The Art of Electronics
by Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill
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Book Reviews of The Art of Electronics
Book Review: Be forewarned!
Summary: 3 Stars
The standard line is to call this book a "great reference". Well yes and no. It is a great reference in that there is tons and tons of practical stuff inside that you will have a hard time finding anywhere else. However, the problem is you will also have a hard time finding it in this book! The index is woefully incomplete; countless times I have gone searching in this book for information on a topic and come up empty handed, only to stumble upon what I was looking for months later, on a page that wasn't referenced in the index. The book is also something of a dichotomy in that it pretends to start from the beginning, with explanations of phasors and Ohm's law and simplistic stuff like that, but then it goes and starts using various circuit symbols without defining them. I swear there are symbols used in that book which aren't defined anywhere, I've checked. Then there's the fact that the book tends to have alot of "cookbook" stuff with little explanation of why a circuit does what it does. One would expect this in an engineering text, but one of the authors is physicist so I expected better. All in all I'd say you should buy the book but only use it in conjunction with a more coherent text.Book Review: Oldie but a goodie
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm new to electronics - just a nerd who gets interested in everything. I'm a self-learner and i'm about 18 pages into the book so far. It's very heavy into the math and schematics of electronics - exactly the in depth information i want EXCEPT that it will, for many people, require someone with a higher knowledge in this field to explain one or two things. I've got the lab book and haven't really read it along with the book yet (my hobbies are always at conflict with my time). The lab book is about 20$ used on ebay or other sites - but many try for an incredibly inflated price.
For those who want a book that covers most electronic information AND acts as a beautiful reference book: i recommend this!
the only negatives i see is that it IS published in the late eighties and will not cover that past two decades of new technology - but that's why i bought it. I believed (and still do) that one must understand the old to understand the new. It also assumes some information to be completely understandable which is not. Google definitely helps to the true noob, as is my case.
Good luck and feel free to email with questions over book: metallickittycat@yahoo.com
Book Review: An amazing intermediate electronics book for non-linear thinkers.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is not for everybody. If you want complete mathematical rigor, look elsewhere. If you want everything tightly organized and fully indexed, this is not your book. If you want to memorize rules rather than expand your thinking about the subject, you won't like this.
This is not the best book for absolute beginners, either. The introductory chapter is weak compared to the rest of the book. Nor is it for those seeking up-to-date reference information. Almost all of the reference data is long obsolete. Much of the info in the microcomputer/microprocessor sections is too.
It is also not a cookbook, despite what some other reviewers say. There are very few complete circuit designs.
This book is, however, PERFECT for those that think non-linearly and rely on *understanding* rather than *memorizing*. As the title promises, it teaches the *Art* of Electronics. It is not a dead collection of facts and equations, but a book-long exercise in internalizing the thought process that goes with good,creative electronic design. You will need other books to complete your education in electronics, but this book can be the key that makes it all "click".
Book Review: Not as good as it looks
Summary: 1 Stars
There are three reasons I gave this book a 1.1) There is an error (and not just a typo) in the description of emitter followers. It says when one is powered by two 10Volt supplies, the output clipping will occur at -5 Volts. This didn't make any sense, so I checked it out with a simulator and a real circuit, and sure enough, there was NO clipping at -5 Volts but instead at -10 Volts, like it should. This isn't a typo, since there's an elaborate graph to explain what the clipping will look like on the scope. I don't mind typos, but incorrect statements like these made me doubt the worth of the rest of the book, and I stopped reading.
2) Too many things are described without any detail whatsoever, like RF circuits, for example. I know this is a cookbook, but more detailed explanations are needed than simply saying what the circuit does.
3) The bad circuits sections are a waste of space, since the authors don't describe what makes those circuits bad. How can I learn from mistakes if I don't even know why something is a mistake in the first place?
Keeps those in mind when deciding on this book. The first one is usually enough for me to stop reading a book.
Book Review: ... heavy book with very little amount of example
Summary: 1 Stars
This book indeed talks about electornic. But it does in such a very elaborate way... Sounds goods... NO... Text book need no elaboration. Good:
-The size of the book is designed so that it can be a good pillow
Bad:
-They tried so much to avoid the math which makes their explaination very vague and weak. And it is very difficult to understand the component explicitly by just reading words.
-They gives too little amount of example. In one chapter you will see less than 3 examples given explicitly
-They tends to talk rather than giving out the information. They spend a page trying to explain a circuit component, but they spend 3 half-line s to write down the important componet equation.
-I don't know if this situation happens to anyone else.. Everytime I read this book I fell asleep.. The book should stop talking and give me more explicit information in mathematically oriented way and examples to clarify things.
-The exercises in the book has no solution. I can't verify myself if my understanding is right.
Bottom Line- Don't ever buy this book if it is neither a requirement nor you need a before-bed book.