A Wavelet Tour of Signal Processing, Third Edition: The Sparse Way,   ISBN:9780123743701

Customer Rating: 

Don't be fooled by the word "Tour" in the title; this is not an introductory book. You're going to need to have taken some college level calculus/discrete math courses (and remember them) to get more than a surface level understanding of signal processing from this book. Download the first chapter of this book from: [...] to get an idea of what you're getting yourself into. Once you can break through the equations, this book charges through an immense amount of information about modern signal processing and will be very rewarding to the reader.

Customer Rating: 

This book is filled with useful information, but is a bit beyond my understanding. I get the general principles behind the formulas and theories, but I've got a bit of catching up to do before I can make full use of this book.

I chose this book because as a Computer Science major, the topics covered seem relevant. This book would demystify image compression algorithms if you have a need to process such information, and it does so in-depth.

The book is top-quality hard cover, and well illustrated. Well...illustrated. It turns out that black and white pictures aren't as telling in the image compression comparisons except in dramatic cases - quite a few leave you wondering what the difference is between compression methods. If you understand the underlying functions, you'll likely be able to "picture" the theoretical results in your mind.

Useful book with relatively new theory. May as well get started on one up from the ground floor. It's a good time to study wavelets and sparsity. I recommend this book.

Customer Rating: 

I already had the second edition of this work by Stephane Mallot -- which I appreciated as the best introduction to some main applied areas of wavelets [and cousins]. My main interest in wavelet-type mathematics is in what relates to wave-dynamics for applied and theoretical physics. I also have a general curiosity about wavelets [and cousins] via their variform usage in other physical sciences and signal-processing. I view this work as the best detailed presentation of wavelets [and cousins] in general. "A Wavelet Tour of Signal Processing" is very well-organized into an entirely coherent "Wavelet Tour" that can be followed with moderate effort.

Stephane Mallot is clear and rational, and does not have much of a specialist-bias [despite the modest claim of this book's title], building-up wavelet-type mathematics [and applications] step-by-step in classic academic format. For example, both analog and discrete transform theory is developed after a general introduction to such transforms, including Fourier-related ones of course. This involves orthogonal and orthonormal bases, dyadics and representations, naturally. Those remain important for physics -- such as with related Hilbert-space mathematics. Quantum wave-dynamic wave-packet theory has been one of the main inspirations of wavelet-type mathematics [and vice versa].

But, this newer edition, "A Wavelet Tour of Signal Processing -- The Sparse Way", has a refocusing via sparse representations and processing. The topics so well-covered in the earlier edition are still well-done. But, "The Sparse Way" enhances the previous topics -- and seems to unify the whole presentation of wavelet-related topics -- equally useful for theory and applications. Likely usage may include grid, media, shock and scale matching-and-smoothing across such boundary-layer topological zones -- via sparse-processing "dictionaries" of redundant, thereby adaptable, wave-forms -- rather than rigid [exact a priori] orthonormal base-sets which can be tricky [if not impossible] in such cases. I have always liked a "Least Action" approach [when possible] -- minimizing energy-and-time to reach an optimum. "The Sparse Way" seems very in tune with that -- and is likely just a better viewpoint for understanding as well as calculation. Bravo Stephane Mallot +++

Customer Rating: 

I picked this book up after talking with some of the DSP guys at my office on what was the best book to get started in field with. Almost all of them had some version of this text on their desk or knew where to get their hands on one. All of them spoke very highly of it and I was excited to find a new edition copy.

Having looked through the book and read the sections relating to stuff I do or have done I have a few observations:

This is an awesome reference book if you remember something from class a few years ago and need a refresher.

Each chapter has a list of questions at the end, sadly I can't find a list of answers in the book or available online.

This is not a book for a beginner. If you don't have a background in the subject or a good source to ask questions of I don't think you'll be able to get much out of it.

I would have benefited from some real time examples either on a CD/website for some of the concepts to bridge the gap between text and application. The book has numerous figures showing various levels of processing that would make a great java applet example. If I was taking a college class I'm sure this would be more accessible, trying to study on my own at home and work it's hard to come by examples that illustrate the cases from the text.

All in all it's an amazing text and reference, just not for the newbie.

Customer Rating: 

Mallat's 800 page tome here is a very encyclopedic coverage of contemporary wavelet techniques and tricks. It takes the form of a "traditional" textbook: While there are some very brief refreshers on linear algebra, calculus, and statistics in an appendix, make no mistake -- there's a lot of advanced mathematics in the book, beyond what many (probably even the majority) of engineers learn during their undergraduate years. Additionally, while there are plenty of good "homework" problems at the end of each chapter, no solutions are provided. This all has several implications:

-- This isn't really the book you want for self-study if you aren't already familiar with wavelets. I'd suggest something like "A Primer on Wavelets and Their Scientific Applications" by Walker for that.
-- It can be a fine book for a college class on wavelets. I suspect the best approach would be for an instructor to use his own notes, assign reading for reinforcement, and problems from the end of each chapter. The deal here is that, in many cases, making good use of the results doesn't always require a full understanding of the mathematical underpinnings of the subject, and an instructor can guide students around what matters if they just want to apply the results (most students) vs. obtaining a deeper understanding that could be used to conduct new research or whatever (the very occasional student).
-- It is, of course, a fine reference for anyone already working in the field and familiar with the subject. Mallat is a pretty brilliant guy.

Note that Google Books has a copy of the earlier 2nd edition on-line; this might be handy for some people.