I wrote:

> I've read the first edition of the Gardner book... I thought it
> sucked.

and Matt Calder <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU> replied:

> These are such strong words, I feeled compelled to say in Mr.
> Gardener's defense that the book is not that bad. I had a lot of
> programming experience, modest microprocessor knowledge, and some
> electronics when I first picked up the Gardener book and I never
> felt that my intellegence was being insulted.

    The problem, Matt, is not that it's TOO basic, but that it's not
    basic ENOUGH.  Show it to someone who doesn't have "a lot of
    programming experience, modest microprocessor knowledge, and
    some electronics" and see what he or she thinks.

    Afterward, just for laughs, you might want to show Microchip's
    own databook and Embedded Control Handbook (available for free
    from your Microchip rep) to your beginner and see if he can find
    anything in the Gardner book that isn't also in the Microchip
    books.

> most importantly it is the only PIC book and one of the few
> 'project' books available at the Tattered Cover bookstore in
> Denver (one of the largest book stores in the US). My mother always
> said if I didn't like her cooking I should start cooking and stop
> making faces.

    Fortunately, Dave Benson didn't just "start cooking"; he wrote an
    excellent cookbook, instead.  It's called "Easy PIC'n" and is
    available from a number of sources, including the author.  It's
    the only book I recommend to beginning PIC programmers.

    The Tattered Cover is, as you say, one of the finest bookstores
    in the country... I'm sure that if you inform them of the
    existence of Dave's book, they'll order a batch from him.

    -Andy

=== Andrew Warren - fastfwd@ix.netcom.com
=== Fast Forward Engineering - Vista, California
===
=== Custodian of the PICLIST Fund -- For more info, see:
=== http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2499/fund.html