Professor Barrett's Second Textbook Released in Chinese Edition

August 20, 2006 - Dr. Steve Barrett, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, recently had his second textbook "Embedded Systems Design and Application with the 68HC12 and HCS12" released in a Chinese Edition. The original textbook was published by Prentice Hall in 2005. In July 2006, the Chinese edition was published by the Publishing House of Electronics Industry, a Prentice Hall Chinese affiliated company.

Barrett has co-written three textbooks with close friend and former colleague Dr. Daniel Pack of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado, since 2000. Their textbooks are used by a number of universities throughout the world. They are currently working on a second edition of the first textbook which is due to Prentice Hall in December.

Barrett and Pack wrote about their experiences as novice writers in "Textbooks 101: A Primer on Writing Your First Textbook." The article was originally written for the annual ASEE 2002 Conference in Montreal, Canada but has since been highlighted by ASEE Prism Magazine by the "Text and Academic Authors Association."

Barrett said "textbook writing is my hobby, what do you expect...I'm an engineer." He does his writing between 4 am and 6:30 am every morning so as not to interfere with work and family commitments. He has been keeping this schedule regularly since 1999. "Early morning is a quiet time when I can get a lot done...even my dogs are not awake at that early hour," he said. He further indicated that he and Pack make a good writing team because of similar work ethic, writing style, and complementary technical backgrounds.