Recommended Books to Read

[Hilltopgrange]

Hi all

        Has anyone ever thought to post a list of recommended reading?

Reading stuff on the net is fine but it is hard to beat a good book to ponder over in bed or to hide behind on a hot day with a cold beer.

 Any and all suggestions are welcome, below is a list of my modest library so far

1.  Wind power Workshop by Hugh Piggott.  Excellent  in my humble opinion the bible on wind power and a must read for all!
   
2. How to Build a wind Turbine by Hugh Piggott.   Excellent   both 2004 and 2005 editions.
   
3. Motors as Generators for Micro-Hydro Power By Nigel Smith. Just received it today but seems very good
   
4. Electric Motors and Generators. Oldhams Press  reprinted 1955, old but a very good ref book
   
5. Producing Your Own Power. Rodale Press inc. Not so much a ref book but still a good read
   
6. Radio Communication Handbook. Radio Society of Great Britain UK. Excellent ref to electronics for all levels
   
7. ARRL Handbook. Very similar to no6. but from U.S.A
   
   

That's the lot but I would love to add to this list....any ideas or opinions on essential reading I have missed?

Thanks in advance

              Russell

[windstuffnow]

  "The windpower book" by Jack Park.  It's out of print but you can still find used copys for sale on ebay's half.com as well as Amazon.   Similar to Hughs book but it has tons of extra info on many different types of turbines.  Excellent book!  

.

[Hilltopgrange]

Hi Ed,

     thanks for the info I have just added it to my to get list lol. I love the older hard to get books, half the fun is tracking them down.

Thanks again.

Russell

[SparWeb]

Try looking at Dr. Gary Johnson's book:

http://www.eece.ksu.edu/~gjohnson/

[CG]

Russell,

E.W.Golding's Generating Electricity with Wind Turbines (I think that's almost the title, a google will confirm it)is a must. As you are in the UK you can get it by an inter library loan. It will cost a couple of quid but it's well worth it. It was first published in the mid 1950s, but was rushed into print again in the 1970s due to the rise in interest in wind energy. Paul Gipe says it's a classic, and he should know. The latest update of Paul's book "Windpower" is also a good read.

[paradigmdesign]

ditto for that one!

[Flux]

Near enough I think it was "generation of electricity by wind power". It was re published in the 70's by Spon I think, Still excellent and the wind data stuff is as relevant as ever.

I agree that Paul Gipes works are a must for any serious wind power enthusiast.

I think there were several books by Jack Park, I don't recognise the one someone mentioned but I have come across "simplified wind power systems for experimenters" Helion inc  1975.

There is also Calverts book, windpower principles or something that was originally very expensive but seems to be available fairly cheaply now. Not that useful unless you want to play with Cretan Mills.

There is also another very old and mainly useless work by Powell, fun for the historic point but little use for today's ideas.

Flux

[Jon Miller]

Renewable energy, power for a sustainable future.  Godfrey Boyle.  Open university (UK)

It covers more then just wind turbines.  Really good for a fuller understanding of renewables and there place in meeting energy demand.  

[CG]

Jon,

What have you done with those electric motors that you imported from the US, have you put them to work yet? Your site is being updated, and I just thought about the motors. I think their revs were about 900rpm.

[Slingshot]

One of my favorite "old" books is "Electronic Design of Alternate-Energy Projects", by R. Andrew Motes.  Because of the book's age, most of the "design-specific" electronic information is dated, but the principles are still useful and there is also a lot of general background information.  There is also a pretty good introduction to rewinding auto alternators for higher voltage / lower RPM applications.

[Bruce S]

Here's one . A little dated due to newer type batteries, but a must for recyclers.

Batteries in a portable World by isidor buchannan.

BTW: Most of this can be read online too, but the 300 page book has much more in it.

Bruce S

 

[Hilltopgrange]

Thanks guys for the response. Looks like I need to do a bit of searching on ebay to track them all down. More fun!

To the powers that be!

 A section on RE books with reader reviews would be a very handy addition to the site, just a thought!

Thanks again to all

Russell