My knowledge of how the piano works comes from watching the excellent video tutorials by Maestro Ferrarelli (Journey Inside the Piano).
For a potential reader of the text in question, I was wondering if it could be useful to me for a more in-depth knowledge of the subject or, conversely, would it be too specialized a manual and thus a useless expense.
Bettin's book is a beautiful book. Regardless of your technical skills, I believe it represents one of those books that are an absolute must-have for anyone interested in piano technology. Furthermore, you need to understand what you mean by "too specialized"; for me, something specialized is a discussion of topics involving Fourier transforms and differential equations. There is none of that in that book.
Giovanni and I are great friends and we write to each other frequently. I find his text very beautiful and fundamental. Naturally, some concepts may remain difficult or hard to apply, also because one cannot expect to acquire technical skills just by reading a book, much like watching my tutorials. The textbook is more detailed and scientific. My tutorials, intentionally, have a very intuitive approach, leaving the user with the desire for further in-depth study. Let's say it is a book that one should own and take, as with any manual, what we are able to understand and observe. That is already a lot because it allows us to understand what level of skill and knowledge we should demand from the technician who will care for our instrument. A clearer dialogue between technician and pianist is the goal that this site and forum aims to achieve.
