Get the Message: Telecommunications in Your High-Tech World (Your High-Tech World Books) - Hardcover

Gloria Skurzynski is the author of more than fifty books for children and young adults, including Virtual War, The Clones, and The Revolt. Her books have won numerous awards, among them the Christopher Award, the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, the Golden Kite Award, and the Science Book Award from the American Institute of Physics. She lives with her husband, Ed, in Boise, Idaho. You can visit her website at www.gloriabooks.com and e-mail her at gloriabooks@qwest.net.

In the author's ``High-Tech World'' series, an introduction to the technology used for wired and wireless networks. As before, Skurzynski has contacted network and manufacturing concerns (AT&T, GTE, Motorola, Sharp Electronics, etc.) for detailed examples of how cellular, copper wire, fiber, and microwave radio systems perform to connect callers--in this case a couple of attractive teenagers. The format works well; a dinner and dance lead to calls from pay phones, cellular phones, and cordless extensions; there's even a color fax to Grandmother of the dating couple all dressed up. The technology is very explicitly described, as well as visualized in color photos, drawings, and charts. With minor exceptions, the technical detail is accurate and smoothly integrated into the text's fictional component. The very precision leaves the impression that there's only one format for microwave, fiber, video transmission, etc.; still, this is highly preferable to the usual technomush. A superior and attractive overview. Glossary; index. (Nonfiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.