Book excerpt: In the world of optical data communications this book will be an absolute must-read. It focuses on optical communications for short and very short distance applications and discusses the monolithic integration of optical receivers with processing elements in standard CMOS technologies. What’s more, it provides the reader with the necessary background knowledge to fully understand the trade-offs in short-distance communication receiver design and presents the key issues to be addressed in the development of such receivers in CMOS technologies. Moreover, novel design approaches are presented.