The Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture 3rd Edition

Ordered this book for a class. The book is almost triple of the price at the publisher's website (for the hardcover version). Got my book from one of the vendors here in Amazon. They happen to be from the UK and the version that they have is the "International version". In this case this is exactly the same version as the "North American" version so do not get confused by this and also is from the same publisher.The book itself is just an overview of computer organization and architecture so you won't be finding a more in-depth approach to this field that you would from other sources. Having said that, I think it is a great book for this level although some sections are more difficult to follow than others. Sometimes I feel that some of the topics assume that you have some background knowledge that is not necessarily implied so for some topics you may have to consult other sources in order to clarify or expand what is being discussed on the book. Regardless, I still consider that the book does a great job compiling and presenting the different aspects and concepts of this vast and complex field.

This book is absolutely horrible. Do not get caught up with the title, because most of the content is not even relevant to the usual Computer Organization and Architecture course. This textbook reads like it was put together in the last minute. The author is all over the place, and for a few hundred bucks, I'd expect the paper quality to be a lot better, as well as the pictures to be made by the publishing company or a graphic artist, instead of taken from some kind of Google search. If you ever "have to" use this book for the content it presents, at least get a supplementary textbook or material from somewhere else.

A required text for one of my computer science classes. The topics built upon each other nicely. It described the concepts without the use of silly metaphors (Little Man, I'm looking at you!). The use of MARIE was nicely integrated.

the book is in good condition. my teacher has been using it as a required textbook for a few years. it covers various topics taught in computer architecture class in college.

This textbook gives clear and thorough explanations of all topics. It is perfect for those who may not have background knowledge in the subject, but also goes in-depth enough to give a full understanding of computer organization and architecture.

Overall, unclear textbooks; I would imagine there to be better alternatives. This textbook uses very little programming, and it's mostly conceptual.

This item matches description perfectly. Its a brand new hardcover fresh out of the plastic. The only qualm I had was 2 day shipping took longer than 2 days (more like 5)

I would give it a five star if it's a book from Wikibooks. Lots of overly detailed facts, historical information, mediocre but acceptable formatting, and excessive citations - everything you would expect from a community sourced textbook.But this is a published textbook with a price tag of over 200 dollars. And only minutes into reading the book, I got terribly frustrated. Some of the problems the book has, which I've discovered after reading the first chapter, are as follows:1. The book uses very low quality images. On Page 9, there is even a picture taken from Wikipedia! Being printed in black and white, it is near impossible to see what's actually on the picture. (It is a photo of a motherboard with blurry annotations that you cannot read). And on Page 27, there is a picture that seemed taken by a cellphone camera. What's bothering me is that the book actually uses professional illustrations as well. Why do they allow low quality images to be used when they have access to professional artists, who could easily draw a much better illustration than a low resolution photo.2. The typography of this book is rather bad. If they could use a smaller font size that most college-level textbooks would use, the near 900-page book would probably be only half as thick. The formatting is so minimal that you will have no idea if you are reading a new section or just a sub-section. Important concepts are not highlighted properly, while random words are put in bold for no apparent reasons.3. It seems that whoever wrote the exercise questions did not read the book at all. Questions are irrelevant to what's covered in the chapter, and sometimes require you to Google the answer - the book just mentions nothing about what the question's asking.4. Also it seems that whoever wrote the answers for the exercise questions did not read the questions at all. The answer to exercise 8 in Chapter 1 seems just plain wrong.However, it is a solid book - it holds my coffee mug without deformation, even after hours of use.