Internet of Things with Arduino Blueprints

Expensive. Didn't like the writing style at all. Lots of handy refrences and very little explanation. Look elsewhere if you want to understand the subject.

I purchased this item directly from the publisher (which gives access to a nicely formatted PDF book). In terms of content, the book offers an impressive collection of hands-on projects, which are very useful for understanding how the Arduino can be used in networking applications. Note that the book is not a beginner's guide, in fact assuming a fair bit of experience in electronics and network programming (however, there are other books, also from Packt, that fulfill this purpose). I am docking one star for the following two reasons. First, the book currently requires specific items to be used, which may not always be available. Perhaps providing guidelines on selecting alternative parts should be more appropriate. Second, Windows is assumed to be the operating system used, which means OSX or Linux users will at times have to cope with surprises and adjustments in the instructions. Perhaps an Appendix detailing modifications needed for other operating systems will be helpful.

This book is an excellent project book for intermediate to advanced Arduino users. The projects are clear, well-documented, and include all relevant code (downloadable separately). My principle reason for not giving this five stars is due to the fairly extensive BOM that you will need to build these projects.There are numerous somewhat specialized components required (Power SwitchTail, Arduino WiFi and Ethernet Shields, Adafruit Haptic Controller, liquid flow sensor, Hitachi HD44780 Compatible LCD, etc.), that while relatively easy to source, do represent quite a bit of investment in time and money. The required components are listed as prerequisites, with links to the product URL. It would have been nice to have everything presented as a BOM, with then-current cost and substitutes.Overall it's an excellent book of useful IoT projects for the Arduino.