At first sight, this could be mistaken for just another projects source book, and a slim one, with only three or so pre-defined projects. However, it has some features which make it stand out from the crowd of similar offerings.

This book really has been written for beginners. The first chapter defines a 'black box' approach to microchips which is carried through the rest of the book. The fundamentals of electronics are concisely introduced, and a simple Veroboard construction technique is outlined. A really useful addition is a minimum tools list and a suppliers' list (note that RS Components don't sell to the public).

Interfacing has been restricted to the user port and the analogue port, and the functional descriptions of these are very clear.

The projects themselves are not particularly innovative, but a neat idea is the use they make of motorised Lego.

I think this book's strongest point is that it introduces enough principles and concepts to allow the enterprising experimenter to design his/her own projects, instead of just copying them out of a book. I would recommend it as a back-up to one of the many other books of pre-designed projects for users who want to take interfacing seriously.