This textbook is an extremely comfortable read. It covers a lot of material, including fundamentals of state space and digital control; still, the clear and succinct writing guarantees that the reader is never sidetracked trying to interpret meaning. The author is both an excellent writer and a highly knowledgable engineer -- exactly the mix I look for in any textbook.The introductory chapter alone reveals the quality of this text (compare it for instance to Franklin et.al. or Dorf/Bishop). The organization, including the two progressive case studies, is perfect throughout the book. The prerequiste is nothing more than a full course on electric circuits (ideally). I have taken a course in complex analysis, which I would say shed no extra light on the material of this book. It is my favourite among my fifty plus engineering textbooks.