Confusion in choosing "Beginner to Intermediate" level electronics study book

Thread Starter

nirvanbd

Joined Feb 8, 2013
3
Hi all,
I am a computer programmer and willing to study electronics. I had considerable Maths & Electricity experience from my academic/engineering study. Accordingly as a warm up, I purchased "Fundamentals of Electric Circuits" by Charles Alexander and found it easy to follow. I also have brushed up my Calculus skills and am comfortable with it. As a next step I am considering one of the following books.

Electronic Principles - Malvino
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory - Boylestad
Fundamentals of Microelectronics - Behzad Razavi
Microelectronic Circuits - Sedra and Smith

From the reviews on the net I guess that "Electronic Principles - Malvino" is too basic and does not really go in depth. On the other hand "Microelectronic Circuits - Sedra, Smith" seems to be over complicated and looks like it is mostly enjoyed by professionals rather than beginners. I am not sure about the other two books though. "Electronic Devices and Circuits Theory" I guess looks promising, but it seems to be very old (its already in 11th edition now) and Razavi's book is completely new and full of apprehensions (for me). I know that I could be wrong with my guesses and that's why I ask for helping me make a reasonable decision.

regards,
Nirvan.
 

tshuck

Joined Oct 18, 2012
3,534
Hi all,
I am a computer programmer and willing to study electronics. I had considerable Maths & Electricity experience from my academic/engineering study. Accordingly as a warm up, I purchased "Fundamentals of Electric Circuits" by Charles Alexander and found it easy to follow. I also have brushed up my Calculus skills and am comfortable with it. As a next step I am considering one of the following books.

Electronic Principles - Malvino
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory - Boylestad
Fundamentals of Microelectronics - Behzad Razavi
Microelectronic Circuits - Sedra and Smith

From the reviews on the net I guess that "Electronic Principles - Malvino" is too basic and does not really go in depth. On the other hand "Microelectronic Circuits - Sedra, Smith" seems to be over complicated and looks like it is mostly enjoyed by professionals rather than beginners. I am not sure about the other two books though. "Electronic Devices and Circuits Theory" I guess looks promising, but it seems to be very old (its already in 11th edition now) and Razavi's book is completely new and full of apprehensions (for me). I know that I could be wrong with my guesses and that's why I ask for helping me make a reasonable decision.

regards,
Nirvan.
The Sedra/Smith book presents things in a logical manner. It is enjoyed by professionals because of how it lays out the reasoning behind equations and gives insight to the behavior of the devices. This is always my vote.

Boylestad's book seems to be decent also, but I haven't used it like Sedra/Smith...
 

Thread Starter

nirvanbd

Joined Feb 8, 2013
3
tshuck,
thanks for letting me know about your experience in relation to Sedra and Smith. I think it is standard text for most universities, so I am getting inclined towards going for it.

But in the meantime, I found another book authored by "Donald Neamen" and titiled "Electronic Circuits Analysis and Design 3rd edition". Here is the link to the publishers site http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070634335/information_center_view0/book_preface.html.

This book is rated well in my country. By any means did you happen to come across this book? If you may wish to comment on the same please do so as it will help me making deciding whether to go for "Sedra/Smith" or "Donald Neamen".

thanks,
Nirvan
 

tshuck

Joined Oct 18, 2012
3,534
I've never used/seen it before, but it seems like a decent book from the preface.
However, in the preface, it lists some prerequisites for the book:
PREREQUISITES
This book is intended for junior undergraduates in electrical and computer engineering. The prerequisites for
understanding the material include dc analysis and steady-state sinusoidal analysis of electric circuits and the
transient analysis of RC circuits. Various network concepts, such as Thevenin’s and Norton’s theorems, are
used extensively. Some background in Laplace transform techniques may also be useful. Prior knowledge of
semiconductor device physics is not required.
If you feel like that's you, go for it!
 

Thread Starter

nirvanbd

Joined Feb 8, 2013
3
I've never used/seen it before, but it seems like a decent book from the preface.
However, in the preface, it lists some prerequisites for the book:

If you feel like that's you, go for it!
It was very kink of you to point out the prerequisites of "Donand Neamen" which some how I missed when I was reviewing the book. The only thing I am not aware is the "Laplace transform techniques" which I think I can fix in a week's time.

So I think I will give a try for the "Donald Neamen" and see how things go.

By the way, it seems, "Neamen" changed the title of his book from the 4th edition and is now published as "
Microelectronics Circuit Analysis and Design", which is available at Amazon but not in my country. So I will stick to the 3rd edition.

Thanks for all the help.
Nirvan.
 
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