Basic Electronics Book [closed]

Question

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?

Answer 1

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 Circuits 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.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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 misled 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 an abstraction that includes electron currents, ion currents, hole currents, etc.
• "Many trillions of electrons can ... travel through space or matter at near the speed of light!" Nope. In wires (matter), electrons travel maybe 1 mm/sec. Even in vacuum tubes (space) 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 sources.

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.

Answer 4

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,

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

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

Answer 7

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

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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:

• LearnersTV: http://www.learnerstv.com
• EE Times Courses: http://www.eetimes.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/courses

Books:

• Simple Nature (physics with calculus): http://www.lightandmatter.com/area1sn.html

• HyperPhysics: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html

• Free Books by Topic: http://www.freebookcentre.net

• Lessons in Electric Circuits: http://www.openbookproject.net/electricCircuits
• DSP for Scientists and Engineers: http://www.dspguide.com
• Software Design: http://www.htdp.org/2003-09-26/Book

Articles & Tutorials:

• Review of Electronics: http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/electron/elecindx.htm
• Electronics Links & Tutorials: http://www.101science.com/eleclinks.htm
• Capacitors: http://my.execpc.com/~endlr/index.html
• Sensors: http://www.sensorsportal.com/HTML/Sensor.htm
• FPGAs: http://www.fpga4fun.com/FPGAinfo1.html
• PSpice: http://denethor.wlu.ca/PSpice/pspice_tutorial.html
• VHDL: http://esd.cs.ucr.edu/labs/tutorial

Applets & Simulations:

• Physics & Mathematics: http://www.falstad.com/mathphysics.html
• Electronics: http://www.falstad.com/circuit/e-index.html
• Karnaugh Maps: http://courseware.ee.calpoly.edu/~rsandige/KarnaughExplorer.html

Answer 8

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.

Answer 9

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.

Answer 10

Electrical Engineering 101, Second Edition: Everything You Should Have Learned in School...but Probably Didn't - Darren Ashby

Answer 11

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.

Answer 12

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.

Answer 13

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

Answer 14

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

Answer 15

• http://www.adafruit.com/blog - reposts a LOT of stuff, hard to keep up with
• http://www.electronics-lab.com/blog - lots of projects and stuff. They'll pay you $80 for an original project that you publish on their site
• Engadget - feeds from tags that might show stuff I've designed, or competitors
• http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html - Intuitive descriptions of things that are not intuitive, electronics mythbusting
• http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/ - PCB layout tips
• http://www.swharden.com/blog - Python + microcontrollers, sending signals across the ocean with a few mW
• http://prometheusfusionperfection.com/ - trying to build Bussard's Polywell fusion reactor
• http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/ - :D
• http://ericarcher.net/devices/ - cool/weird audio projects
• http://gieskes.nl/circuitbending - cool/weird audio projects

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

Answer 16

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.

Answer 17

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.

Answer 18

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.

Answer 19

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

Answer 20

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.

Answer 21

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

Answer 22

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.

Answer 23

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.

Answer 24

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.

Answer 25

Electronic Devices by Thomas L. Floyd is the recommended textbook in my Electronics course. Check out Electronics All-in-One For Dummies as well!

Answer 26

Check this books and notes:

Here is the good collection of electronics books for free download.Following books and material available:

Basic Electronics,Analog Circuits,Analog Electronics,Circuits Theory,Electronic Circuits,Microelectronics,Amplifier Circuits,Operational Amplifiers,Instrumentation Amplifier,Power Amplifiers,Digital Circuits,Analog to Digital Converters,Light Emitting Diodes,BJT Circuits,CMOS Circuits,JFET Circuits,MOSFET Circuits,Communications Systems, Comparator Circuits,Transistor Circuits,Diode Circuits,DSP Books,Electronics Laboratory, Filter Design,Digital Filters,IC Design,Logic Circuits,Logic Design,MicroProcessors, Microcontroller Application,Microcontroller,PIC,Oscilloscopes,Power Electronics,Motor Control,Power Control,Diac Triac,SMPS,Thyristors,Power Semiconductors,PWM,RFIC,Solid State Devices

Click Here to download above books

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• Other links

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Basic Electronics Lecture Notes: Download

Lecture Notes on Basic Electronics (PDF) :Download

Basic Electronics Lecture Handouts: Download

Application of fields and waves: Download

Analysis and Design of Electronic Circuits: Download

Answer 27

Electronics Projects for Musicians

by Craig Anderton

While primarily focused on building effects boxes for guitar/bass/vocals, it covers a whole lot of practical stuff, including:

• filters
• modulation
• power supply design
• design considerations for components, systems, and interfaces

It's divided into about 20 projects, with description/schematic/bom/pcb for each.

Answer 28

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.

Answer 29

I would start with Electronics for Dummies, a really good source for basics.

Then, there are lots of places you can go from there. One is to find project books, which are easy, just google "electronics beginner projects" and see what you find.

If you want another book from there, the best medium-level electronics book I've found has to be Practical Electronics for Inventors. Make sure you read the Dummies one (or similar) first, to hone up on the basic knowledge.

Also, if you want something to read, I heartily recommend Make magazine. An awesome source of skill-builders and projects of all kinds. Buy a yearly subscription, you will not regret it.

Answer 30

Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics, 5th Edition (Teach Yourself Electricity & Electronics) - Stan Gibilisco http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Electricity-Electronics-Edition/dp/0071741356/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392397759&sr=8-1&keywords=gibilisco+stan+teach