H. P. Friedrichs (AC7ZL) Homepage

My Books

Instruments of Amplification

News

10/29/03 --- I am very pleased to announce that the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) has now joined the ranks of the fine organizations that distribute my books. Thank you, ARRL

09/27/03 --- Instruments Of Amplification is now available and shipping to customers. Click here for a list of my distributors.

09/18/03 --- It's DONE! I received a corrected proof the other day, and the printing is now complete. The first pallet of books is now being shipped by truck. As soon as I get the books in my hands, you can expect updates here as I begin to establish distribution.

09/11/03 --- Well, the printing process was not without suprises. When I received the first proof of the book for my review, I was dismayed to notice that page 123 was missing! Let me rephrase that: It was not missing, it was simply blank! Of course I called the printer back, and we decided that I should send them another camera-ready copy of the that page.

Today I heard from them again, saying that the job is now complete. That's right, the books are finished: printed, bound, and boxed. I'm working with them right now to arrange for shipping. I've got my fingers crossed that there will be no more surprises... stay tuned!

08/12/03 --- A great deal of work has been done since my last report in this log. To begin with, the book's manuscript went through numerous additional editing cycles. I found typographical errors here, alignment errors there. Special thanks go to John Habermas for his help in this regard.

My hassles were compounded by Wordperfect's annoying habit of corrupting the master file from time to time, and Microsoft Windows' habit of crashing for no particular reason at all. I can't guess how much work was lost, and how much effort had to be duplicated. Then, I struggled with an image-quality issue associated either with Wordperfect or my Laserjet's print driver. Grrr! Finally, I was able to print a complete camera-ready draft that I hope (and pray!) has no remaining errors in it.

(Note To Fellow Writers: I would be very interested in your recommendations for alternative development tools for future books. Apple G4 and Indesign? How about Linux and Lyx? What's your favorite?)

Anyhow, this draft has now been forwarded to the contractor that does my printing. I'm expecting a set of proofs from them tomorrow. The proof images are the final quality control step in the process. Once I've reviewed them and say they're OK, the presses will be fired up. Barring unforseen issues, I hope to have finished books available by mid-September of 2003. It's been like giving birth to a broken bottle.

04/08/03 --- Just a brief update...work on the book continues. I am working with an editor, and at the moment I'm waiting for the marked-up draft so that I can implement any necessary changes. Given the rate at which all of the final steps are converging, I now hope to make Instruments Of Amplification available starting August of 2003.

01/05/03 --- It's tough to get much of anything done during the Christmas and New Year holidays. There's just too much going on. Just the same, I'm quite pleased to report that the first draft of Instruments Of Amplification is now complete. I expect to spend another week looking for gross typographical errors, and problems with formatting. Then, I hope to print a few copies and leave them with a number of colleagues who have graciously volunteered to review it.

12/02/02 --- As of this evening, I have drawn, inked, and/or scanned all of the 170 plus illustrations planned for the book. The next step is to begin inserting these illustrations in the text, and stitching the book together as a whole. Ah...I almost see light at the end of the tunnel...or is this the ominous sign of an approaching locomotive?

10/15/02 --- Onward....slow but steady! As of today, I have photographed, drawn and scanned about 75% of the required images. Barring unforseen diversions (always a danger given the number of side projects I juggle) I hope to have all images completed by the end of the month. Then, the process of layout, the combination of text and images, will begin.

09/04/02 --- Work on the graphical portion of this project continues. In reviewing my agenda, I've added some illustrations, deleted some, and consolidated others. I've prepared and scanned a number of drawings during this period, and estimate the illustration phase of this project to be about 25% complete.

08/20/02 -- Well, another month's gone by, but I was able to invest some additional time in this project. I finished the text for the appendices and completed my first read-through of the entire book (the first of about a dozen, designed to catch spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors.) Also, I put together a list of planned illustrations. They number about 177, including drawings, graphs, and photos. As of this evening, about 10% of that artwork was completed and in JPG form. I'll keep you posted as the illustration effort progresses.

07/24/02 --- I am pleased to report significant progress. As of today I've completed the first draft of all of the book's text. I consider this an important milestone! See About Instruments Of Amplification for a tentative list of chapters. I am presently preparing text for one of four appendices.

In March, I became involved in the development of a piece of software intended to digitally remove bone from CT angiogram images. It's been an exciting and rewarding learning experience. The end product, 9000+ lines of "C" code that enhance the 3D reconstruction of the tiny blood vessels in the brain, are something of which I am quite proud. In fact, I may eventually add some links to my homepage to document that work. (DICOM images are worth 1000 words!)

Anyhow, the first version of that code is done, and while I'll probably have to revisit it for upgrades come the fall, my "free time" is now being redirected back toward the completion of this book.

(revised - 11/03/2005)

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