hi Prahlad

thank you ... i liked all of them for various reasons (except my wifes' books which i haven't looked at, just saw the titles on the shelf; note i mispelled "Modeling" in the Ogunnaike&Ray book). the van de Vegte and Ogata books would be good to start with, van de Vegte has a lot of problems in it. maybe you can get the solutions manual for it. it is also the newest, maybe the examples are clearer.

i would go to the bookstore and see which books are available in international editions and see which ones you like. when i was in college i visited Hongkong and picked up a lot of international editions of textbooks, including the Houpis&Lamont book for $72HK retail, i.e., $9US; it would have cost around $70US in the US for the hardbound version (softbound textbooks weren't available here).

the schaum's outline costs a lot less than the others and should include answers to all the problems, and was printed new in 1987 but actually is a 1967 text, so there is a tradeoff there ... i bought it for $40.50HK in Hongkong in 1989 ($5US), i see the newer 2nd edition is $11.87 from amazon, you can also browse other control systems books from this link and check the user reviews ...

james