Book Review: Eccentric Cubicle

Ok, so it's been a long time since my last review. Good thing Manfred doesn't take books back that don't get reviewed in a reasonable time...Anyway here goes - my review of Eccentric Cubicle by Kaden Harris.

This is the second book in the O'Reilly MAKE series that I have reviewed and I have to say this one doesn't disappoint, although for different reasons than Making Things Talk.

When I heard about Eccentric Cubicle, I assumed it was all about projects/hacks for cubicle dwellers to make their work environments more fun. However, that's not really the case, since deploying most of the projects in Eccentric Cubicle in a corporate environment would result in an unsolicited appointment with the HR department. To be honest, I'm not really sure who the target audience is for the book, but I enjoyed every page of it.

Making Things Talk is a terrific primer for anyone wanting to get into microcontroller/ubiquitous computing development, while Eccentric Cubicle is mostly about building various contraptions out of wood, metal, plastic...whatever, really. Most of the projects seem pretty complex to build and possibly beyond the skills/patience of many readers, but, unlike Making Things Talk, they are pretty "low-tech". I doubt that I will ever build anything from Eccentric Cubicle, (I mean - really - when would I need to build a missile launcher for paper messages or a carrot-scaled (or finger) guillotine), but I sure had fun reading about all of them. The projects are all clever and a bit whacky and many describe techniques, materials, or designs that would be applicable to other things., which I think is one of the main values of the book.

I get the impression that Harris is a politically incorrect, punk rock, danger-loving DIYer but I mean that in the nicest way possible. It doesn't hurt that he's a West Coast Canuck like me! The language and style of the book keeps things interesting and the projects in the book are like small-scale, surrealist, post-modern monster garage builds, some of them well into the dangerous category. Regardless, there is incredible attention to detail and Harris is obviously a talented craftsman who seems to like doing things "because he can" (or because he really shouldn't).

Despite the fact that I probably won't build any of the projects from the book, there are loads of techniques, tactics, tips, and small hacks that I will use whenever possible. Specifically, use (and abuse) of tools, sourcing materials, and project design.

In summary, if you are a "MAKER" or wannabe/poseur (like me), you will want want to read this book.

Book Review: Making Things Talk

Making Things Talk by Tom Igoe is a book in a growing series from O'Reilly and MAKE magazine.  Similar to MAKE magazine, the book is about DIY technology.  Specifically, Making Things Talk is about "physical computing" projects that involve two or more devices "talking" (communicating is a variety of ways).  Physical computing is mostly about embedding electronics within objects that we interact with.  It should be required reading for just about any reader of MAKE (and many readers of MAKE's sister publication, CRAFT).

Although the book does not claim to be a primer on microcontrollers, physical computing, embedded devices, communication protocols, or embedded software development,  I found that it does a terrific job of providing the background necessary to build the projects and understand how they work.   The author provides some references for further background in these areas, but I never found myself at a point where I needed to pursue those other sources, even though I have virtually no experience in electronics or embedded computing.

The preface and the first chapter of the book get the reader familiarized with the software and tools used throughout the book.   The technology used in the book's projects are mostly implemented using a microcontroller hardware platform called "Arduino".  Arduino is an open-sourced hardware design available from multiple vendors that is built around AtMel's ATmega microcontroller.   The Arduino toolchain includes an IDE for developing Arduino programs in a language based on the Processing language and downloading them to the hardware.  Programs running on a PC or Mac that interact with Arduino(s) are mostly implemented in Processing.  I was surprised by how accessible the technology is.  Working with the hardware components feels very software-like - independent modules that communicate with others using simple, well defined protocols - even for what seems like pretty complex functionality like Bluetooth or WiFi. Once you have a basic understanding of communicating with one type module, you are on your way to knowing how to deal with many others. The software side of things is also very nicely evolved - no assembler or proprietary C libraries required.

The latter portions of the book is project-oriented.  The projects make use of a variety of hardware sensors such as proximity sensors, force sensors, flex and sensors.  In addition, the projects demonstrate the use of communication modules that enable communications between multiple devices using wired and wireless protocols such as Ethernet, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and others.  Some of the projects are more fun and whimisical than useful (such as the stuffed monkey pong controller and the cat bed monitoring system), but all of the projects illustrate some useful aspect of physical computing that could easily be applied for other purposes. 

This is the first book I have read on this topic, but it has provided me with more than enough to get started building interesting and useful networked physical computing projects with microcontrollers, sensors, and communication modules.  I think this book would help many people with sufficient interest and moderate technical skills get into working with this stuff too.  In fact, Processing is intended to be used for creative and artistic projects more than a general purpose programming language.  There are many examples of artists and other creative types who have used the tools described in the book to make interactive installations and objects.  Afte reading this book, I am looking forward to ordering a few Arduinos, some sensors and getting started on some projects. This is a terrific book and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this area.

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