Page 11 - Instrumentation Reference Book 3E

Preface to the

first edit

Instrumentation is not a clearly defined subject, contact with universities and other places spear-
having what might be called a “fuzzy frontier” heading development.
with many other subjects. Look for books about One need for information is to ascertain where
it, and in most libraries you are liable to find more information can be gained. We have catered
them widely separated along the shelves, classi- for this with references at the ends of chapters to
fied under several dirferent headings. Instrumen- more specialized books.
tation is barely recognized as a science or Many agents have come together to produce
technology in its own right. That raises some the Instrumentation Reference Book and to whom
difficulties for writers in the field and indeed for thanks are due: those who have written, those
would-be readers. We hope that what we are who have drawn, and those who have painstak-
offering here will prove to have helped with ingly checked facts. I should especially thank
clarification. Caroline Mallinder and Elizabeth Alderton who
A reference book should of course be there for produced order out of chaos in the compilation of
people to refer to for the information they need. long lists of names and addresses. Thanks should
The spectrum is wide: students, instrument engin- also go elsewhere in the Butterworth hierarchy
eers; instrument users, and potential users who for the original germ of the idea that this could
just want to explore possibilities. And the informa- be a good addition to their family of reference
tion needed in real life is a mixture of technical books. In a familiar tradition, I thank my wife for
and commercial matters. So while the major part her tolerance and patience about time-consuming
of the Instrumentation Reference Book is a tech- activities such as telephoning, typing, and travel-
nical introduction to many facets of the subject, ing-or at the least for limiting her natural intol-
there is also a commercial part where manufac- erance and impatience of my excessive indulgence
turers etc. are listed. Instrumentation is evolving, in them!
perhaps even faster than most technologies,
emphasizing the importance of relevant researcli; B. E. N.
we have tried to recognize that by facilitating Dorking