Packt Publishing released a new title named, Building a Home Security System with Arduino authored by Jorge R. Castro. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and agreed to read the book and write the review.
I personally have lot of interest for Home Security System, and worked a lot with different Home Security Scenarios using Kinect for Windows device. Hence, reading out this book was full of enjoyment for me. This book gives a great coverage of different possibilities that you can design for.
My Review :
It is a great book for anyone who is starting with Arduino and want to build some cool stuff by own. The approach of the book made it very easy to follow and learn. This book start with very well explanation of different scenarios of Home Security system, how does they works and how you can turn your current home to a security system. This actually gives you a well understanding about different platform, scenarios and types of application that you can easily built.
Next part of the book slowly taking you through the basic of devices, how to setup IDE and deep dive into building the security system. I like the way of transition between every chapters and slowly building up the confidence of reader through out. All small and basic part that you need to know like Protoboard, wiring, analog port, digital port has been covered in a nice way. Well, some cases they are not enough, but it will definitely get you going.
The rest of the book covered comprehensive walkthrough of the development of the system from the scratch including using different sensors with Arduino.
The author did a very good job on explaining the version control using Git for the project you are working on; an essential part for every project. The last chapter over the book did a lot of value add by talking about Raspberry Pi and then hooking it up with Ardunio ; and I personally found this very useful. I spent a lot time with Raspberry Pi and IoT, now would love to work in some project where I can use the Ardunio with my Pi.
Having more addition towards integration with cloud and some coverage over push notification would add more value to the book.
Overall, if you are a beginner, planning to start building some cool stuff using Arduino , I would recommend this book for you. After reading this book, you can apply your knowledge to build some other system as well. The author, Jorge R. Castro did a fantastic work by putting the things in a very nice ways. Of course, it will be a good addition to your book library.
My overall rating 
Disclosure Note: The book was provided to me free by the publisher to read and review. This is my own review. Neither the publisher nor the author has seen it before I published it, nor prompted me or influence me in any way.
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