Schaum's Outline of Electronic Devices and Circuits, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS, SECOND EDITION - CATHEY

It's always interesting to see how authors attempts to fill those niches between basic DC/AC circuit analysis with passive components and analog (linear) circuit design/analysis with active electronic circuit devices. Discounting the fact that this is, after all, an outline on the subject written as a supplement to your text, I'd give it a C+.

About 75% of the book is dedicated to diodes and transistor (all types) amplifier circuits. This is basic resistor biasing, find a load line, and establish the Q-point, kind of stuff. If you're studying to become an analog circuit designer, it is unlikely that ever, in your life, will you be called upon to design such a discrete transistor amplifier; however, this is a "row you'll have to hoe". So if you find yourself in the middle of a blizzard of transistor symbols, parameters, models, characteristics & configurations, this may be of some help; it's no silver bullet.

It would have been nice to have seen some introduction to 1) semiconductor physics, 2) current source biasing, 3) oscillators, 4) basic power supplies, 5) data conversion and 6) integrated circuits and etc.

Best help will be found in 1) DC and small signal examples of BJT and FET transistor design, 2) transistor modeling, 3) better than average SPICE examples, 4) and working with semiconductor parameters. There's a brief introduction to OP Amps and Switching Regulator power supplies. I didn't see a lot of errors and, with most Schaum's Outlines, there are plenty of practice problems.

If you are still looking for help, try looking at some of the books written by Thomas L. Floyd. One hardback - "Fundamentals of Linear Circuits" - now ten or more years old, can be picked up on the used book shelves for about what you will pay for this outline. His books that I've seen are more for the ET than the EE, however if you're looking for another down to earth view of basic analog circuits, I suggest you check it out.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: I have read the material through chapter 6, and believe it to be well-presented - concise yet thorough. I am troubled that some of the solved problems seem to have glaring errors. If I am wrong, I hope someone will correct me (If I were an expert in this field, there would be no point in buying the publication). On page 84, material is presented that indicates that for an n-channel MOSFET to be active, vgs must be greater than or equal to Vt. Solved problems 4.10 and 4.11 have solutions showing the MOSFET active with vgs < Vt. Solved problem 4.12 appears to have a similar error. I am sympathetic to the difficulties of putting together such a publication and ensuring that it's void of errors. To me the solution is to post an errata sheet on the internet. I have contacted the publisher seeking an errata sheet for another book. Their response was basically, "thank you for bringing the errors to our attention, but no, we can't make the errata sheet available." It seems to me that posting of errata sheets on the net would enhance the value of McGraw-Hill's products. An alternative may be to sponsor a forum or chat-room for each book, so that users could compare thoughts. On the whole, I rate this publication a B- or C+. I have found this and other Schaum's Outlines to be helpful when used to augment other materials.

Rating:
Summary: Schaum's Outlines - Electronic Devices and Circuits
Review: I have read the material through chapter 6, and believe it to be well-presented - concise yet thorough. I am troubled that some of the solved problems seem to have glaring errors. If I am wrong, I hope someone will correct me (If I were an expert in this field, there would be no point in buying the publication). On page 84, material is presented that indicates that for an n-channel MOSFET to be active, vgs must be greater than or equal to Vt. Solved problems 4.10 and 4.11 have solutions showing the MOSFET active with vgs < Vt. Solved problem 4.12 appears to have a similar error. I am sympathetic to the difficulties of putting together such a publication and ensuring that it's void of errors. To me the solution is to post an errata sheet on the internet. I have contacted the publisher seeking an errata sheet for another book. Their response was basically, "thank you for bringing the errors to our attention, but no, we can't make the errata sheet available." It seems to me that posting of errata sheets on the net would enhance the value of McGraw-Hill's products. An alternative may be to sponsor a forum or chat-room for each book, so that users could compare thoughts. On the whole, I rate this publication a B- or C+. I have found this and other Schaum's Outlines to be helpful when used to augment other materials.

Rating:
Summary: My ebook experience
Review: This is my first ebook, and it may be the last for a while. I was able to download the ebook from Amazon without trouble, but I was not able to transfer the ebook from one computer to another, because I couldn't get my Adobe Reader 6.0 activated. Unfortunately, I used my desktop computer to download the ebook, because it is connected to DSL. What I want is to have the ebook on my laptop (not connected to DSL, though), so I can read the ebook at work. The good news is that this ebook didn't cost very much. I also don't think this is Amazon's problem, but they happen to be the messenger.

So far I have read one page of the book, which is not neither good nor bad (meaning 2.5 stars). One of these days I'll get a hold of a hard copy and read the entire book.