dave Cutcher
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0071448810

Book Description

There is truly a lack of good, basic hardwire electronic "how-to" books. The market seems interested in this type of fun project compilation. This is another book in our extremely successful "Evil Genius" series. So far, each of the books has sold about $50,000 in less than 3 months.

The perfect addition to our "Evil Genius" series, this book details everything an electronics hobbyist would want to know about circuits and circuit design through 57 Lessons. Readers work through 5 distinct, useful projects to reinforce their learning.

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful reference and study tool........2007-06-27

I am in love with this book. I knew it would be good when i brought electronic projects for the evil genuis. I am an electronics engineering student and these books have been a great source of help and ideas.
I highly recommend this book for any one that is looking to learn about the fundamentals of electronics.

Great Introductory Book.......2006-03-18

This book is for a bright kid or an adult that wants to learn how to construct (and understand) some useful circuits. There is plenty of basic information and several important concepts are explained so that the beginner is not lost in the middle of a project (as is the case with many books).

While the book may not be perfect, anyone who wants to take the time to do a little thinking will be pleased with how the book is organized and the material is presented.

Best I have found.

Very disappointed.......2006-03-11

I have read most of the books in this series and they all suffer from the same problems. They are full of errors that could have been corrected before release if the publisher hired a proofreader. This book is especially frustrating with poor graphics, charts, and tables. You can find some corrections to the text if you search the web. Do not purchase components from the source listed in the book (they are extremely overpriced).

Horribly written and illustrated.......2006-02-05

This book sounded ideal, a beginner's book with clear explanations and projects to illustrate the electronics concepts taught in each chapter. The introduction lauds Mr. Cutcher's skill as a teacher so highly I was really anticipating a wonderful tour through the basics of electronics.

Mr. Cutcher may indeed be a great teacher, but he is a very poor writer. His writing is disorganized and confusing, his instructions are unclear and sometimes incomplete, and he works so hard to fit everything into his "electric circuits are like water" analogy that he forces it when he should find a better way to describe it.

Lastly, many of the illustrations in this book are so atrocious that often the reader has no idea what they are supposed to represent. In this age there is no excuse for graphics that look like they were produced by a six-year-old on a Colecovision. I am astonished that this book was deemed ready for publication. Are there no editors in this segment?

I am very disappointed in this book. A good beginner's book is a wonderful thing to find, and this isn't it. I cannot recommend this book to anyone interested in learning electronics; it will be especially difficult for young people who don't have the focus to follow poorly-written or confusing material. I would especially worry that young people would not recognize the faults of the book and come away feeling that electronics is "too hard" for them because they couldn't follow Mr. Cutcher's explanations.

excelent book for beginners.......2006-01-12

ok "evil genius" is a bit missleading, however, the author explains the basic concepts like no other ive ever read. if you are new to electronic circuits read this book before anyothers, i promis it will provide an excelent foundation.

Average customer rating:

Great projects for anyone interested in getting started
Good hobbyist book on an interesting subject

Bionics for the Evil Genius
Newton C. Braga
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0071459251

Book Description

The best-selling Evil Genius format provides hobbyists with a fun and inexpensive way to learn bionics via 25 complete projects. Once the focus of popular 70's TV, bionics (integrating mechanical and electronic materials with living matter) are being used more than ever to replace or repair physiological or anatomical functions or disorders.

Customer Reviews:

Great projects for anyone interested in getting started.......2006-03-09

I thought this was a great book, full of interesting and educational projects. You get right into the projects with information about how to begin, what you need, and how to put it together. It's not an academic book or a theory book. This is for people (young and old) who want to get their hands into the projects and learn by doing. Excellent for parents to do with their kids. I recommend it.

Good hobbyist book on an interesting subject.......2006-01-19

A contraction of the words, "biology" and "electronics," bionics is the science of how the living emit, receive, and treat various signals so that life processes can be mimicked in machines and robots. For example, sonar illustrates a technology based on the navigation system of the bat.
This book takes the hobbyist approach to bionics in the same style as Newton Braga's other "evil genius" books do. The "Evil Genius" series of books have several different authors, and I think that Braga's efforts are the best in this series of hobbyist project-centric books, in that they tend to strike a happy medium between construction details and theory. The construction details for each project are adequate as always. However, do not expect much in the way of biology or electronic theory. The descriptions of each project tell you basically the mechanism of operation but do not delve deeply into equations. However, if you are just interested in building some interesting projects, and perhaps using it to get a high schooler interested in the subject, this book is recommended. There are just no other readable books on this subject, unless you include the classic "Cybernetics, Second Edition: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine" by Wiener, which has an academic tone and involves a moderate amount of mathematics. I notice that Amazon does not show the table of contents, so I do that here:
SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION
SECTION TWO: BIOLOGY AND ELECTRONICS
SECTION THREE: 25 PRACTICAL PROJECTS
Project 1: Experiments with an Electric Fish
Project 2: Visual Biofeedback
Project 3: Audio Biofeedback
Project 4: Nerves Stimulator
Project 5: Stroboscopic Lamp
Project 6: Bio-Amplifier
Project 7: Panic Generator
Project 8: Magnetic Field Generator
Project 9: Hypnotic LEDs
Project 10: Insect Repellent
Project 11: Bionic Trap
Project 12: Animal Conditioner
Project 13: White Noise Generator
Project 14: Bionic Ear
Project 15: Insect Killer
Project 16: Bionic Tactile Organ
Project 17: Lie Detector
Project 18: Bionic Smell Generator
Project 19: Experimenting with Oscillators
Project 20: Ionizer
Project 21: Tactile Hearing Aid
Project 22: Using the Multimeter in Bionic Experiments
Project 23: Bionic Vision
Project 24: Ecological Monitor
Project 25: Bat Ear
SECTION FOUR: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
SECTION FIVE: RESOURCES
INDEX

Customer Reviews:

Wonderfully interesting.......2006-11-04

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, Williamson County, Illinois became a byword for lawlessness. The county first came to nationwide attention in the 1870s, when a bloody feud, comparable to the worst that the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee had to offer, wracked the area. Then in the 1920s, the town was beset by union and Ku Klux Klan violence to a shocking degree. Indeed, the rest of the country, and even the rest of the world was appalled at the violence, and the townspeople who condoned it.

This is a wonderfully interesting book. The author does an excellent job of bringing bloody Williamson to life, and showing it in all its lack of glory. This tale of union murderers and KKK hoodlums (often the same people) is sure to shock you, and make you very glad that you didn't live then and there!

I highly recommend this book!

Review Alan Mill's "review" is baffling!.......2006-06-05

I was amazed when reading the review by Alan Mills. How could someone get the most basic facts presented in the book so wrong? It's mind-boggling! He claims that the mine owner hired thugs who killed the miners when, in fact, the mine owner hired guards and non-union miners to work the mines and the union miners killed them. And the "thugs" did not hang around because they were dead! Also, Williamson is a county not a town. If you are a history buff, you will enjoy this book but Alan Mills' review has absolutely nothing to do with the book. Another reviewer guessed that Alan had just read the back cover but he couldn't have even done that based on his "review."

Williamson County, Illinois bloody past.......2005-10-26

This is a true gem, which depicts the violent history of a rural southern county in Illinois. The author tells of organized labor, bootleggers, gangs and the KKK of the 1920s in Williamson County, Illinois. Angle writes in any easy format for most readers and his book is well indexed. I would highly recommend this book to all readers!

Mike Koch, author of "The Kimes Gang."

A Great Book.......2004-06-12

While working near Marion, Illinois (Williamson County) in the winter of 2002 and spring of 2003 I was (at first) completely unaware of the history of the area. Finding that I was a history lover, a co-worker, native to the area, told me about "the troubles" and recommended this book. I quickly decided that Bloody Williamson was one of the better books I had ever read concerning this violent era in American history. While reading the book, I rode over many of the roads and visited as many of the old sites as I could find.

Only in America.......2002-10-21

Williamsburg County had an unbelievable amount of violence, in both variety and magnitude, in such a short period of time. In less than fifty years this one county had labor wars, Ku Klux Klan wars, gang wars, and one of the worst feuds in American history. Paul Angle is a good writer, but that is only an added benefit. Reading the media accounts of these events would be fascinating enough. Anyone interested in a case study of a dysfunctional community should read this book.

Bloody Williamson A Chapter in American Lawlessness

Average customer rating:

Bloody Williamson A Chapter in American Lawlessness
Angle Paul M.
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UD8HYS

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1,001 Logical Laws
John Peers
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0449134148
Release Date: 1988-01-12

Average customer rating:
1,001 logical laws, accurate axioms, profound principles, trusty truisms, homey homilies, colorful corollaries, quotable quotes, and rambunctious ruminations for all walks of life

Manufacturer: DoubleDay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 0385140878

Average customer rating:
1,001 Logical Laws, Accurate Axioms, Profound Principles, Trusty Truisms, Homey Homilies, Colorful Corollaries, Quotable Quotes, and Rambunctious Rum
John Peers
Manufacturer: Fawcett Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000R7NBAC

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