Essentials Of Computer Organization And Architecture

I thought this was a great purchase for the $. Really helped with a class I was taking to have the hardcover book along with the course (I guess I'm old school). But makes for a nice quick reference when needed as well. I think the seller listed it as good condition, but it was in perfect condition! Nice job seller!

It was top quality. The only thing I couldn't use the online version because to activate it I need to have a valid US Postal Code, and I live in Canada. But besides that all good

HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE book, run - do not walk - away from this book AND any university, college, institution, or person that uses it or recommends it!Dense, unintelligible, indecipherable. The text and examples offer precious little context, flow, or continuity and 1/100 of the print space should have been used. Instead, page after page of text and examples are crammed with every conceivable factoid, tidbit, acronym, cute aside, and other non-related tripe for a nauseating worthless 880 pages.With abrupt insertions of acronyms, side bars, unrelated facts, random ideas, and the ever present and shameful, ill-conceived, and convoluted analogies - "a cluttered desk" for caching, "spoiled child at deli" for network protocols, "human languages and a foreign pen pal" for RISC architecture - it was a nightmare to try to use as an introduction textbook and surely never could be used as a reference. Every page is just words, acronyms, and random text thrown onto a page in a dizzying and shameful demonstration of how NOT to write a textbook.There is a deep rooted systemic problem with this textbook and it should have never seen the light of day, much less a fourth edition. Shame, shame, shame on the publisher and the editor - if there indeed was one. This entire textbook, each and every chapter's text and examples read like just a bunch of words strung together, no continuity, no flow, no cohesiveness, and no context.

It arrived surprisingly faster than what I was expecting and has proven to be most useful in my studies.

There are errors in the text. But the book has a lot of good information about the inner workings of computers and is a great introduction into the computer field.