The Art of Control Engineering

I had been looking for an introductory textbook that motivates the study of controls before presenting the analysis and design techniques, and presents a range of topics besides classical continuous-time, frequency domain control. This book is it! It has material on digital, multivariable, and nonlinear control, which can be used beyond the first controls course - a consideration given the price of textbooks. The didactic discussions of concepts complement the explanation of techniques. The math is kept simple and introduced as needed.

From basics (Laplace) to advanced control theroy (Kalman), this book hit it all. The math is even easy to follow. This book will serve you well as either a stand along self teaching guide, or as a supplemental reference to a formal control systems course.