Newton's Telecom Dictionary : The Official Dictionary of Telecommunications and the Internet by Harry Newton, Ray Horak

I'm not sure what more can be said in praise of Harry Newton's Telecom Dictionary, but I'll try.

This oversized book is a whopping 923 pages. I don't want to even guess at what it weighs in at. It really is more of a telecom encyclopedia than a dictionary, and goes into extensive detail describing many words, phrases, acronyms and concepts. Many of the definitions take up an entire page, or more. It is absolutely crammed with useful information. It has over 21,000 definitions which weighs it in at over four times larger than any other telecom and IT dictionary, and includes wireless, broadband, intranet, e-commerce, and IT terms.

As if being the largest telecom dictionary isn't enough, Harry packs the book with his own style of telecom humor and wit. It's probably the only dictionary you will find that will make you laugh out loud. Harry is the premiere comedian of the telecom industry, and provides the only dictionary in the world that you will be tempted to read from cover to cover. Harry's writing style is uniquely his, and actually makes learning boring telecom definitions a fun experience.

Besides general telecom definitions, you will also find many terms relating to computers, computer telephony, the Internet, investing, electronics and more. An amazing accomplishment. You will not only understand what a word means when you read the definition, but will likely understand the concept behind it as well. This book goes well beyond the definitions provided in any other dictionary of its type. No other dictionary in the telecom, computing or electronics industries comes anywhere close to Harry Newton's Telecom Dictionary in either scope or depth.

This book is probably the best one we list on our Telecom Bookshelf. It is currently in its 19th edition, and is still going strong. It has over 1,350 new terms defined since the last edition. It includes 4 more sections that wasn't in the last edition: Best Money Saving Tips (Harry Newton's favorite ways to save on telecom, PC, and travel), Why Is It So Hard to Buy? (Insights for managers on the importance of putting customers first), The New World of Telecom (What made 2002 difficult as well as what we can expect in 2003) and Disaster Recover Planning (How to protect your computing and telecom resources). This book truly belongs on the bookshelf of everyone in the telecom industry. It's worth every penny, and is pound-for-pound the best telecom book we have seen. - William Van Hefner

Amazon: $24.47
Barnes & Noble: $24.46
Powell's: $27.00