Gosling attempts to bring together in one place all aspects of simulation in the design of digital electronic systems, in an introductory manner. He has mostly succeeded in this effort. The book has ten chapters.

Chapter 1 introduces the basic concepts of simulation. Topics include the aims, levels, and models of simulation; test program generation; fault simulation; and timing  verification. 

Chapter 2 is a basic introduction to electronic CAD systems in terms of a brief description of the design process, design representation and capture, simulation, placement and routing, and silicon compilation. Chapter 3 introduces the concepts of design for testability, controllability, and  observability. 

Chapter 4 describes fault modeling and testing for design and manufacturing faults. A detailed description of the D-algorithm and its extensions is given. The chapter ends with a discussion of the metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) stuck open fault and high-level testing concepts.

Chapter 5 details the input and output environments needed for typical simulators and introduces modeling using very high-speed integrated circuit hardware description language (VHDL).

Chapter 6 is probably the most important chapter in the book. It introduces the two popular modes of simulation (compiled code and event-driven simulation) in considerable detail, with some good examples.

Chapter 7 provides details on modeling delays, gates, flip-flops, and memory devices. A brief description of high-level and hierarchical modeling methodologies is also given.

Chapter 8 briefly describes timing verification and includes a description of critical and false paths. Chapter 9 is a good introduction to fault simulation concepts, including static and dynamic reduction of problem size and parallel and concurrent fault simulation.

Chapter 10 concludes the book with a discussion of ideal extensions needed for simulators and a brief description of simulation accelerators from Zycad, Dazix, and IBM.

The book is very readable and well organized. The examples are good. It covers a large number of topics. As such, although it serves as a good introduction to simulation, much additional work would be needed before the reader could build a simulator.