false 852866 093794811X 9780937948118 6 2 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178912580m/852866.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/852866.Practical_Photovoltaics_Electricity_from_Solar_Cells 441613 Richard J. Komp 6 2 4 1 false Fri Jan 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Sep 09 09:13:36 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 11 08:43:01 -0800 2009
only two problems. first, the book is certainly dated. the first ed was published 1981 (and unfortunately this may be what your local library has). 3rd ed was 1995, and this is the "3rd revised", 2001. but frankly i think there was not much revision, and a lot of the references are from the 70's. basically, this is 10+ years old, which is a long time if you want up-to-date knowledge.

second, the author has spent a lot of time in industry, and there is a lot of useless filler stuff about this company buying some other company and trying to build a factory but then going bankrupt blah blah blah. or his personal commentary about government funding of research and the politics of getting utility companies to buy excess electricity from residential rooftop systems. absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with "practical photovoltaics". but this stuff becomes easy to spot and skim over.

but as a first introduction, it gets a very strong recommendation.]]>