Book recommendations

martin

Books?? It's 2007 and still no flying cars but there's gotta be learning software..

Now this would be cool if it exists (probably does): "Learning electronics with SPICE" A basic spice program with 100's of files to be examined in order. Each file explains and illustrates basic component operation and also shows the math for those components. Great if it's set up to be interactive. Students predict using presented math and confirm using spice. (Of course non-ideal properties will have to be included at some point.) D from BC

The Talking Electronics books are excellent:

For more in-depth and easy to digest digital theory I'd recommend Digital Systems: Principles & Applications by Tocci:

Dave :)

Without knowing you better, it is hard to say. But I'll take a shot.

One of the recommendations you already have is The Art of Electronics, by Horowitz and Hill. The book is pretty good (and I definitely recommend getting the 2nd edition -- 1989.) For someone new and teaching themselves, it starts out at the right place but moves at a steady pace that may be rather too quick, eventually. If you _also_ get the Student manual for it, published separately, then it goes from pretty good to darned excellent as a good self-teaching set. At times, I've found much needed design methods that helped me understand the book material better only there in the student manual. So I also recommend adding that, if you plan to get the big book, too.

For other general electronics stuff, you could look to older teaching materials, periodically updated, which will cover many of the details quite well. For example, there is the Naval Electrical Engineering Training Series which is available completely for free (or was, on

Some of the material will have some dated phrases in it, but it does cover a lot of the basics for electronics.

For digital electronics, I'd recommend looking for earlier books on the subject (once ICs were available), as well. It is in those materials that you will often find __more__ explanation, because the field was newer and the audience more likely to need a slower pace. One example is Don Lancaster's two volume set, Micro Cookbook. The parts will be __very old__ by today's standards, but Don's skill at mixing drawings and cartoons with text is good and I found it quite easy to follow for the entire way through them, back when I first picked them up decades ago. Another fun one is Bebop Bytes Back, An Unconventional Guide to Computers, if you might be interested in how a CPU or microcontroller works inside. At the same time, it does teach some of the basics of digital electronics.

But digital electronics also requires you to learn about various digital technologies, such as RTL, DTL, TTL, CMOS, etc. Some of these include further refinements or cross-overs, such as LS TTL (low power schottky) and AHCT (advanced high-speed cmos with ttl inputs.) RTL was an early digital technology but it is still used (with some easy analog design rules) in conjunction with today's digital electronics in discrete form outside a micro, for example. I don't have a recommendation for a book that covers all this well, but would be interested to see one recommended to you.

In addition to all the rest, there are some seminal application notes available from various IC manufacturers -- I'm thinking here of some on operational amplifiers, in particular -- that are very much worth getting. I think some of the others here may have these links at their fingertips.

Search the web for explanations as you learn terms related to them, too. Sometimes, you will get some great pages to help. (You also have available a very good and free Spice simulator program from linear.com.)

Jon

Then you ask in sci.electronics.basics

MIchael

I thought that at first blush, too. But then I realized that perhaps some of the better folks to answer this may not frequent that group.

Jon

In article , snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com (known to some as James) scribed...

Horowitz and Hill's "The Art of Electronics."

Clive Maxfield's "Bebop to the Boolean Boogie" (strange title, I know, but it makes for a good read).

The ARRL's "Radio Amateur's Handbook"

I will add that ARRL has a number of other books out, including one on digital radio design.

Happy hunting.

They're excellent for building kits, and the guy *tries* to explain the theory of operation at times, but he's doing it without any fancy math and, I think, doesn't succeed as well as Horowitz & Hill do... I also think he's occasionally wildly off-base. :-) That being said, the books are cheap, and worth having copies of since the projects are a lot more "practical" for a beginner than H&H's are. H&H isn't going to show you how to build a bunch of wireless bugs whereas TE will! ...albeit the end-result is that you have something of a "cookbook" wireless bug design, rather than something that you could re-design from scratch if need be.

The worst thing that can happen by posting a basic book question in sci.electronics.design is that a senior engineer may blow the dust of those old books and you'll get titles that include 3 chapters on tubes.. :) Just kidding... Some of the posted books are favorites.

Times are changing and training software should be all the rage... Imagine combining Adobe + MathCAD + SPICE +Media Player+Half Life game engine = one kickass training package :)

D from BC

I've found "Practical Electronics For Inventors", second edition by Paul Scherz a very good book. It covers theory very well, different types of circuits (both analog and digital), plus a chapter on "hands-on electronics". It has a very reasonable price, as well.

Brian Ellis

I haven't had a chance to go back and figure out how the value of the grid leak resistor can be properly set, so that nag is still in the back of my mind to work out. ;) I remember seeing a lot of ~200k resistors there, though.

Hehe. yes.

Also, there is VHDL and verilog and FPGAs today and cheap board houses to use in all this. Sure saves on wire-wrapping tools, proto boards jumpering, and labor when you want to combine some modest level of logic.

I wish this stuff had been around earlier for me.

Jon

Save your money on books and Check out MIT's OpenCourseWare

Maybe the future of electronics training will be like this: Take a 4 year university program and convert that into an environment similar to modern video games. Pack it all in on a few DVD's... If one has questions..then one goes online (like with online gaming) and pays by credit card to consult with online instructors. My recommendation to the OP is to kill 2 birds with one stone. Learn electronics and at the same time develop RTS (rapid training software) ...make millions$$$ :)

Currently ...the best thing about university is seeing those cute campus girls roaming around.. :) D from BC

At technical detail, for sure, but H&H can be a big and scary book for a beginning hobbyist! It really depends on how old the OP is, I usually don't recommend H&H to young beginners.

Nothing wrong with that for a beginner. Not so much the "bug" books though (unless the OP is into that), but the digital course, and the Electronics Notebook series are good, if a bit hap-hazard. If you try and "teach" proper design to a beginner first up with a dry textbook style it can loose them. They are better off with something fun and "personal" to keep them interested, stuff from the likes of TE, Clive Maxwell

Dave :)

Much of my December 1992 column on tech books remains relevant. Per

And yet there is nothing quite like a book one may turn the leaves of to return to a particular issue.

Say what you will, there is not now, and probably never will be, a replacement for a real book. That does not deny the positives of online courses; merely puts them in perspective.

Cheers

PeteS

Link please? That graphic doesn't help much.

Thanks Dave :)

Hi David,

Fair enough; I'd save H&H until at least the high school level.

This line of reasoning suggests getting a subscription to, e.g., Nuts & Volts magazine as well, which is well worth it. (I think it's the last U.S. publication aimed at electronic hobbyists!)

---Joel

I been hearing about that one for years, but can't say I've ever taken a look at it...

Dave :)