Basic Electronics for Scientists [Hardcover]

James Brophy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0070081476 | ISBN-13: 978-0070081475 | Publication Date: January 1, 1990 | Edition: 5th

Provides science and engineering students with a basic knowledge of electronics, giving them an understanding of electronic devices and circuits ranging from elementary DC circuits to digital circuits and microprocessors.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 462 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; 5th edition (January 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070081476
• ISBN-13: 978-0070081475
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The WORST science text ever written!, September 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Basic Electronics for Scientists (Hardcover)

I was forced to use this error-wracked atrocity for the analog portion of electronics at Cal State L.A. There is a serious shortage of examples and many of them feature diagrams of circuits that don't work! The answers to the problems, assuming you can solve them, are given immediately following the problem, but many of the answers are wrong too. On more than one occasion a problem will refer to a figure which does not exist or, if it does exist, the wrong illustration will be in the figure. You will waste hours trying to figure out why you can't get the same answers as the author. This text is a true dinosaur in the era of the Art of Electronics. Even if you manage to learn how to mathematically analyze a circuit, you won't know how to construct anything in the lab after reading this book. Horowitz and Hill's Art of Electronics may be lacking in the area of analysis, but at least you will know how to build simple circuits at the end of the term. Because of this book, the analog electronics class is by far the hardest offering in the depatment. While other more presitgious schools in town (UCLA and Caltech) use Art, we are stuck with this fireplace starter.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars pretty terse read, June 3, 2007

By 

A.Reader1 (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Basic Electronics for Scientists (Hardcover)

This book, through many editions, was the standard text for 1 semester undergrad courses in electronics for scientists & engineers.

I agree with the other reviewers on this one: Brophy provides a pretty terse and tough read if you're not prepared. You have to read and re-read many sections of the book and do the problems to fully appreciate it. Also it's handy to have a pen and paper nearby as you read it. But if you do all this you'll be rewarded.

He doesn't provide sufficient motivation for what he's discussing and almost no info on where and how it applies in the real world.

For a similar book, but with more explicitness and just as much rigor, try "Introduction to Modern Electronics" by J.C. Sprott, Wiley, 1981. It's excellent. A more recent college book would be "Principles of Electronics: Analog and Digital" by Lloyd R. Fortney, 2005, Oxford University Press.

other books for university courses:

1. An Introduction to Modern Electronics by William L. Faissler, Wiley, 1991 (a very simple book. But use it if you're having trouble and need details on elementary points; prepares you for Horowitz & Hill and similar books).

2. Principles of Electronic Instrumentation, 3rd edition, by Diefenderfer & Holton, 1994.(competitor to Brophy for many years. easier to understand.)

3. Electronics and Instrumentation for Scientists by Howard V. Malmstadt, Christie G. Enke, Stanley R. Crouch, 1981, Benjamin Cummings. (written by 3 analytical chemists. has circuits for those students. their later book "Microcomputers and Electronic Instrumentation: Making the Right Connections" covered computer interfacing.)

4. Analog and Computer Electronics for Scientists, by Vassos & Ewing. (use this for qualitative understanding. not rigorous enough for college level course.)

5. Introductory Electronics for Scientists and Engineers by Robert E. Simpson

6. Electronics: A Systems Approach, 3rd Edition, by Neil Storey, Prentice Hall, 2006


books for technicians but could still be used for university level:

1. Principles of Electronics by Colin D. Simpson, Prentice Hall, 1996.

2. Analog Electronics: Devices, Circuits and Techniques by Gerald E. Williams, Delmar Thomson, 1996

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Genuine Piece of Garbage, February 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Basic Electronics for Scientists (Hardcover)

I used an earlier version of this book as a physics student. I TOTALLY agree with the reviewer from LA. It's interesting that the subsequent edition(s) apparently corrected and improved nothing. JJ Brophy should go to jail for this, or be tarred and feathered at a minimum. Way to go Brophy, you're a real pro aren't you?