Textbook on Electronics and Circuit Analysis

[Mondayman]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a solid introductory book on electronics and circuit analysis. I have seen The Art of Electronics highly recommended. I will likely get it but as a supplement. Does anyone know of any other good electronics textbooks? I don't mind old textbooks. Some of the newer circuit analysis texts like Svoboda and Sadiku have this awful habit of plugging in numbers halfway through the derivations. I have seen basic circuits but that was a while ago, and I was never one to tinker with electronics, so I'm looking for a good starting point.

 

[Frabjous]

Since you do not mind old textbooks, I have good memories of Introductory Electronics by Simpson.

 

[mpresic3]

I remember, "Microelectronics" Sedra and Smith. For electronics before this, I remember something like "Engineering Electronics" by Hayt and Kemmerly/ I have Art of Electronics and I like it.

 

[Dr Transport]

Schaum's outline for circuits. The Art of electronics isn't an elementary book.

 

[MidgetDwarf]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a solid introductory book on electronics and circuit analysis. I have seen The Art of Electronics highly recommended. I will likely get it but as a supplement. Does anyone know of any other good electronics textbooks? I don't mind old textbooks. Some of the newer circuit analysis texts like Svoboda and Sadiku have this awful habit of plugging in numbers halfway through the derivations. I have seen basic circuits but that was a while ago, and I was never one to tinker with electronics, so I'm looking for a good starting point.

Principles of Electronics: Analog and Digital by Fortney Lloyd R. I do warn you tho. It lacks examples, and I am not familiar with other electronics books. I used this book in an electronics class I took as an elective (math major) and I liked it. My friend now works in industry and found this is as an invaluable reference. It is very cheap in the states, so a good $10 experiment?

 

[gleem]

The Art of electronics isn't an elementary book.

Yes, but it is designed for those with no previous electronics experience. The authors do little if any formal circuit analysis. From the preface of the first volume "... electronic is basically a simple art, a combination of some basic laws, rules of thumb, and a large bag of tricks.". It is largely nonmathematical and omits complex network theory as it is considered unnecessary for routine circuit design. More than 1000 pages of practical information on most types of circuits.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I think this depends on your goals, If you want to understand transistors, I would not recommend Horowitz and Hill. If you want to understand Transistor Man, however...

 

[gleem]

True, and again in the preface the authors specifically state that they have little theory and omit any solid-state physics and the h parameter model of transistors concentrating more on useful circuitry and analytical method used daily by circuit designers, very practical.

 

[Mondayman]

I am opting out of physics in favor of electrical or electronics engineering technologist at the local tech school. I also have the side goal of learning about tube amplifiers. Someday I would like to be able to modify guitar amps and build them potentially. I am good with math and have learned E&M up to the level of Lorrain, but I don't know a whole lot about practical electronics. So I am looking to learn circuit analysis and familiarize myself with electronic devices.

 

[Frabjous]

I am opting out of physics in favor of electrical or electronics engineering technologist at the local tech school. I also have the side goal of learning about tube amplifiers. Someday I would like to be able to modify guitar amps and build them potentially. I am good with math and have learned E&M up to the level of Lorrain, but I don't know a whole lot about practical electronics. So I am looking to learn circuit analysis and familiarize myself with electronic devices.

It sounds like you might have an interest in old old books. Check out the old MIT series
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/series/principles-electrical-engineering-series

Some of the books here might interest you
http://www.tubebooks.org/index.html

 

[DaveE]

When I took my first undergraduate EE class at Caltech in the late 70's they used this text. Key point here: Not written by anyone at Caltech (so maybe the profs that chose it weren't biased?). I remember it as being pretty good, it was used for several years back then. Good enough for me to refer back to many times. It has good treatments of transistor amplifier configurations which you will want for guitar amps. Maybe not so much about tubes since except for very high power at very high frequencies, and audiophiles, tubes aren't favored in real world designs anymore. The digital stuff is at a basic fundamental level, no FPGAs, PLDs, or modern uPs back then. That's OK IMO, the complexity in modern digital designs is at the system level, the rest is "cookie cutter" implementation or HDL programing languages. The input and output circuits in digital ICs are best understood as analog circuits, IMO.

I don't claim to know about others, however. The real reason I mentioned it is that you can buy a used copy for about $10. It is worth $10! Sometimes when you are learning it's good to see different treatments of a subject if your primary text is confusing on some subject.

Integrated Electronics: Analog and Digital Circuits and Systems, Millman & Halkias, McGraw Hill

From one of the Amazon reviews:

Integrated Electronics: Analog and Digital Circuits and Systems
McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1972, pp. 911
LCCN 79-172657

by Jacob Millman, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University
Christos C. Halkias, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University

Preface
1. Energy Bands in Solids
2. Transport Phenomena in Semiconductors
3. Junction-Diode Characteristics
4. Diode Circuits
5. Transistor Characteristics
6. Digital Circuits
7. Integrated Circuits: Fabrication and Characteristics
8. The Transistor at Low Frequencies
9. Transistor Biasing and Thermal Stabilization
10. Field-effect Transistors
11. The Transistor at High-Frequencies
12. Multistage amplifiers
13. Feedback Amplifiers
14. Stability and Oscillators
15. Operational Amplifiers
16. Integrated Circuits as Analog System Building Blocks
17. Integrated Circuits as Digital System Building Blocks
18. Power Circuits and Systems
19. Semiconductor-device Physics
Appendices
A. Probable Values of Physical Constants
B. Conversion Factors and Prefixes
C. Problems
Index

 

[gleem]

Maybe not so much about tubes since except for very high power at very high frequencies, and audiophiles, tubes aren't favored in real world designs anymore.

Hmmm. I visited the PRS Guitar factory in Stevensville, MD several years ago and I was surprised that they were still and only building tube fabricated amps.

 

[DaveE]

Hmmm. I visited the PRS Guitar factory in Stevensville, MD several years ago and I was surprised that they were still and only building tube fabricated amps.

Yep. EEs work for marketing guys. If they say it has to have tubes, it will have tubes. After all, they do work; you know, not for as long as transistors will, but they do work. Plus they glow. Transistors don't glow.

Reminds me of a story from long ago. We surreptitiously selected mono on an audiophile friend's amp and waited to see how long before he noticed. The answer that time was about 3 weeks. He wasn't as amused as the rest of us.

I've worked with a lot of analog EEs, and none were this sort of audiophile. But they could have all been wrong. None used tubes, not counting some old 10KW laser power supplies. But, also, none worked in consumer audio either.

 

[Mondayman]

tubes aren't favored in real world designs anymore

I believe tube amps are still in demand. As much as digital can do, some people still do very much prefer the vintage tone you can produce with tube amps.

 

[DaveE]

I believe tube amps are still in demand. As much as digital can do, some people still do very much prefer the vintage tone you can produce with tube amps.

Yes, I agree they are quite popular with a segment of consumers. My point was that EEs don't chose to use them, it's generated by marketing and consumer demand. The thing about music, and marketing, is that there is a lot of human psychology involved. One group uses terms like brighter, richer, deeper, etc.; the other group uses terms like frequency response, THD, IP3 intermodulation. When someone says "brighter", I really don't know what they are talking about.