If you’ve studied telecommunications or electronic engineering in Italy, you know the drill. The professor walks in, writes “Segnali determinati” on the blackboard, and points to the green (or blue) cover of Luise & Vitetta’s “Teoria dei Segnali” (published by McGraw-Hill).

So if you see that green cover in a university library or on a used-book site for €20 — buy it. Your future self (studying for the esame di Comunicazioni Digitali ) will thank you.

Every time I revisit the chapter on the Hilbert transform or the matched filter, I find a detail I missed before. That’s the mark of a great textbook.

Beyond the Formula: Why Luise & Vitetta’s “Teoria dei Segnali” Is Still the Bible for Italian Engineering Students