Understanding Basic Electronics – A Step-by-Step Guide to Electricity, Electronics, and Simple Circuits

goes over basics really quick, good refresher & study guide

I purchased two beginner's electronic books and they both proved to be as described on Amazon. This one is more about reading and thinking while the "Maker" book is more about hands-on experiments. The two are a great complement. This one is perfect when you just want to read, learn, and understand without sitting a desk fiddling with anything. Sometimes that's the best way I learn. Other times I need to "touch" the work to learn. Both work great.

This book is targeting readers who are new to electronics. The content is very basic and the language is kept simple - about on the same level with what is taught in some high schools. Math is simple and also very well explained. Any concepts discussed in the book are explained from ground up. You are not just presented with how something works but the author helps you discover it yourself from the very foundation throughout the book why things work as they do. The book starts to explain conductors and insulators and what current and voltage really means. Next resistors are discussed with Kirchoff's and Ohm's laws. Once this foundation is built, the book moves on to explore the difference between DC and AC and how to calculate impedances with capacitors and inductors before the book starts to dive into semiconductors. The common semiconductors such as diodes, bipolar transistors, and different FETs are explained. The last chapters talk about linear (analog) and digital integrated circuits. The appendix has some valuable information about thermionic (vacuum) tubes which are still found today in high powered radio transmitters. The book is an easy read and helps the newbie to understand the basics of electronics. The book teaches more than you need for the Technician or General exam but less than what is required for the Extra.

I liked the book but one should understand that it is truly written for the future/current ham radio fan. This doesn't mean that the contents are not useful; in fact, the basic electronics used in the ham radio area and every other electronics area is pretty much the same. I mention this because as a reader I needed some of the specific information in this book. On the other side, if I didn't have much of an interest in ham radio that I would probably select a different book to learn basic electronics. More specifically, I would choose a book that fit more into electronics for computers, home entertainment or any other specificities. I gave the book 4 stars because there were times when the writing just didn't explain the topic clear enough for me. The information was there but the author seeing the struggle slightly with his methods to get it to the reader. Still, the overall quality is good, the contents very good especially for a particular area, and the writing well above average.

This is an interesting book, as it covers a broad amount of subject matter. I struggled with the organization a bit, as Unit 1 - Introduction, seemed to cross into specifics, and some of the other sections seemed to be just introductory. Also, it seems to present some concepts in more depth than related topics. For example, capacitive and inductive reactive responses to frequency are presented, but passive filters are barely touched if at all, while resonant circuits are discussed in more detail. This may be due the importance of resonant circuits in Amateur Radio. In all, I find the depth on par for an introductory text but the breadth of topics inconsistent. As I read more, I found many of the explanations well thought out and easy to absorb. There seems to be some hidden gems of knowledge that aren't represented in the table of contents, which is great, but points to an organization issue. I like this book a lot.

I used to electrocute myself all the time. Now I'm safer than ever. Thanks to this handy guide that explains how to use wires And other things like capacitors. Read this. To catch a buzz or not to catch a buzz!

If you're just getting started with electronics as a hobby, I recommend this book as your introduction. This book was very well thought out in it's presentation, unlike other books I've purchased, or free courses I sought out online to supplement the books that left me feeling like I'm missing something. This book is very easy to read, has many diagrams, explains things very thoroughly, and provides points that help you integrate what you're learning with real world examples. At times it seems a bit repetitive, but I very much appreciate the fact that the repetition of some points confirms that I understood the point when it was mentioned earlier, and helps me avoid having to go back and reference the previous point. Each section in each chapter builds upon the points previously provided. I've only had this book for 2-3 days and I'm almost practically half way through the book, and excited that I'm finally integrating these concepts together, instead of having floating concepts that I learned from previous books that are missing some understanding that I've needed to move forward and continue learning.

Good book but if you have any kind of toe hold on the subject it will be very redundant. IT is however very detailed and explains everything so that the average 3yo could understand it. Over all it is a good book and if you have an interest, particularly if you have little to no knowledge to start with, I would recommend it.

Book content was good. But I faced 3 problems. Delay of more than 12 days, the original schedule was 28 days but in Amazon I always received the products much ahead of schedule, hence I was anticipating same for this order too but actually got it 41th day. Book was printed in 2011, and seemed like taken out from a library ( but new, not used one), I could see lots of library seals inside the book. MRP was 27 $, but I paid close to 60$..... Having said all these, I liked the book, so decided to keep it

This book is a very good introduction to electronics if you want to really understand it. Many other books skip over stuff but this is really in depth. I only wish it was an ebook because it is pretty big and heavy.

This book is very well written. Concepts I never understand are made clear in an easy to understand manner. I highly recommend this book.

great explanations of basic electronics

Good book to have as a reference when learning ham radio