Signal Processing and Linear Systems

I am teaching this course for the first time this fall and found almost every one of my student's (and mine) conceptual and mathematical questions answered clearly by this text. I naively adopted Oppenheim since it is a classic, but that text truly pales in comparison.
Examples of things I appreciate in Lathi:
1) It serves as an excellent reference book, with a background mathematics section, tables of transforms and properties.
2) It generally starts each subject at the right point (e.g., with the trigonometic Fourier Series) to give student better conceptual understanding. I doesn't skip the basics.
3) It answers many common conceptual questions like "What is the meaning of negative frequencies in the FT?", "What do complex numbers mean physically?"
4) I love the history and wit (Is it a sin to make a textbook readable and even enjoyable?)
5) A lot of references to real engineering applications. For example, a REAL chapter on DIGITAL FILTER DESIGN.

I could go on, but it is obvious that the author put a great deal of care into this text and even the solutions CD. This, for upper-level undergraduate texts, in my opinion, is truly rare (see however, "Griffiths" and "Zahn" for E&M)

NOTE: By the way, for a previous reviewer, Ms. Chaston, in my text, the appendices are located on pages 161, 222, 356, 457, and 609.

Finally, I must admit that my own stupid prejudice cost me from adopting this textbook this year. I thought to myself, can a book written by a man with the name "Bhagawandas Pannalal" truly write this eloquently in English? As I get more in depth into the book, the answer is clearly YES and more.