Need book/lesson advice for newbie!

Thread Starter

CircuitLearner

Joined Sep 30, 2009
4
I hope some of you guys can help me. I’ve been reading the tutorials on this site and been lurking for the past few weeks now and although I like many of the tutorials posted I have been thinking I need to get a book to help me understand more about building my own circuits and something with a lot more math and calculations in it. I’ve searched the forum already before I posted this and I think I need a thread of my own.

I was hoping some of you could give me your suggestions on a book or two for someone who has little experience with circuits. I’ve already taken a full year of Physics and Calculus.

I recently bought Fundamentals of Electric Circuits by Alexander &Sadiku 3rd Edition and I have read the first chapter but for some reason I do not believe it is very well written. Has anyone used this book? Would you agree it is good for a beginner or have I made a mistake?

Other than this book do any of you guys have a few books that I might buy to read one after the other to help be learn all about building circuits on my own? Do you guys have any good books that have projects that are easy for someone new to electronics might try (Note I took a look at the ones posted in the HTML pages and will soon be trying those)?
Thank you to anyone who might reply, any advice would be great.

If this is not the correct place to post I apologize.
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,408
There are several ways to go about it. If you want to do hands on our experiments volume has lots of good projects (as does the internet). A formal course has the advantage of filling in holes, while hands on teaches the difference between practice and theory. Personally I think both combined is the way to go.

What are you're interests within electronics?

I've been doing a bit of writing of my own, you can access some of it here...

Bill's Index
 

Thread Starter

CircuitLearner

Joined Sep 30, 2009
4
There are several ways to go about it. If you want to do hands on our experiments volume has lots of good projects (as does the internet). A formal course has the advantage of filling in holes, while hands on teaches the difference between practice and theory. Personally I think both combined is the way to go.

What are you're interests within electronics?

I've been doing a bit of writing of my own, you can access some of it here...

Bill's Index
I'll be taking a look at your blog later today after classes are over. I'd prefer not to take a formal course as I have reviewed some of the ones at a college near me and I have not seen very good things. I learn better on my own from reading and doing projects personally.

I would like to learn a little of everything but my own interests in electronics would have to be related to building robots and in the future my own CPU's and things in between. I read a lot on instructables and I know I need a greater understanding of electronic circuits and building them if I am really to progress. The book I bought Fundamentals of Electric Circuits has a little of everything just the presentation of the material is not as good as I had hoped.

Anyways I will be reading your blog later and thank you for taking the time to respond to me.
 

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
Probably the best book for you to get your hands on is Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill - note it is old, published in 1989, but I can vouchee it is as good as ever for learning real circuits. It is lighter on the Maths but keeps it relevant.

This is probably better in the ER forum.

Dave
 

steinar96

Joined Apr 18, 2009
239
CircuitLearner. There are usually 2 types of electronic books. Those on circuit analysis and then those on electronics.

Circuit analysis books revolve around analysing circuits. While the other type is about different kinds of circuits which do different kinds of things and usually assume that you have a great deal of knowledge about circuit analysis.
So which one are you looking for ?
 

Thread Starter

CircuitLearner

Joined Sep 30, 2009
4
Probably the best book for you to get your hands on is Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill - note it is old, published in 1989, but I can vouchee it is as good as ever for learning real circuits. It is lighter on the Maths but keeps it relevant.

This is probably better in the ER forum.

Dave
Thank you. Just ordered Art of Electronics now :)

CircuitLearner. There are usually 2 types of electronic books. Those on circuit analysis and then those on electronics.

Circuit analysis books revolve around analysing circuits. While the other type is about different kinds of circuits which do different kinds of things and usually assume that you have a great deal of knowledge about circuit analysis.
So which one are you looking for ?
I'd like to learn about both things actually but it sounds like you are saying I need to learn about analyzing circuits first, so do you have any suggestions on which book would be good for someone with a good deal of math/physics background to start reading? I'd like to get the the point where I can take a circuit design and understand what it is doing and to be able to create my own quickly, that is the direction I am heading.
 

JDT

Joined Feb 12, 2009
657
Probably the best book for you to get your hands on is Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill. It is lighter on the Maths but keeps it relevant.
I have this book, I can also recommend. The good thing about electronics is that although there is some seriously horrible maths behind it all you can generally ignore it for most things. All you need is ohms' law and an occasional ∏ω and anything more than that use some simulation software!

Best to choose a simple project and get building.
 

ke5nnt

Joined Mar 1, 2009
384
A lot of my learning was done with the book [url="http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Electricity-Electronics-Gibilisco/dp/0071377301/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254407797&sr=1-1]Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics Third Edition[/url] by Stan Gibilisco. I have provided the link to amazon.com where you can preview pages and read the extensive Table of Contents. Each chapter concludes with a quiz on what you learned, and there's a final exam at the end of the book covering everything. I see on amazon.com also that there is a [url="http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Electricity-Electronics-Fourth/dp/0071459332/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254407797&sr=1-2]Fourth Edition[/url] also available now. The third edition is from 2001, fourth from 2006. It teaches you a lot of formulas for use in circuit analysis, which of course can be helpful in design as well. I've had very good luck with all 727 pages of it.
 

Thread Starter

CircuitLearner

Joined Sep 30, 2009
4
I'll order a copy of Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics Fourth Edition tonight. No need for anymore book suggestions, I think I have enough reading now to keep me busy for the next few months.

Thank you everyone for your advice it has all been really helpful.
 
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