Rating: 
Summary: The best book available for this level of electronics.
Review: "Electronic Principles" covers mostly semiconductors; diodes, transistors, FET's, oscillators, op-amps, etc. This book is for the person who already knows basic AC/DC. This is a technician level book used by colleges and trade schools. Only basic algebra is needed to understand this book, no calculus. Malvino is the most gifted writer of electronics that I have ever come across. The first edition of this book was used by my college where I graduated with a degree in electronics in 1976. Since then I have owned the fourth and fifth edition as reference. Malvino has a rare gift for explaining technical material. His writing is both technical and personal and the same time. Thank you Albert Paul Malvino for teaching me 90% of what I know about semiconductors. No other electronics author comes close to your gift of making technical material understandable.
Rating:
Summary: The best book available for this level of electronics.
Review: "Electronic Principles" covers mostly semiconductors; diodes, transistors, FET's, oscillators, op-amps, etc. This book is for the person who already knows basic AC/DC. This is a technician level book used by colleges and trade schools. Only basic algebra is needed to understand this book, no calculus. Malvino is the most gifted writer of electronics that I have ever come across. The first edition of this book was used by my college where I graduated with a degree in electronics in 1976. Since then I have owned the fourth and fifth edition as reference. Malvino has a rare gift for explaining technical material. His writing is both technical and personal and the same time. Thank you Albert Paul Malvino for teaching me 90% of what I know about semiconductors. No other electronics author comes close to your gift of making technical material understandable.
Rating:
Summary: Great for Beginners
Review: After stumbling thru numerous basic engineering and electronics texts, I finally found Malvino's clear simple presentation which relies almost entirely on algebraic formulations and builds from basic principles to advanced circuits including a detailed treatment of transistor fundamentals and the the ubiquitous op-amp and proceeds to amplifiers, multivibrators , comparators, oscillators, and filters, etc. The presentation is logical and easy to follow. The book avoids an overly academic approach in favor of a practical emphasis without sacrificing accuracy or logic. This is a best bet for a beginner.
Rating:
Summary: I still use Malvino twenty-plus years later
Review: Electronic Principles, Second Edition, was my textbook in college in the late-70's/early 80's. It was great then, and it's great now. I updated my library with the Sixth Edition a few years ago and I feel just as rewarded as I had when I first learned the subject through the Second.I design electronic circuits sporadically -- I'm mainly a programmer and writer by trade -- and I need periodic reminders of the theory and math involved in designing and solving circuits. Malvino was and continues to be my main source, along with The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill and Calculus for Electronics by Richmond. Thank you, Dr. Malvino!
Rating:
Summary: Malvino makes the complex easily understood.
Review: Electronics is a difficult enough subject to understand without the unnecessary compounding of the subject that many other authors supply through gross over mathematical treatment of the topics. Malvino sucessfully avoids this pitfall and explains difficult subjects in the most concise and understandable terms with the most straight forward use and application of math available in print. This text is widely used by many Universities including (fortunately for me and my students) the one in which I teach. The students express a clear preference for it over alternative texts on the same subject matter. Malvino's clear "conversational style" of writing makes for pleasantly easy reading that is yet accurate and sufficiently detailed. He leads the arena with this book.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on Electronic basics
Review: I do not know what Dr. malvino wanted to do? Teach Electronics to kids? Because this is what the book is truly capable of doing. Indeed this is a must read for any Electronic student and professional alike to learn/improve the concepts of electronic. To understand the basic concepts of Electronics is no easy task. But with this book it will be. The design is first class with easy fluid language and the explanation is done with detailed simplified diagrams as well as good examples.
I am a process engineering student and truly, without this book (sixth edition) understanding the remaining part of my course would be quite a task.
In the book Mr.Malvino (who is a Phd by the way) starts with the very basics of electronics (Norton theory, semiconductors diodes etc.) and progresses with transistors in detail and moves through Op-Amps and FETs and MOSfETS and ends with power sources. Each chapter starts with the objectives (or what you will learn at the end of the lesson), vocabulary, the matter along with mathematical or elctronic exampleswhich are solved and ends with a trouble shooting matter. Following that you get a summary (very handy in your last minute rivisions before exams),some intersting student assignment, job interview questions, more problems to be solved, Critical thinking and trouble shooting problems. Also some facts about electronic and "did you know" sections to interest you and see to it that you never get bored. After completing this entire series, you end up knowing the stuff really well. Truly the best book in learning as far as I know.
So do buy this book and happy learning.
Rating:
Summary: Electronic Principles
Review: I feel this is the best book on Electronics I have ever read. It is easy to understand, comes right to the point and makes you feel so at ease with the subject. I think the book is outstanding because it explains transistors better than any other book I have ever read. Rather than a heavy use of formulas, Malvino relies on concrete explanations of the physical mechanism behind transistor action. On this foundation he then goes on to explain op amps, active filters, and many other advanced topics in the absolute clearest possible way. I have read the other reviews on this book and one in particular AMAZES me. It is hard to understand the above criticism of this book-- perhaps he has not read many books on the subject. I feel the conversational "jargon" is a great aid in benefitting the reader, and feel his criticism does not understand that this book is written so the neophyte is instructed and does not feel intimidated. Naturally, each is entitled to their opinion, but it is hard for me to believe that such intense dislike for such a great book can be expressed with little or no reason. In conclusion, in my opinion, I think the positive reviews from India, Alaska and Switzerland more closely describe this wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent/Easy to Comprehend/Succinct
Review: I feel this is the best book on Electronics I have ever read. It is easy to understand, comes right to the point and makes you feel so at ease with the subject. I think the book is outstanding because it explains transistors better than any other book I have ever read. Rather than a heavy use of formulas, Malvino relies on concrete explanations of the physical mechanism behind transistor action. On this foundation he then goes on to explain op amps, active filters, and many other advanced topics in the absolute clearest possible way. I have read the other reviews on this book and one in particular AMAZES me. It is hard to understand the above criticism of this book-- perhaps he has not read many books on the subject. I feel the conversational "jargon" is a great aid in benefitting the reader, and feel his criticism does not understand that this book is written so the neophyte is instructed and does not feel intimidated. Naturally, each is entitled to their opinion, but it is hard for me to believe that such intense dislike for such a great book can be expressed with little or no reason. In conclusion, in my opinion, I think the positive reviews from India, Alaska and Switzerland more closely describe this wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Malvino's "Conversational" jargon an obstacle to learning
Review: I had the misfortune of being required to use Malvino's text in tech school - and my advice to other students of electronics is to avoid any text authored by Malvino at all costs. The science of electronics is complex enough to integrate into one's conceptual knowledge, without having to wade through the often nonsensical, "folksy" soup of Malvino's prose. Beyond the decidedly unprofessional presentation of the subject matter in general, Malvino's introduction identifies his predilection for NON-ABSOLUTISM - in his paean to the logically corrupt notion that 'no one can really know anything with certainty'. Try testing the theory that "no one can really know with certainty" say, the consequences of shorting 120 Volts AC to ground through your body via a bare finger placed on a hot lead, on the assumption that current is "not an absolute." This is a philosophical issue - specifically a corruption of epistemology - but the result is a thoroughly unneccessary subversion of the learning process, and a thoroughly unneccessary addition of confusion to an already complex subject. The best alternatives to Malvino's distracting childishness are Thomas Floyd's excellent texts. You will find Floyd's work to be 100% professional, no nonsense, and unencumbered by Malvino's fashionable - and self-contradictory - disdain for logic.
Rating: 
Summary: I have extended the book into Cyberspace with a web site!
Review: I spent about a year in researching and revising the 6th edition of Electronic Principles. I'm sure you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Since this is the Information Age, I decided to extend the book into Cyberspace by creating a web site to support the book. The web site contains many free programs for each chapter that you can download and run on your computer. These programs include movies, T-shooters, multiple-choice questions, and Up-down Analyzers. In addition to the downloaded programs, I have created a Discussion Area, where you can ask me questions, make comments, offer suggestions, etc. Usually, I answer within 24 hours. You will also find other useful material at my web site including an Internet Glossary, Tutorials, Intuitive Edge, etc. I think you will like it. Check it out at http://www.malvino.com.
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