Anyone else here consider this to be the best overall book on the subject?

 

Do a search here, that has been argued over quite a bit. But both it and the lab book are available online at: https://www.pdfdrive.com/

 

I sold mine, wasn't too impressed.
Max.

 

Anyone else here consider this to be the best overall book on the subject?

I don't think there is any one "best" book on electronics. Personally, I think AoE is worth having, as it has a lot of good information in it and is occasionally useful. But that's just me.

 

Especially when FREE! And you will find lots of good electronics books there also. You can at least review it and determine if you want to pay the high price for the printed version. Older versions can be found for a substantial discount at: https://www.gettextbooks.com/ along with many other books.

 

Hello,

the 2nd and 3rd edition are downloadable as opensource at the internet archive:
https://archive.org/search.php?query=electronics art of opensource&and[]=mediatype:"texts"

Bertus

 

It's far from the best. Definitely not worth $80.

 

I'd be interested in any recommendations for comparable/better books, AoE always seemed more comprehensive than many books out there.

 

3 textbook authors, in particular, come to mind. Dr Paul Malvino, Thomas L Floyd, and Bernard Grob have all written comprehensive textbooks covering AC/DC theory, circuit analysis, solid-state devices and integrated circuits, digital electronics and others without going into calculus. There are many others also depending on the depth of mathematics and theory you are interested in. I find Floyd to be more hands-on and practical yet covers the material very well. YMMV

 

But both it and the lab book are available online at: https://www.pdfdrive.com/

Is this a legitimate legal download? Or pirated? How can you tell? Has Cambridge University Press given it's permission?

 

3 textbook authors, in particular, come to mind. Dr Paul Malvino, Thomas L Floyd, and Bernard Grob have all written comprehensive textbooks covering AC/DC theory, circuit analysis, solid-state devices and integrated circuits, digital electronics and others without going into calculus. There are many others also depending on the depth of mathematics and theory you are interested in. I find Floyd to be more hands-on and practical yet covers the material very well. YMMV

Hmm I can see Electronics Principles is well regarded but is 90 bucks!! The authors too seem well regarded, thanks for this!

 

Hello,

There are books from grob and floyd on the internet archive:
https://archive.org/search.php?query=electronics grob opensource&and[]=mediatype:"texts"
https://archive.org/search.php?query=electronics floyd opensource&and[]=mediatype:"texts"

Bertus

 

Just realized that Paul Malvino and Albert Malvino are the same person Paul Albert Malvino. Have to say I really like what I'm seeing in the contents for the book Electronic Principles...

 

Hmm I can see Electronics Principles is well regarded but is 90 bucks!! The authors too seem well regarded, thanks for this!

That is why Bertus and I pointed to FREE sites that have it in PDF format. It may be an edition or 2 stale but has very little change from edition to edition. Also the available lab manuals where appliable. Same with the textbook site. It will list all editions and scans over 1000 book vendors to list who has what for what price both new or used. These are HUGE 1000+ page books that are HEAVY so kids prefer to load them onto their laptop for class instead of lugging them around.

 

ahh...just as an advice,don't try to equip such basic and essetial contents copyrighted or even open source stuffs freely...it looks like jumping into a bath room with many exploding sound bombs.
buy such essetial things as much as possible and keep your mind calm for rest of life.

 

3 textbook authors, in particular, come to mind. Dr Paul Malvino, Thomas L Floyd, and Bernard Grob have all written comprehensive textbooks covering AC/DC theory, circuit analysis, solid-state devices and integrated circuits, digital electronics and others without going into calculus. There are many others also depending on the depth of mathematics and theory you are interested in. I find Floyd to be more hands-on and practical yet covers the material very well. YMMV

I've heard of Malvino's book. Hadn't heard of Floyd and Grob. I looked them up. Interesting that Floyd and Grob both seem to gravitate to depicting current flowing in the direction of electron flow (from negative to positive). While technically correct, it might confuse US folks where we generally discuss current flowing from positive to negative. I probably would not teach with these books due to this. However, if you know this going in - I don't think it's a big deal.

I waffle back and fourth on if I like these types of books or not. They are certainly not up to junior year engineering standards which are generally calculus heavy (I studied with Sedra and Smith for my undergrad), but they bring more practical knowledge than what S&S brings. Example: I had to learn how to read datasheets on my own.
Edit: My last paragraph is BS the more I think about it. I think junior year engineering schools should be teaching books out of something like this. I want new grads to have some practical knowledge - not a bunch of mathematics. I'm just frustrated, I think, because I learned it the hard way which didn't set me up to be successful, but I had to relearn all over again once I got a real job. Having said that, I did learn how to analyze a circuit 9 ways to Sunday with S&S which served me well when doing WCA in aerospace. Now when I look at a circuit I don't only see the nominal functionality, but I also see where the weaknesses are with part variance. So I guess I'll also throw S&S into the fray if you want to really dive into details.

Having said that - I just found a copy of the 7th edition of Malvino for less than $15 and couldn't resist adding it to the library.

 

I was introduced to Malvino back in the late 70s with his small book Transistor Circuit Approximations. He also has one Resistive and Reactive Circuits which goes deeply into AC/DC RLC analysis. I think I actually like Floyd better of the 3 authors. Sedra and Smith is also available as a cheap previous edition or PDF. The lab manuals are a bit problematic. They often use old/obsolete parts and used lab manuals even in "Very Good" condition which means unmarked are often marked up/filled out or had the labs torn out to turn in. But the vendors have always refunded what I paid for them when that happens. Also difficult to find them in used very good condition and once again I prefer the Floyd/Bruchla labs as being more thought-provoking and applying what you learned instead of what I call "Monkey See, Monkey Do" simply following the instructions with no real thinking involved. I have also picked up some other authors' textbooks that I have used for reference but Malvino, Floyd, and Grob are the main 3 authors that interest me. Anyway, they keep me busy and entertained in my retirement.

 

I'm picking Malvino up more as a reference... I'm not personally interested in lab manuals - It's probably rare to find a virgin lab manual. I've done most of the labs in real life these days anyway. I want it more for teaching junior engineers (I hate S&S for this - too much theory) and for those once or twice a year occasions where I think to myself, "What's the equation and circuit for a second-order high-pass active filter, and should I use Bessel, chybychev, or butterworth? I forget. And I wish I had a good reference that I trust for the equations (because the web is hit-and-miss)... oh yes, that Malvino book that I picked up based on a recommendation of that retired guy on AAC with the cat will be perfect!"

 

The reviews for Electronic Principles are few and none of them shine much light on the books utility. Why - if such a good author - do I see just 11 reviews averaging 3.75 whereas the Art of Electronics has some 280+ reviews that average 4.7?

I'm curious here, just curious.

 

I don't put much value on Amazon reviews and they sell the books at very high relative prices for most of the books. There are 2 very basic books. Level 1 Introductory Basic Electronics starting with atomic structure and what an electron is then covering Resistors, Capacitors, and Inductors and their interaction with AC/DC. Some basic semiconductor material and overview. Then there is the Level 2 Electronic Devices which starts at Semicondutors and goes into detail with the various types of semicondutors and their circuits analyzed and some basic applications leading up to digital devices which are given basic introduction. A third level could be Digital Electronics going more in depth into integrated logic circuits and their design analysis and applications. Grob, Floyd and Malvino all have level 1 books. In Level 2 add Boylestad to Floyd and Malvino and they also have the Level 3 covered. I find AoC to be more encyclopedic than a textbook. I have it and have used it to "flesh out" various subjects. For some reason Dr Malvino and I don't seem to get along as well I do with Floyd. And I like Floyd better than Grob. Boylestad seems to suffer from brevity and doesn't give the depth that other authors do. There are many more published textbook authors other than these but these 4 sort of make up the mainstream without going into Calculus. Floyd and Malvino have appendices in their Electronic Devices book showing the higher order derivations for the basic equations. But that's just my personal opinion FWIW. To go deeper there is Sedra and Smith's Microelectronic Circuits or Ghausi's Electronic Devices and Circuits and many others.