The Art of Electronics

Rating:
Summary: The best book of electronics!
Review: This is the simplest way to explain electronic techniques from root to fruit! I congratulation both authors for this really "art" text. This book has resolved me quite a lot of problems. I plan to buy yet another their book named "Student Manual for the Art of Electronics"!

Rating:
Summary: amazing resourse
Review: I have used this book in support of an electrical engineering curriculum and it really has helped me take the theory into the practical realm of things. Well worth it....

Rating:
Summary: I can see why others gave this book a 5
Review: This book is like a bible for Electrical Engineers. There are many concepts that are reviewed in this text and would be recommended for Engineers out there as well as students. Not everyone can remember all the theories there are, and you have to agree with me, that surfing the internet looking for an answer can be a real pain. I still prefer flipping pages then searching the web for the "right answer."

I met several Electrical Engineers who owns this book, and keeps it at work. I flipped through it and found out why. The book explains concepts really well.

Rating:
Summary: The best overall electronics book there is
Review: I recommend this book to everyone I know interested in electronics regardless of their knowledge and skill level. This book is full of useful circuits that are simple and work great. Just the other day I needed an absolute value circuit and a peak value circuit, I looked in the index, and there they were. If you know absolutely nothing at all about electronics this book might move a little fast for you, but if you like to learn, and like to think, and want a fantastic electronics reference book, this is the book. I first learned of this book when I took an electronics class; the instructor had written his own book, which we had to buy, but he told us this book was less expensive and better! If you like electronics then buy this book and you will probably use it almost daily. I read some of the criticisms on this book and some said that the book didn't go into enough detail on its circuits - I disagree; the circuits are all explained well but the explanations are short and to the point to enable the authors to include more circuits in the book (it's already as big as most phone books). If you don't understand a circuit all you need to do is go back and read the chapters on resistors, diodes, capacitors, transistors. etc., and then look at the circuit again. Everyone I know that deals with electronics from the basic hobbyist to the top analog engineer has a (worn out) copy of this book on their shelf.

Rating:
Summary: The Art of Electronics
Review: This text is good as a overview of circuits and designs for an experienced engineer, providing a wide variety of examples. However, it often lacks explanations and discussion on the theory behind the design examples, which makes it very difficult to understand for a novice. Without a decent background in circuit components and their functions, this text will leave you with many unanswered questions.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: This book has one big plus, and that's its breadth. It covers
everything from basic RC networks to a complete mini-computer.
It's also full of tips, tricks and rules of thumb (or rule of
thumbs?).

However, this comes at a price. Most of what the explanations
in this book are woefully inadequate, if present at all. Very
often, you'd see a complicated circuit accompanied by a statement
such as "so and so circuit is good for doing this" and that's it!
And many of these circuits are not obviuos. Soemtimes a tip or
a circuit trick is introduced without explaining how exactly it
works. Some circuit symbols are used without every explaining
what they mean and to top it all off, I found out from one of
the authors recently that in some of the schematics they use
"real world" component values instead of theoretical ones. As
an example, they terminate 50ohm transmission lines with 51ohm
resistors in their schematics (theoretically, you use 50ohm
terminators). That would be fine if they pointed it out, but I had to
spend hours trying to figure out what the heck was going
on before i emailed Win Hill. Finally, the most confusing aspect
are jargon words thrown around without explaining what they
mean.

In outher words, this looks more like a set of notes one
experienced engineer would write for another when they both
know what they're talking about, and not at all like a teaching
book.

It could have been much better, but they chose to go for
quantity and sacrifice quality, so I can only give it 1 star.
Great circuit advice is worth nothing when you don't understand
the theory behind it.

Rating:
Summary: I Can't wait for the 3rd Edition of this book
Review: I have been a Digital IC designer for sereval years, this is a totally very complete complementary book about almost all fields of electronics, from components to circuits, from circuits ideas to system constructs. No redundant daunting math. & theories in, just the real practical circuits, systems there. It helps me, a IC designer with little system perspecitives, a lot to construct the system knowedge that my IC will work in. Though my school's text book, Millman's "Microelectronics, 2nd Edition", is good book but lacking something to glue an electronic system to work. I can't wait for the 3rd edition of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Dated, Dry and Not for the Beginner
Review: Ok, I read this book cover to cover, and then some. What do I think? We'll it's a classic, no doubt, but classics within the cutting edge field of electronics are not usually good things, unless the authors stick to the fundamentals. But the authors don't. They get into gorry detail after detail about obsolete processors (e.g. 68008), obsolete microprocessor-based instruments, obselete programming styles, obselete prototyping methods, and simply obsolete circuit design. To simply get a sense of the basics you must wade through page after page of incredibly boring details about obselete devices. You may read this stuff, and perhaps feel like you've just conquered a difficult topic, but then you ask yourself afterward what can I do with my knowledge. For me, not much. It's not written in an introductory text manner so you can get a firm grasp on the circuit theorems, transistor models, and op amps. For example, you wouldn't read this book and then expect to be able to pass an exam. Ok, it may not be meant for that, but what then? In terms of practical stuff, forget it. Today, anything interesting involves using a microcontroller. But where in the book are microcontrollers. Yes on page 975 they have a paragraph about microcontrollers, but that's it. No pictures, no example microcontrollers, no example microcontroller applications, nothing. If you were a newbe to electronics, after reading this book, you'd probably not even realize what one was, or how incredibly important and useful these things are today. No mention of PICs, Stamps, etc. Also, there are hardly any examples of how to do interesting things, such robotics, controlling LCD displays, controlling servos, and other I/O devices (most of which use microcontrollers--what a supprise!). OK, I know that the book might not be meant as a hobbyist book, but what's the point of such a book if you don't come away with a practical sense of know-how about applying your knowledge to real-life applications. The only practical application I found in the book was cooking an egg, and boy was that complex. This book might have been good 15 years ago, but today it's not! Why wade through such complex information when it's obsolete, or doesn't teach you the fundamentals in a rigorous manner. The only time I seem to open this book is to look at the derivative formulas in the appendix, and then I'm not even dealing with electronics! Read this book if you are a historian or a hardcore academic, but don't read it if you want to get cracking on cool electronic gadgets.

Rating:
Summary: This is the bible.
Review: A Classic. The authoritive book on digital and analog electronics. A million ideas, tables and circuits. I'm currently an advanced undergraduate in physics, and this book is the first (and usually the last) resource I use when trying to solve a problem in electronics. This, the second edition is aging, but still very useful for most modern applications for the non-EE major.

Rating:
Summary: Good for intended purpose
Review: Horowitz and Hill's book is a commendable effort. It serves its targeted audience well. Hence 5 stars for its rating. Too often however people seem to overrate it. There is life (.and electronics) after H&H, and designers would do well to keep this in mind