The Forrest Mims Circuit Scrapbook

Rating:
Summary: A treasure
Review: Classic little book, great way to really learn your circuits. Extremely clear presentation.

Rating:
Summary: Great little book
Review: Forrest Mims is surely the master for explaning things to the average electronics hobbyist. His hand-sketched drawings and list of interesting applications are a delight to view. I highly recommend this book. However, there are a number of things within it that are simply outdated. For example, I couldn't find one circuit that used a single microcontroller. There are also some obselete projects, such as stop watches that use numerous old logic IC's. In such cases, microcontrollers would be a better approach. Aside from this fact, there is a lot that can be learned from this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great little book
Review: Forrest Mims is surely the master for explaning things to the average electronics hobbyist. His hand-sketched drawings and list of interesting applications are a delight to view. I highly recommend this book. However, there are a number of things within it that are simply outdated. For example, I couldn't find one circuit that used a single microcontroller. There are also some obselete projects, such as stop watches that use numerous old logic IC's. In such cases, microcontrollers would be a better approach. Aside from this fact, there is a lot that can be learned from this book.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: I love this book. I thought it was many interesting. I like to make circuits like the one in this book. I enjoyed to make circuit like one in this book. This book very interesting and educational. I like to read and build thing with this book. WOW!!!!

Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: I love this book. I thought it was many interesting. I like to make circuits like the one in this book. I enjoyed to make circuit like one in this book. This book very interesting and educational. I like to read and build thing with this book. WOW!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Errors, Omissions and Typos
Review: I purchased this book based on others previously written by Mr. Mimms. My old collection consisted of his 1980 edition of the Engineer's Notebook series and the Integrated Circuit Projects mini books previously available from Radio Shack. There always seems to be some overlap with his books. I was attempting to update my library since I had not been involved in circuit building for a while. I DO regret purchasing this book. As the title implies, this book should have remained his scrapbook. It contains typos, incomplete info and contradictions with his other published books while using some of the same IC's and circuits. As a result, some circuits don't work properly or not at all. One such example on page 129, the schematic of the general purpose amplifier. He has pin 1 of the 741 op amp as the output to the 386 chip. It should be pin 6 on the 741 chip (output). I attempted the circuit with his pinout and it would never work. Pin 1 is the offset null. Pin 6 is the output of the op amp. Other books of his state the 741 can use a single polarity power supply for non voice purposes and yet this same circuit uses such. He states the same circuit can be used with several type microphones or sensors etc. If used with a condenser mike it cannot be used without additonal parts.