This book was written, according to its Preface, with two major aims: to serve as a reference volume for postgraduate students in electrical engineering and computer science, and to provide the practicing engineer with up-to-date information and recent research results on reliable hardware design. The author also feels that the book will be a suitable text for final-year options in undergraduate courses, provided that the readers have some background in switching theory and logical design.

The basic concepts and definitions of reliability and the various fault models are delineated in the first two chapters. Chapter 3 presents some elementary testing techniques for detecting faults in combinational, as well as sequential, circuits. The next two chapters present various methods for fault-tolerant hardware design and procedures for implementing self-checking and fail-safe circuits. Chapter 6 focuses on design for testability; it describes various design techniques which can be used to simplify the testing procedures for digital circuits. The book has an extensive bibliography.

The book covers a large number of topics and presents numerous techniques. I found some of the descriptions to be too brief and shallow; in such cases, the book serves mainly as a guide to the literature. Its advantage is in its breadth. One can find an elementary introduction to most known techniques with ample reference to the sources. It is therefore a valuable book for those who are interested only in the basic definitions and techniques and for those who need to be guided to the relevant literature. It may serve as a reference in a course only if supplemented by some of the original papers. The book is easy to read and understand. The figures are clear and adequate. There is no problem section.