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I need basic electronics books (diodes,transistors,current..etc) as I am just starting out with electronics and want to have something to read over the holiday.

Any suggestions of good beginners' books?

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Great question, very characteristic of the SO question along the same lines. – Anonymous Type Jan 13 '11 at 22:54
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This is our one question for listing great electronics books, let there be no other. – Kortuk♦ May 24 '12 at 16:47
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Before reading about electronics, get a physics book (higschool senior or university first year level) which has chapters on electricity and magnetism. – Kaz Sep 30 '12 at 5:03
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@Kaz, I might disagree with you. My highschool books, told me how electricity and magnetism work, but not how to really use through the use of components. Given that he wants to learn and probably "do" something, a highschool book would just be a bore until hes really serious about learning it. – efox29 Mar 13 at 5:42
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@MDMoore313 I agree but only to get a complete understanding of it. If i recall correctly, my hs textbooks didn't give me enough to really do anything with it. I understood that current flowing through a conductor creates a magnetic field etc, but it wasn't enough for me to really do anything at that age. My books didnt talk about LEDs or diodes, and you dont need to understand magnetism to use a diode. It depends on what the OP wants to accomplish - Learn how, and do it. Or do it, and learn why. – efox29 Mar 14 at 21:21
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29 Answers

up vote 68 down vote

The Art of Electronics:Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill

Often described as the Bible of Electronics. Its fair to say that if you buy this one, you wont need another for a while!

Contents:

  1. Foundations

    • voltage and current; passive components; signals; complex analysis made simple.

  2. Transistors

    • an easy-to-use transistor model
    • extensive discussion of useful subcircuits, such as followers, switches, current sources, current mirrors, differential amplifiers, push-pull, cascode.

  3. Field Effect Transistors

    • JFETs and MOSFETs: types and properties; low-level and power applications; FET vs bipolar transistors; ESD.
    • how to design amplifiers, buffers, current sources, gain controls, and logic switches.
    • everything you wanted to know about analog switching -- feedthrough and crosstalk, bandwidth and speed, charge injection, nonlinearities, capacitance and on-resistance, latchup.

  4. Feedback and Operational Amplifiers

    • "golden rules" for simple design, followed by in-depth treatment of real op-amp properties.
    • circuit smorgasbord; design tradeoffs and cautions.
    • easy to understand discussion of single-supply op-amp design and op-amp frequency compensation.
    • special topics such as active rectifiers, logarithmic converters, peak detectors, dielectric absorption.

  5. Active Filters and Oscillators

    • simplified design of active filters, with tables and graphs.
    • design of constant-Q and constant-BW filters, switched-capacitor filters, zero-offset LPFs, single-control tunable notch.
    • oscillators: relaxation, VCO, RF VCO, quadrature, switched-capacitor, function generator, lookup table, state-variable, Wein bridge, LC, parasitic, quartz crystal, ovenized.

  6. Voltage Regulators and Power Circuits

    • discrete and integrated regulators, current sources and current sensing, crowbars, ground meccas.
    • power design: parallel operation of bipolar and MOSFET transistors, SOA, thermal design and heatsinking.
    • voltage references: bandgap/zener: stability and noise; integrated/discrete.
    • all about switching supplies: configurations, design, and examples.
    • flying-capacitor, high-voltage, low-power, and ultra stable power supplies.
    • full analysis of a commercial line-powered switcher.

  7. Precision Cicruits and Low-Noise Techniques

    • an easy-to-use section on precision linear design.
    • a section on noise, shielding, and grounding.
    • a unique graphical method for streamlined low-noise amplifier analysis.
    • autonulling amplifiers, instrumentation amplifiers, isolation amplifiers.

  8. Digital Electronics

    • combinational and sequential design with standard ICs, and with PLDs.
    • all you wanted to know about timing, logic races, runt pulses, clocking skew, and metastable states.
    • monostable multivibrators and their idiosyncrasies.
    • a collection of digital logic pathology, and what to do about it.

  9. Digital Meets Analog

    • an extensive discussion of interfacing between logic families, and between logic and the outside world.
    • a detailed discussion of A/D and D/A conversion techniques.
    • digital noise generation.
    • an easy-to-understand discussion of phase-locked loops, with design examples and applications.
    • optoelectronics: emitters, detectors, couplers, displays, fiber optics.
    • driving buses, capacitive loads, cables, and the outside world.

  10. Microcomputers

    • IBM PC and Intel family: assembly language, bus signals, interfacing (with many examples).
    • programmed I/O, interrupts, status registers, DMA.
    • RS-232 cables that really work.
    • serial ports, ASCII, and modems.
    • SCSI, IPI, GPIB, parallel ports.
    • local-area networks.

  11. Microprocessors

    • 68000 family: actual design examples and discussion -- how to design them into instruments, and how to make them do what you want.
    • complete general-purpose instrument design, with programming.
    • peripheral LSI chips; serial and parallel ports; D/A and A/D converters.
    • memory: how to choose it, how to use it.

  12. Electronic Construction Techniques

    • prototyping methods.
    • printed-circuit and wire-wrap design, both manual and CAD.
    • instrument construction: motherboards, enclosures, controls, wiring, accessibility, cooling.
    • electrical and construction hints.

  13. High-Frequency and High-Speed Techniques

    • transistor high-frequency design made simple.
    • modular RF components -- amplifiers, mixers, hybrids, etc.
    • modulation and detection.
    • simplified design of high-speed switching circuits.

  14. Low-Power Design

    • extensive discussion of batteries, solar cells, and "signal-current" power sources.
    • micropower references and regulators.
    • low-power analog circuits -- discrete and integrated.
    • low-power digital circuits, microprocessors, and conversion techniques.

  15. Measurements and Signal Processing

    • what you can measure and how accurately, and what to do with the data.
    • bandwidth-narrowing methods made clear: signal averaging, multichannel scaling, lock-in amplifiers, and pulse-height analysis.

It takes a bit of a commitment to read it all, but it is the sort of book that you can pick from. Not to heavy on the maths.

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It is out of date, but it is still the easiest way to look up how different tasks are accomplished in one location. In every field you can find a single book that represents the core material of the field, this book is just that, but for all of EE. – Kortuk♦ Nov 24 '09 at 8:24
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I think all books are out of date prety much as soon as the binding is glued into place! I think though if you can absorb this book as your basic starting position (and I am still absorbing after 12 months!) other sources such as t'internet dont tend to throw up too much outside your newly aquired vocabularly... – Justblair Nov 24 '09 at 22:54
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Many of the foundational principles are timeless. – Robert Harvey Mar 30 '10 at 22:52
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This is definately the best general electronics book I ever came accross. I never understood op-amps at a very fundemental level until I read the section on op-amps in this book. Worth the price for that moment of clarity alone. If you're ever teaching electronics and trying to explain virtual ground this is where to start. It always confused students to see their signal 'dissapear' at the input pin of the op-amp. – ttt Apr 1 '10 at 9:06
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I second the suggestion. You should get going by reading only the first (analog) part of the book. The digital part is a little out of date and IMHO was not so great in the first place. – jpc Apr 18 '10 at 15:07
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up vote 33 down vote

While this isn't a book, the online All About Circuits site is fantastic. The examples are simple and easy to learn from. I use that in conjunction with some of the other books I have (which all have some pluses/minuses):

  • Paul Scherz's Pratical Electronics for Inventors. I inherited this book from my late cousin. Very concise, almost too concise, but has a ridiculous amount of data/information that is useful for designing practical circuits. However, it's not very good at explaining concepts in an easy-to-understand fashion. That said, this book was easy to use in a pinch at RS to learn enough about transistors to select some for a project in 10 mins after asking for help from the clueless salesperson, and its data tables can be useful. Great as a reference, but might be overwhelming to learn/teach yourself from.

  • The Art of Electronics is the ultimate reference/explanation. Pretty much anything that you really need to know when designing circuits is in there. But it's not very good at learning book, more as a reference. But if you need to think about all the aspects of a design, they've got you covered. It's a must-have.

  • The Getting Started With Electronics book from RS, I've found, is probably the worst reference I own. It has cute pictures, but is extremely terse in its explanations. After taking a class on electronics, and re-looking at the book, I find it only useful as a way to jog my memory in remembering formulas, basic circuits and such. He also bucks tradition: all current flow is labeled non-conventionally, which is really confusing when using his reference with others. That confused the heck out me when learning about transistors. That said, it's easy to find and cheap.

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I second Practical Electronics for Inventors. That was the book that we used for a Physical Computing class at NYU's ITP program. Students (non techy) were taught basic electronics from that book. It was very effective. – milesmeow Jan 6 '12 at 11:09
The comments on Amazon for 'Practical Electronics for Inventors' complain of numerous typos. – Tony Ennis Nov 21 '12 at 13:32
@TonyEnnis I own the second edition of book and have read through much of it, I don't remember seeing that many typos. They also released a 3rd edition Jan. 2013. – MDMoore313 Mar 14 at 12:36
up vote 23 down vote

I don't recommend Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M. Mims III. I tried to use this to learn electronics as a kid and I think it mislead me more than it taught.

I remember being frustrated by my inability to make simple circuits work, and I think this book's simplistic descriptions are partially to blame. Some examples:

  • It uses electron current in all the descriptions instead of conventional current. This isn't really wrong, but it's not any more right, either, and adds an unnecessary layer of confusion when looking at circuits anywhere else. Conventional current is not the opposite of electron current, it's a superset.
  • "Many trillions of electrons can ... travel through space or matter at near the speed of light!" Nope. In wires, electrons travel maybe 1 mm/sec. Even in vacuum tubes they only travel around 1% of the speed of light. What really matters in circuits is the waves that travel through the electron fluid, not the electrons themselves.
  • "The minus side of our homemade capacitor is charged with electrons almost immediately." So why don't we store electrons on the other plate too, and get twice as much? :)
  • The drawings show little cartoon electrons jumping out of wires, getting "stuck" inside resistors, being blocked by the field of an FET, or stuck on one side of a thyristor with none being able to get to the other side, etc. Likewise, "When bombarded with light, heat, electrons and other forms of energy, most semi-conductor crystals will emit visible or infrared light." Electrons are not a "form of energy", and they don't "bombard" the semi-conductor. I imagined that electrons went into components like light bulbs or LEDs, got "used up", and turned into photons, like the illustrations in the book. So why then, do they need a second return wire if there's nothing left to return? And we have to put the resistor upstream from the LED, right, in order to slow down the electrons and reduce their energy before they get to it?
  • "Transistors can be used as amplifiers" ... "Therefore a very small emitter-base current will cause a much larger emitter-collector current to flow." This made me think that the emitter-collector junction can source a current. (It's a regulating valve, not an amplifier. There is no energy source inside a transistor.) None of my transistor circuits ever worked.
  • "Ground" is described as "the point in a circuit at zero voltage, whether or not it's connected to ground". Huh? "For instance, the minus (−) side of the battery in the circuits above ... can be considered ground." So what causes it to be at zero voltage? Why is the minus side of the first battery ground, but the minus side of the second battery is not?

I struggled with these descriptions for years. Only when I got to college did I finally start to learn this stuff, rather than poke in the dark and hope that things worked.

I think William Beaty's Electricity Misconceptions pages are much better at explaining electricity in an intuitive, but accurate way, and helped "unteach" all the incorrect things I learned from other books.

Another book I don't recommend is Sedra & Smith's Microelectronic Circuits. Their teaching method for transistors is very unintuitive and impractical, for instance. If you want to memorize a bunch of equations without actually learning anything you can use to build circuits, this is the book for you.

Art of Electronics does a much better job of teaching transistor circuits. It's good and practical.

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when I was first learning amplifiers people kept telling me for a small input current there was a large one, I was very lost until I finally figured out that there still had to be a source of power. – Kortuk♦ May 16 '11 at 5:11
I'm looking at a 1988 edition. Most of these points are very minor nit picks, and the quote about transistors is out of context from a page that is very clear where it also says things like: "A very small current or voltage at one lead can control a much larger current flowing through the other two leads.". There is a clear diagram about how current flowing into the emitter is split off into smaller collector current and small base current. A diagram is given on the same page of a common-collector circuit with two batteries: a 1.5V powering the base side, and a 10V on the collector branch. – Kaz Apr 24 at 14:45
@Kaz: I disagree that they're minor. If you don't understand how electricity works, your attempts at building circuits will always seem like voodoo that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Here's an example of how this book leads to erroneous conclusions about how to build circuits. – endolith Apr 25 at 14:53
@endolith I don't think you can build circuit from that book. It doesn't give the kind of information to design anything even moderately complicated. It gives a very broad "how stuff works" overview of a large number of devices, which is useful: foil electroscopes to microphones to triacs to logic gates. I'm looking that that question now, but I cannot find where in the book it claims that the LED's resistor must be on the anode. In fact, it shows a "polarity indicator" consisting of back to back LED's, with a resistor that is on one's anode and the other's cathode. – Kaz Apr 25 at 15:03
up vote 14 down vote

I really enjoyed Practical Electronics For Inventors by Paul Sherz.

It's easy to read and fun without being simplistic and glossing over important details. As the title suggests it's geared toward hands on practical electronics rather than someone studying for an EE degree. For example there's a page comparing the types of capacitors available and how to recognize each. It has a good amount of detail without getting dry and textbookish.

There's not very much detail on modern microcontrollers in this book, but don't let that stop you, just grab another book dedicated to that topic if you're interested. You'll need to learn what's in this book to get the most out of using microcontrollers anyway.

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I agree. It is a good intro book. Unfortunately it lacks lab experiments. In addition, it is apparently full of errors. Here is a list of errata: eg.bucknell.edu/physics/ph235/errata.pdf – Dave.Mech.Eng Dec 7 '11 at 4:19
I recently purchased the 3rd edition (2013). Unfortunately, there are still a horrendous number of errors, in this otherwise fine text. – John O Mar 24 at 23:20
up vote 13 down vote

So to sum up the /. article and add a few cents.

Highest recommended were the following:

Art of Electronics, Horowitz

get an Arduino and play/walk through the plethora of howtos

Practical Electronics for Inventors: Paul Scherz

Getting Started in Electronics: Forrest M. Mims III

I was surprised to not see "Black Art of Game Console Design", "Physical Computing" or "Making things Talk". Course my filters may have knocked them off, or folks might consider them to be a bit too practical.

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up vote 13 down vote

First, "Make: Electronics" then "The Art of Electronics" (2nd ed.) by Horowitz and Hill.

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+1 for Make: Electronics. Fantastic book. – GaryJL Aug 10 '12 at 12:45
+1 Thanks. I'm going to start learning electronics with Make: Electronics book, followed by The Art of Electronics. Great recommendations! – Anthony Aug 20 '12 at 9:01
up vote 13 down vote

If you're just starting out I would recommend both

Getting Started in Electronics

and

Make: Electronics: Learning Through Discovery

The Getting Started in Electronics book as become a standard in the electronics world since it's initial release in the 1980's. It's easy to read and follow and has taught electronics to a lot of folks.

Make: Electronics is a little more hands on and will introduce you to the theories as you are building real circuits. It's a fun book but be warned to get all the parts you need for the book you will end up spending about two hundred dollars. Don't let that scare you though because if you are wanting to learn electronics you're going to have to invest money at somewhat to get the basic stuff this book is asking you to get at some point anyway. Doing it this way at least helps you get a list of things that you will need together. It's not as proved as the Getting Started in Electronics book but I think it will be another standard for anyone getting started in a few years.

The Art of Electronics that was mentioned by another person is a good book but it may be to technical for folks just starting out.

There is my 2 cents. Good luck with your learning and have fun,

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1  
Seconding "Make: Electronics: Learning Through Discovery" - helped a lot of things click for me. It's well illustrated and full of examples. – Greg Jun 8 '10 at 18:10
+1 for Make: Electronics. Fantastic book. – GaryJL Aug 10 '12 at 12:44
up vote 10 down vote

Check out this slashdot question on the almost exact same topic. Make sure to set the comments threshold to see only comments rated +5, and you'll see all the most popular suggestions.

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up vote 10 down vote

tronixstuff recommended "The Art of Electronics". I think the associated student manual would also be helpful. It has 23 labs, 20 worked examples, extra notes and associated reading assignments out of the main text. Here's an informal YouTube review of the student manual:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCk56XPKw9g

I know you're not looking to read a whole lot, but I figure it can't hurt to include some links that you may find useful.

Lectures:

Books:

Articles & Tutorials:

Applets & Simulations:

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I've read the first 250 pages of the art of electronics. It is a great reference, but, not a great beginner book. I had some success learning with the associated lab manual and by doing the labs. This will cost you quite a bit in equipment. You'll need two function generators to do some of the labs. You'll definitely need an oscilloscope. All the digital stuff is totally obsolete and requires equipment you'll never find. Good luck finding parts too! Most are obsolete, expensive, or hard/impossible to find. I have been through this and I don't recommend it. – Dave.Mech.Eng Dec 7 '11 at 4:17
up vote 3 down vote

I really liked "Make things talk". it doesn't explain to much theory, but helps you to get your first projects started.

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up vote 3 down vote

If you want a very affordable and welcoming book rather than a college textbook, I highly suggest All New Electronics Self-Teaching Guide. It's a gentle introduction to electronics that has you work through examples so that you grasp the concepts. It will get you through the basics: DC, diodes, BJTs, FETs, AC, oscillators, resonant networks, transformers, etc. I used the original version years ago and it helped start me on the path to where I could work with the more comprehensive (and technical) textbooks like Sedra & Smith.

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up vote 3 down vote

A good beginner book that covers transistors (and plenty of other stuff) is the excellent "Art of Electronics", which you will see recommended everywhere. Old but still very useful.

Specifically transistor orientated, the best book I have seen is:

Principles of Transistor Circuits - a very in depth book, now in it's ninth edition. If you are new to all this I would recommend starting with something less "in depth" such as Practical Electronics Handbook, Practical Electronics for Inventors, or the above mentioned AOE, and then proceed to this.

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up vote 2 down vote

Books

Beginner's Guide To Reading Schematics - I find myself returning to this over and over again to figure out circuits on various devices that I tend to disassemble.

Embedded Software Primer - A good intro for beginners

Practical Electronics for Inventors - Awaiting shipment - seen mostly good reviews on this. There are some typos that are supposed to plague this edition - however if you aren't a greenhorn, I guess it would not pose a big problem.

Websites

Robotics India - A good resource for beginners and pro's alike

Hack-a-day - no intro needed, I guess.

Lets make Robots - another great robotics site.

Rgds,

Sushrut.

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Nice list, I am interested in Embedded systems so I think Embedded Software Primer would be a good read. Where did you get the book in India? Any website where I can order it online with reasonable shipping? – Rick_2047 Sep 29 '10 at 15:25
I got the Primer book from Gangaram's, Bangalore. However, it should be easily available in most bookshops. Or try flipkart.com online - they have free shipping to anyplace in India. – Sushrut J Mair Sep 30 '10 at 12:08
up vote 2 down vote

I'd suggest following the course at edX "MITx: 6.002x Circuits and Electronics". It' s not just a book, it is a really serious course and you are forced to do homework and labs in order to get a certificate, so there is higher motivation then reading a book

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up vote 2 down vote

I find the book Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory by Robert L. Boylestad and Louis Nashelsky, great. Best description of BJT hybrid param equivalent model, diodes, good description of JFets, Darlington and feedback circuits. It will surely encourage anyone take VLSI/Analog as a career.

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Note that this answer become useless when Amazon stops selling "this book". At least include the title in your answer. – stevenvh Sep 26 '12 at 8:18
@stevenvh , you are correct, thanks! – Ishank Mar 12 at 11:40
up vote 1 down vote

Also I subscribe to the RSS feed for this weird site called Chiphacker. Not sure what that's all about...

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up vote 1 down vote

http://www.graffe.com/forums/forum.php - Lots of things of general interest, gaming discussion, political and news.

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up vote 1 down vote

One of my favorite electronics books is "Practical Electronics for Inventors". Ignore the title, it has nothing to do with inventions and patents. It starts out with a basic intro to electronics, various electronics components, semiconductors, optoelectronics, ICs and op-amps, filters, oscillators and timers, voltage regulators and power supplies, audio electronics, digital electronics, motors, and ends up with constructing circuits, multimeters, and oscilloscopes.

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up vote 1 down vote

Getting Started in Electronics [Forrest M. Mims III] is a very simple book that gives a gentle introduction to a broad range of electrical topics. It is definitely worth a read for anyone starting with electronics.

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up vote 1 down vote

You can't go wrong with the other suggestions, but at least consider the ARRL handbook? If you're just starting out you need a wide ranging survey... if your brain is hurting from transistor equations, read about lightning protection for awhile. So you've got the theoretical knowledge of which amplifier class has lower distortion, but until you understand why you want that... 73 de N9NFB

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My copies are ancient and reflect the technology of their era, but I have found all the ARRL books very good. I'm just re-reading the Antenna Book now. I don't think the theory itself has changed for that. – mickeyf Sep 12 '12 at 14:01
up vote 1 down vote

In the German speaking part of the world

Tietze, Schenk: Halbleiterschaltungtechnik.

is very famous.

There is also a English translation:

Electronic Circuits: Handbook for Design and Application

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up vote 1 down vote

I started with Electronic Devices and circuit theory by Robert Boylestad. It started with the very basics and was a great book to begin with. Also Microelectronics Circuit Analysis and Design by Donald Neamen is a good resource for a beginner.

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up vote 0 down vote

I am supprised to see that noone has mentioned Sedra & Smith Microelectronic Circuits. It starts from very basic consepts in the first few chapers, but then covers pretty much everything. The book contains a lot of circuit analysis and design examples. I got it for the sencond year electronics class and ended up returning to it over and over again for different classes as well as for work related stuff.

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1  
I'm currently using that book as the reference text for my Electronics I and II classes. I hardly ever open it, I think it's horribly organized and quite hand-wavy in many of its explanations. – Shamtam Apr 17 at 3:42
up vote 0 down vote

I started of with "Electronic Devices and Circuit theory" by Boylestad and Nashelski and found it quite impressive with its perfect blend of concepts and up-to-date technology, so I would suggest you the same.

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up vote 0 down vote

My coursebook was Basic Electronics by Bernard Grob. I think it's an excellent reference and covers electronics basics very thoroughly. (I had 6th edition in my class; it is currently at 11th edition.)

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up vote 0 down vote

CODE: The Hidden Language of Hardware and Software This is a great book that starts at the very beginning of understanding electronics. I am a professional EE and I really wish I had read this book before even starting my EE courses in college. A great read for any newbie or advanced engineer.

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up vote 0 down vote

I'm not sure what level you want to be learning at, whether seriously or just for fun, but if you want to get a taste of electronics, consider the Evil Genius Series of books.

They have fun projects that you can do at home with stuff you can find at some of your local stores or even online. They explain how it works, just for you to get the basics of it, which I think would be great for you.

If you start to develop a taste for electronics and want to really know more, then start going into the more technical and "mathy" books that really explain how you can move electrons around.

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up vote 0 down vote

Check this book:

ANALOG SEEKrets

This book explains electronics from a different perspective.

For more information on this book visit the author's homepage.

Homepage of ANALOG Seekrets

I would also suggest The Art of Electronics, by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill as others do.

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