Electronics For Dummies
by Earl Boysen, Gordon McComb
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Book Reviews of Electronics For Dummies
Book Review: A nice overview, but ultimately too superficial for me...
Summary: 2 Stars
Overall, I did not like this book, but that doesn't mean that there aren't those to whom it might be helpful. Certainly some of the other reviewers found it helpful, so if you're convinced that you'll never be able to do anything with electronics at all, or you've found all other books to be confusing from the first, then maybe start here. Or if you just want to know how to read, but not analyze or understand, a schematic and how to solder, this book is a good choice. If you're pretty self-confident and want to actually understand how circuits work, then you probably won't find this book helpful. I was looking for something that would teach me to understand the workings of simple circuits and, ultimately, to get me on my way towards designing and altering existing ones. The author did a good job of introducing the basic concepts behind common electrical components. Certainly, I hadn't known what a piezoelectric was, that an LED was a semiconductor, or even what a semiconductor was. I did know Ohm's Law and found his coverage of it cursory, especially since he never gave any reason to use it. Those who don't like algebra will be able to skip his explanation and just use the formulas he's derived -- although, again, he doesn't actually provide any reason to ever use the formulas. His introduction to electronic components was well done. Aside from one or two isolated examples, however, rather than explaining to you how those components might be used and the principles behind their use in circuits, he instead proceeded to give you instructions on how to make very specific gadgets. While you could build those gadgets as per his instructions, the book didn't provide the means to understand how the more interesting of them functioned. At best, these projects might give you some soldering practice and probably the ability to put together pre-designed kits from schematics, but not the means to actually understand the workings of any circuit more complicated than simple series or parallel lightbulbs. If you know absolutely nothing about electricity, then this book might be helpful, but if you've even taken college physics, look elsewhere first. I would recommend considering another book or a searching for an online electronics tutorial. Backtrack to this book only if:
1. you find another book geared towards beginners to be too difficult.
2. you find the qualitative descriptions of the components in another book confusing.
3. you can't decide what type of solder or soldering iron you should get.
In cases such as those, this book might be helpful, but probably not otherwise.
Book Review: Has all the BASICS
Summary: 4 Stars
being a student in a high school electronics class, i have a basic understanding of this subject, but needed this book as a study aid for my exams.
PROS-->
1.) Like any other "_____ For DUMMIES" book this resourceful book is easy-to-read, very useful to beginners, and is better than listening to a teacher lecture for 90 minutes.
2.) Categorized into 18 different chapters, which are organized enough for me to understand the basics of each topic.
3.) Provides about 3 chapters for specific projects (ranging from easy to hard) that you can test your skills with.
4.) A useful glossary that you can use for your classes or looking up mis-understood words in the text of the book.
5.) AWESOME easy-to-read , easy-to-understand diagrams.
CONS-->
1.) REMEMBER: This is another "FOR DUMMIES" book so it will NOT give any subject in depth, use this book ONLY if you are some kind of beginner who needs help in the topic.
2.) The first chapter is very general and doesn't give most readers a strong foundation to start learning more in-depth topics of electronics such as schematic diagrams.
3.) The book is organized in a peculiar way; if you don't understand the basics, then when you get into the middle of the book into harder topics than you'll be stuck and constantly be looking back and forth to understand everything. HINT: (To save yourself some future hassle, Get your basics down before you start any other chapter in the book)
CONCLUSION:
Besides the fact that I thought the book was not organized the way I would've liked it to have been, you might think different. Other than that remember if you're buying this book for a beginner's guide or as a study guide for a beginner's class than I HIGHLY advise you to buy this book.
Book Review: Great Introduction
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm an amateur (ham) radio operator who's looking for material to use for classroom courses on radio operation, electronics theory, etc. I bought this book hoping that there would be some ideas, and I was pleasantly surprised.
The Dummies series is pretty much hit-or-miss when it comes to utility, but this book really helped. The chapter on Multimeters (Volt-Ohm Meters, or VOMs) alone was worth the purhase price. I'd purchased another book (Getting the Most from your Multimeter) and was sorely disappointed that, once again, the book assumed the reader had far more basic knowledge than I did.
Is it lacking? Sure. If you're looking for some basic electricity fundamentals, this isn't the book. The "Basic Electricity" book from the Bureau of Naval Personnel (a Dover books reprint) is pretty good on this account, since it's used to teach semi-literate 18-year-old seamen a fundamental skill. The book could also use more detail in some areas but, what the heck--it's a Dummies book.
Compared to the "All New Elctronics Self-Teaching Guide" which I also purchased (much to my chagrin), it's great. The Self-Teaching Guide is simply awful as a beginner's book. Admittedly, the Self-Teaching Guide is a text book and, as such, it's assumption is that the reader has some fundamentals nailed down. The Dummies book, interestingly co-authored by Earl Boysen (a co-author on the Self-Teaching Guide), is really a solid intro to the subject.
I highly recommend this book.
Book Review: Good for hobbyists only
Summary: 4 Stars
It is hard for me to totally pan this book, since I believe its main failing is that its title is misleading. It would better target its audience if it was named "Hobbyist Electronics for Dummies" or maybe "Electronic Construction for Dummies". If you are an engineering student, however, you could no more find what you need from this book than a student of computational robotics could find what they need in "10 Cool LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 2 Projects". If you are a hobbyist or a technician who just needs to know basic electronics safety and circuit construction techniques without needing to know what exactly it is that you are building, this is a very good book for that target audience. The book is well written, well organized and clear. If you are an engineer or an engineering student and you are looking for a reference book on the theory and practice of electronics, instead might I recommend "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz. It contains tutorials on everything from basic circuit analysis to microprocessors to high-speed and high-frequency techniques. If you are a hobbyist or technician, you might want to check out the excellent "Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics" by Gibilisco. It will give you an idea of what exactly it is that those components you are soldering together actually do in a very accessible and readable style with no background in advanced mathematics being necessary.Book Review: Waste of Time
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a very poorly written book. It throws a bunch of formulas at you but doesn't explain the reasons for the formulas. (I still have no idea why some parts of the book say that electrons flow from the negative terminal to the positive, and the other parts of the book say that the current flows from positive to negative. I'm sure it's not a typo, but I would love for them to actually explain it).
Furthermore, the first 9 chapters have a bunch of info, so you have to read that first in order to start your first projects. But when you get to the projects, there aren't even that many of them. And you don't learn much from them.
I don't understand why they don't start the book off with a few very simple projects and then teach you about the differenct electronic components as you get to use them. For example, they could have you build a simple circuit that makes a light shine, and then tell you how everything worked inside, and why. No, instead they go through a whole glossary of terms, and then expect you to remember it all when you're starting out your first project.
Again, if you want to understand what you're doing, so that your hobby eventually lets you create really cool stuff, this book is not good. It is a waste of time, and I would return it had I not already marke