Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Book recommendations

J

James

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm a beginner with a basic/rudimentary knowledge of electronics. I'm keen
to learn about circuits, digital electronics and building my own circuits.
Any book recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


James
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm a beginner with a basic/rudimentary knowledge of electronics. I'm keen
to learn about circuits, digital electronics and building my own circuits.
Any book recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


James
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
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
James said:
I'm a beginner with a basic/rudimentary knowledge of electronics. I'm keen
to learn about circuits, digital electronics and building my own circuits.
Any book recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

The Talking Electronics books are excellent:
http://www.talkingelectronics.com/AllKitsWithPics/Books.html

For more in-depth and easy to digest digital theory I'd recommend
Digital Systems: Principles & Applications by Tocci:
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Syste...=pd_bbs_1/002-5864892-9798413?ie=UTF8&s=books

Dave :)
 
J

Jonathan Kirwan

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm a beginner with a basic/rudimentary knowledge of electronics. I'm keen
to learn about circuits, digital electronics and building my own circuits.
Any book recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

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
9/4/2006) at:

http://www.phy.davidson.edu/instrumentation/NEETS.htm

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
 
M

Michael Black

Jan 1, 1970
0
James" ([email protected]) said:
I'm a beginner with a basic/rudimentary knowledge of electronics. I'm keen
to learn about circuits, digital electronics and building my own circuits.
Any book recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Then you ask in sci.electronics.basics

MIchael
 
J

Jonathan Kirwan

Jan 1, 1970
0
Then you ask in sci.electronics.basics

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
 
D

Dr. Anton T. Squeegee

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm a beginner with a basic/rudimentary knowledge of electronics. I'm keen
to learn about circuits, digital electronics and building my own circuits.
Any book recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

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.
 
J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
David L. Jones said:

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.
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
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

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
 
B

Brian Ellis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Michael Black said:
Then you ask in sci.electronics.basics

MIchael

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
 
J

Jonathan Kirwan

Jan 1, 1970
0
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.. :)

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.
Just kidding... Some of the posted books are favorites.

Hehe. yes.
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 :)

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
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:05:36 GMT, Jonathan Kirwan

[snip]
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

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
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Joel said:
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...

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.
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.

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 (http://www.maxmon.com/), and Forrest Mimms for example
are a better start IMHO.

Dave :)
 
P

PeteS

Jan 1, 1970
0
Save your money on books and
Check out MIT's OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm

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
 
J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi David,

David L. Jones said:
It really depends on how old the OP is, I usually don't recommend H&H
to young beginners.

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

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
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Joel said:
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!)

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

Dave :)
 
Top