Practical Electronics for Inventors, Fourth Edition

As other reviewer has noted the authors have made a very concientious effort to try to be clear and practical. This is not a theoretical book, although chapter 2 "Theory" alone may well be worth the price for book. Chapter 2 is the most difficult, extensive and theoretical chapter in the book, but worth the effort. The explanations are very detailed and organized on different levels of difficulty. The authors are very systematic in their approach. All basic RC / LC / RLC circuits are explained by calculus, by mechanical / hydraulical analogues and the behaviour is summarized in tables at the end of each section. The authors make a consistent effort to make sure the reader grasps the essentials.Whether the mathematics used in Chapter 2 is difficult or easy depends on the reader's prior background. Some knowledge of basic calculus helps, but is not an absolute requirement, as the solution of the equations is given and rather extensively explained by other means. Complex variables are also used, but the mechanics of complex variables calculations are explained clearly, simply and with enough worked examples and exercises to allow a dedicated reader to be able to learn how to get practical results without getting into the technical details.After chapter 2 the book gets very practical indeed, with detailed coverage of the elements of circuits (chapter 3). This chapter in particular is extremely well written The elements of circuits, from connectors to wires, to the different constructions, advantages, applications and disadvantages of different types of capacitors, resistors, inductors, batteries, connectors and even wires are explained at length.Transistors, Op Amps and Discrete Logic circuits are covered in the following chapters. An overview of microcontrollers and FPGAs is included but is not as deep, so if your interest is specifically in these you will have to expand with another book. Test equipment, oscilloscope and multimeter principles and use, pcb construction, recommndations on building your electronic component stockpile.... This book has almost everything I can think a beginner would need.While the book is not hardcover and somewhat floppy, it is sturdy enough to withstand heavy use. My volume is certainly not falling apart. T printing is black and white only, but the drawings and diagrams are very legible and clear. The paper quality used is a bit uneven throughout, with a few pages here and there printed on what seems more porous paper, but all perfectly legible.Some mistakes have made it to the fourth edition.1. On pages 182 and 184 the title of the section should be "LCR circuit" instead of "LC circuit"2. On page 302 section 3.5.2 the denominator of the expression in the example should be 1000 + 3000 ohms, instead of 1000 x 3000 ohms. The result is correctly stated as 4000 ohms.A well deserved best seller. If you know nothing about electronics it will get you to a very decent level of understanding. If you already know about electronics the explanations, tables, and detailed descriptions are very useful. It has a much gentler learning curve than the other classic book with a practical orientation "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz, buy both if you can, but "Practical Electronics" is an excellent place to start.

Having taken several Electrical Engineering courses as a part of my Software Engineering degree, and developed a keen interest in embedded systems, I wanted to pick up a book for reference on designing and building circuits. I was looking for something that would be useful both for reviewing topics and occasionally teaching myself something new, without wading through pages of examples and exercises, as is common with many full-blown textbooks. I read the description for the book, and it seemed to fit the bill, so I put it on pre-order and waited. It arrived around a week ago, and thus far it seems to be everything I was looking for, and more. If you don't want to sit through the rest of my review, I'll summarize by saying that this book is well worth the price. It is a big book, and covers a wide variety of topics in circuit analysis and design, from basic theory to electric motors to audio electronics. Each chapter includes an overview of the theory and big ideas of the subject, plus practical information for those looking to implement the ideas. I certainly was not disappointed.As I mentioned, this is a large book, checking in at nearly 1000 pages. "You could hurt someone with it," as my old literature teacher used to say. It may weigh heavy on the scale, but is light on your wallet, in the $20-$30 range for a new copy. Another reviewer has pointed out that the low price is partially enabled by printing on rather low-quality paper. This is true; the paper is not of particularly great quality, but in my opinion this does not detract from the book's worth. By no means is the book in danger of falling apart, so I would not let this minor issue deter you from picking up a copy.Now, regarding the content: this book is broken up into 16 chapters, or 17 if you count the three or four-page first chapter. The first "real" chapter is truly colossal, and fills almost 250 pages with the theory of electronic circuits. This alone is worth the price of admission. This is followed by another large chapter that deals with the basic components that are used in circuits everywhere, and includes many useful tables, diagrams, and sketches of almost every variation of the components imaginable (for example, the chapter describes 8 different styles of switches). From here, the book branches out into several areas of circuits. You can continue through the chapters in order, to learn about semiconductors, optoelectronics, and sensors; or you could jump ahead to chapter 12 to start on digital electronics, then continue to microcontrollers and programmable logic. In general, each chapter starts with a basic introduction to the topic, followed by subsections that dig deeper into the specifics. If there is anything to complain about structurally, it would be the rather odd placement of "hands on electronics," which is chapter number 7. The chapter itself focuses on the physical construction of circuits, including safety, diagrams, breadboards, and other lab equipment such as multimeters and power supplies. Given the content of the chapter, I feel that it would have made more sense to place it after the chapter on basic components, rather than wedged between sensors and op-amps. However, I certainly prefer to have the information in a strange location than not at all.All in all, this is an excellent reference for someone who wants a one-stop shop to review any of the wide variety of topics that are covered. This book does seem to be more focused on breadth of topics than depth, so it may be more useful to hobbyists than professionals. In either case, the book should be a valuable pickup for anyone in search of a solid overview of electronic circuits.