Modern Control Engineering

This book was required for a controls class (undergrad mechanical engineering) and suited the course very well. ADVANTAGES: A lot of examples with detailed step-by-step solving shown. Different types of examples (Hand-calculations/MATLAB) of varying difficulties. Very dense material. DISADVANTAGES: Very very dense. If you want to learn the material you're going to need to read the book like a novel. It's very dense and concise so it's difficult but once you get to reading all that's in it is very useful. Shipping was very quick and the book was in perfect condition.

Very indepth analysis for engineering studies

No problem

Seemed like a useful text at the time.

Ogata is, in my opinion the best control system book out there, at this level - from there you can go to Bryson and Ho's book, which contains all there is to know about optimal control. A water down version of Bryson is Lewis (from G-tech) but it is still good. Ogata will prepare your for both - the only problem I found with Ogata is that the version I was taught from, did not have physical examples translated to differential equations, then to the frequency domain. That is it did not show you how the "plant" that needs to be controlled was formed - granted it is not a modeling book; if would help if a physical example was translated to the transfer function. The new book, hopefully translates physical realization to transfer functions from first principles. I had to take a course in the chemical engineering department who model chemical tanks, as stages of first order systems, and show applications of flow or heat control. It was here that I started to put a physical connection to the control plant. Being a EE all we get taught is math in control systems, the ME and ChemE Folks have a much better presentation of the material as it pertains to engineering application. Ogata will teach you the math - which if you have taken undergraduate complex analysis will seem cake to you; but the application s are very cool. Try to keep a physical realization in mind when you start deriving stability plots in the root locus domain. It will help.