For some time now, I've been keeping an eye out for a book on geodesy that didn't make me feel stupid. Every book I could find on the subject in Borders, Barnes and Noble, or my friend Ara's office at NOAA seemed either too simplistic or too complicated. On the one hand, I found books with little more than a paragraph definition on the subject. These were the "layman's guide" sort of books that give you just enough information to be dangerous (or clueless). And on the other side of the spectrum, I found $170 books that assumed their reader had already finished his PhD in math.
So I was very excited when Elly found this gem while googling for a geodesy book to tack on to her Amazon order (she could get free shipping for ten extra bucks' worth of stuff--she had no idea that these books are usually $60 - $200). I was so excited, in fact, that I went online and ordered it the very next day. It cost about $90, and Barnes and Noble had them in stock (Amazon did not).
Since Gil Strang was also the author of one of my favorite textbooks from college, I had high hopes for this one. And, I'm glad to say, I was not disappointed.
Although this book is definitely a textbook (don't think you'll stay awake long reading it in bed), it seems to have been written for a broad enough audience that a binary imbecile like myself can keep up without risk of aneurysm. It starts with an introduction to linear algebra, then proceeds to cover all number of mathematical topics related to geodesy and GPS in the last two-thirds of the book. What's also nice is that Strang's linear algebra lectures are up on the web as part of MIT's OpenCourseWare video downloads. So I can augment my reading with actual classroom sessions from the author. Very cool!
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