Customer Reviews

Basic Electricity: Complete Course, Volumes 1-5 in 1

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I first read volumes 1-5 ten years ago when I started working as an elevator technician. My copies are third time hand-me-downs of the original 1954 publication. These are without a doubt the most helpful books I have ever read on basic electrical theory. Each topic is clearly and concisely explained and forms a building block for further topics in the series. These books form the foundation of knowledge I use in everyday real world applications. The authors explain each principle with reference to real world examples to allow the reader to relate what they have read to what they have seen.

Absolutely the best book I've found to explain electricity, in the most simplictic form. I'm a person who learns through visual diagrams and this book is chaulked full of easy to understand drawings. Each chapter ends with a review section to reiterate what you've learned and a self-test that follows. Excellent book!

This book is better than all the other selfteach manuals presently on the market.It is not hypermath or over-simplistic.It saved me over $2000 in trying to learn electronics from a correspondence school.If you want to travel on a journey through electronics, this book is your first step!

I enjoy certain books, and positively despise most others.
The kind of technical books I hate are the kinds that instead of having plenty of graphical visual aids, greet you with hieroglyphics, like those checkmark division signs, and what not, upon opening to just about any page. I'm hesitant to turn pages in those books, as I fear awakening some long dead vengeful Pharaoh.

Seriously . . .

Basic Electricity, (by Nooger Van Valkenburgh) has motivated this, my first review.

It's an excellent book because it's been written 'down to my level'. When I'm finished with this book, I am confident that I will have some kind of foundation and become inspired to pursue some hobby type projects, which I had always felt would be at bay. Now, no book on Electricity would be complete without some theory and math, and this book has only so much of that, and much more of what you can visualize.

The way that the section on ac/dc motors is presented is an excellent example of what I like in well written (and illustrated) books.

Conclusion: Well over 600 pages of demonstratively written, straight-forward, and clearly illustrated study.

I look forward to coming across a similarly composed book on Electronics Projects.

Great self-study guide for adults who need a thorough understanding of DC and AC. Originally published for the Navy in 1954 (the excellent drawings and illustrations all have the the campy look of that era), this is still one of the best texts I've ever seen on basic electricity. Highly recommended!

Although basic as the title suggests, it is an excellent text with lots of problems and explanations for those requiring a technician's understanding of practical electricity. Dont expect an electrical engineering circuit analysis book, for that get Mr. Van Valkenburgh's Engineering Circuits, or Bobrow's excellent Elementary Circuit Analysis and Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering.

I also own the Bureau of Naval Personnel's "Basic Electricity" and Mike Holt's "Basic Electrical Theory". While I really like Holt's book, and the Bureau's book is a good one, this is one better. Since it was first published in 1954, you may find the illustrations and graphics (did they have "graphics" in 1954?) a bit dated. On the other hand, I think they help explain the concepts very well.

This book is definitely the most informative basic electricity book that I have found, and it is also the easiest to understand and follow. It starts at the very basics of electricity and then introduces new concepts in a logical, easy to follow manner. The author does an excellent job of fully explaing new concepts before expanding and building further upon them.

This book is a reprint of the series first published by Rider in 1954.

Its companion book, Basic Electronics, covered vacuum tube equipment. Authors have also done "Basic synchros and servomechanisms" (1955) while a later book, Basic Solid State Electronics (ISBN 0790610426) - published 1982/1983 - covered basic transistors. See my review of this last book. It's not as good as Basic Electricity.

To this day, the Basic Electricity book is one of the best you can start with when learning about electricity. The writing is crystal clear and the authors never waste words or repeat themselves.

Even clearer than the words are the diagrams. They show you exactly what's going on. And so many diagrams. Put the words and pictures together and you can't help but understand everything.

This reprinted version by Prompt covers more topics than found in my 1954 series by Hayden Books. Prompt version also has problem sets.

The only section I didn't enjoy of Basic Electricity was part 5 on motors/generators/power systems. And that's just because it's not my area of interest.

This book is done (mostly) from a qualitative POV. The math is simple. some algebra and phasors. Doesn't use calculus or complex numbers. For those who want this approach get "Principles of Electronics: Analog and Digital" by Lloyd R. Fortney and/or "Introduction to Modern Electronics" by J.C. Sprott (OOP now so buy it used)

Probably the only books that match Van Valkenburgh et al. for clarity are the 24 part series Navy Electricity & Electronics Training Series (NEETS), the books by Schuler/Fowler (Electricity: Principles and Applications by Richard J. Fowler and Electronics: Principles and Applications by Charles A. Schuler) and Bernard Grob's books: Basic Electronics and Direct and Alternating Current Circuits.

This book is very good. Had hardly any frustrations with it. It helped me in my Electronics Engineering Technology courses.

Read this book before u start these type of courses. Otherwise ur going to be measuring voltage, currect, solving circuits etc.. without knowing the actual theory behind it.

I recommend this book.