Practical Electronics for Inventors

I teach an introductory class in electronics at a small university. The class is intended for scientists, not electrical engineers; so the emphasis is on basic knowledge, practical troubleshooting skills, and design. I've used the Second Edition of this book a number of times with some satisfaction simply because the book covered most of what I needed. It was a great reference book for just about anything someone would want to know about electronics.However, there were some notable gaps in the Second Edition that I typically teach in an electronics class; specifically, I teach a section on transducers and microcontrollers. With the Third Edition, there are new sections on sensors (transducers) and microcontrollers, and now this book has everything in it that I could possibly want to teach. I've been using the Arduino for class the last couple of years because most scientists would use a microcontroller to design a piece of equipment instead of discrete gates and logic chips. So with these new additions, I cannot imagine any other book that would be needed for a class. So from this point forward, I will be using this book for EVERY electronics class that I teach.The detail in the book is in-depth enough for folks who want to know how everything works, BUT the person who wants to skip past the theory can certainly do that and STILL learn a lot from this book. As I teach, I tend to skip around within the book to cover what is important to me. The chapters are designed to be somewhat modular; for instance, I can teach the basics of analog electronics and transistors and then move to microcontrollers without necessarily having to spend a lot of time time on discrete logic chips.There are lots of illustrations and graphs; so those who need to see something to understand it will be pleased. There is also a lot of detail on practical things like motors that generally are NOT in an electronics book.The sections on household electricity are excellent and very useful, since some equipment/inventions would require mains power. So knowing how to be safe around it and how to use it properly is important.I haven't read every single page yet and marked it up. In a book this size, I am sure there will be some typographical errors along the way and maybe even a mistake or two in explaining something. But I would still say this book is the BEST practical book on electronics out there. Kudos to Mr Scherz and Dr. Monk. You've taken an excellent book and modernized it in a great way for the current day.In short, for a 1000 page book, anyone who buys this is getting a bargain. It's the BEST.

This book is chock full of everything a person could hope for. Possibly more than you'll ever need. Couple this with the Gibilisco book "Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics"and his book on reading schematics and that's probably all you'll ever need.It's a shame that Amazon doesn't provide a way to rate sellers. I buy a lot of books online, actual printed books made of paper. Many book sellers these days think it's enough to put a book in a thin plastic sleeves, or a paper USPS Priority envelope. IT IS *NOT*. I bought my copy on amazon because some nimrod elsewhere sent the first copy in a plastic sleeve. A book that was listed in very good condition was now in fair condition. Thanks dillweed. The seller of the copy purchased here did the one and only thing *EVERY* book seller should - they sent it in a heavy vardboard box. Close to the size of the book with material around it to keep it from banging around inside its box. Thank you!!!Book sellers take note of the facts above. Most people these days seem to have become complacent and let people get away with things, whether it is politicians, corporate executives or retailers and sellers of goods. Not me. If you drop the ball, I will be raising hell with the retailer, customer support, representatives, congress persons and senators.Rant over, off of soapbox. If you're interested in electricity and electronics, buy this book. The key/legend in the front of the book explaining how component symbols on schematics are drawn might be worth the book alone.

I work in RF electronics and packet radio transmission and this book is now used to supplement a few gray areas and enhance my knowledge...What I love about this book and what sets it different from other books is the decision by the author to not only involve minute details about how capacitors and inductors work, but also illustrate in 3d like substance what these electrons actually do under the influence of voltage potentials, timings and other things...The effort put into this book by the authors is just monumental...These are not 2d drawings with meaningless text attached, but actually problems that are meticulously worked out to minute detail and presented in a juicy 3d representation...I never knew I could learn so much details about coils, magnetism, flux lines, stray capacitance and resistance (parasitics), inductance, flux mechanisms, permeability of core material, air coils, toroids with various AL indexes of every fashion are all discussed with worked out problems in the book...This author is not only one of the non-lazy, I'm so smart so go figure it yourself author that copies irrelevant integration formulas from other books, but by simplifying complicated terminology, also manages to take you on a trip of the mind that goes beyond understanding the fundamentals and continuously engages and enhances your knowledge spectrum by continuously also stimulating your interest and sometimes refreshing your memory on some of the gray areas with ease and substance...Can this book ever be outdone? I'm quarter of the way through it and I am insanely grateful to this author! Things have become so much more clear! Next book he puts out...I'm getting it without even looking at the reviews!