Sold on a smart home? Dabbling with a plan to turn your house “smart?” If yes, what’s holding you back? Not too sure of the technology involved? Unsure about the time, effort, or cost to budget? Had to shelve your project because of other priorities? Whatever your reason, if you have a dream of making your “ordinary” home smart, The Smart Home Manual by Marlon Buchanan will help you reboot your plan — and get it done! You may be an expert, novice, or even a non-tech person, but so long as you are inclined, this book will see you through to your aim!!

Techies and geeks won’t need any introduction to Smart Homes, I’m sure. However, for the lay-person who still fancies a Smart Home, let me make the smallest introduction that will fit into the scope of a review like this: Dumb + Intelligence = Smart. Your “ordinary” home is “dumb,” because it behaves the same way, regardless of changes in the environment (that require a different response). So, if you switch the porch light on at night and forget to turn it off, it will keep on burning, night and day, until you notice and switch it off! However, if you attach an “intelligent” light sensor to it when daylight is sensed, the sensor will send a command to the switch to go “off,” and off it will! The light sensor added intelligence to the system: if it’s dark, do nothing, but if you sense daylight, switch off the power. That’s intelligence, that when added to a “dumb” porch light, made it smart! The same principle applies to all smart devices.

The book uses a very practical approach. All recommended devices comply with applicable standards like ASHRAE, AHAM, IEEE, FCC, etc. and are compatible with popular voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant. Similar is the approach to technologies and protocols. Adherence to standards and compatibility with related products ensures you'll always have a safe upgrade path and protection for your investment. No matter at what point you currently are in your plan to transition to a Smart Home, you’ll find a suitable starting point in the book from which you can work forward.

I recommend this book to all who are seriously drawn to Smart Homes and Smart Home technology. It’s more suited to DIY’ers than other readers. It’s ready for the USA, but if you live in a different country, you may have to look for equivalent products/devices that are available/suit your country.