Customer Reviews

All New Electronics Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self Teaching Guides)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am a little slow when it comes to electronics so I was surprised to find how easy it is to understand and grasp the principles that are discussed in this clear and concise self-teaching guide. It is a step-by-step guide that puts forth a reasonable amount of material, then sort of steps back and asks you questions about what you've just read. In this way, the book engages the reader more thoroughly than a lot of other books I've seen on this subject. (My husband is a computer programmer and owns quite a few books on elelctronics, circuit design, etc.) While the book is excellent at precise explanations - good for beginners - my husband and a few of his computer buddies found the book interesting as well. Overall, a great guide for the neophyte electronics person as well as for the more experienced...

My husband wrote the following evaluation of this book. "As a former scientist (who now reviews theatre), I liked the authors' Socratic-like question-and-answer format for teaching this otherwise terrifying topic. It asks the thousand and one questions that need to be asked, in the right order, gives you a moment or two to come up with something, then instantly shares the right answer for quick comparison with your own impulsive thought waves. If you start at page one, relax, take your good old time with each and every question, you will emerge 12 chapters later with an amazing and practical grasp of electronics."

The basic design and direction of this book is absolutely excellent. The question and answer format engages the reader for better understanding, and the topics covered include a wide variety of essential areas. The book falls down, however, because of being 'rushed out without adequate editing' (nor usable index), thus leaving the reader confused at times. Other problems include incorrect answers to problems, and inadequate explanations. So while I know that I learned a lot from the book, I also know that if I recommended it to friends they would be calling me saying how frustrated they were with the mistakes. For that very reason my review is not a recommendation. I have strong hopes that the next edition will fix the problems here and I will THEN be able to recommend this book.

In case you are wondering (and I know I was), the third edition is actually written by Earl Boysen now since Harry Kybett, having written the first two editions, has passed away.

The Q & A format is one of those things that always seems to be a bit unique in any particular book, and this one is no exception. In the early chapters many of the questions may seem insulting in that they are so easy, and the reader can find themself wondering if the book was written for 8 year old kids! But the real beauty of that approach is that it forces your mind to change modes on a regular basis: instead of staying in a passive info-absorbing mode, it has to stop and become active at solving a problem, which results in better retention. So even if the question seems childish, the information is more firmly impressed on you. In the middle and latter chapters, the Q & A format usually sticks with problem solving, often asking you to repeat the same sort of calculations you have seen in examples. Most of the time the solutions include more than just answers, serving to explain just how the answer was arrived at. But the problems occur with that word "most"! It is also the case that many of the times when we need details, all we get is a numerical answer with no hint as to how it was arrived at. It is even more frustrating when the book's answer appears WRONG no matter how many times you recalculate it.

In addition to the Q & A presentation, the end of each chapter includes review questions along with answers, but no detailed solution. One clear editorial screwup is apparent where Chapter 1 calls this "pre-test" and all other chapters call it "self-test." That's why I say "rush job".

I found myself confused with the authors presentations on occasion and felt it necessary to consult other electronics books. Two I found particularly helpful were "Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics" by Stan Gibilisco, and "Electronics for Inventors" by Paul Scherz. Both of these guys' books are a lot more "wordy" with an emphasis on making electronics undestandable. While this book is supposed to demystify electronics, I have to say I felt mystfied enough to go out and get these other books. Three things Boysen's book were unclear about are: ground line in circuits, which doesn't even show up in the index and is assumed to be something the reader knows beforehand; combining AC and DC in the same circuit (way too brief); and the emitter-follower amplifier - the description was just plain baffling!.

This book does a great job of covering things like amplifiers, resonance, power supplies, along with AC and DC basics, but of course you have to start with fundamentals. Kirchoff's voltage and current laws are covered, but this books stops short of giving you a full complement of circuit analysis tools. It would be much better to have the method of loop currents presented here since without it, readers will be left scratching their heads when they run into many real-world circuits.

Another big plus is the list of internet references that are provided in the book. The author has his own website and you can send him questions about the book; I did that and got a response every time.

The book does have some experiments (five total), but they will require some equipment. At a minimum, you will need a breadboard and two digital multimeters, but normally you will also need an oscilloscope and a signal generator. Two of these experiments are called "optional" and are in the chapter on oscillators. I would not expect anyone to be able to perform those last two experiments simply because sufficient information is not given. The components are not specified and the author basically just suggests that you try to implement what is shown in a circuit diagram rather the providing the details (as he did in the other experiments). I think they are called "optional" because the author opted out! I would have preferred to see more experiments, maybe minimum of one per chapter?, and some alternative way of doing them without the expensive equipment.

The chapter on oscillators is the worst chapter in the book! The only thing you are going to learn from this chapter is the three basic types of oscillators -- the Q&A problems are just impossible and really serve to show how rushed out the book was. Then, at chapter end, the self-test is very superficial, demonstrating that the author knew very little was conveyed. What are the characteristics of oscillators? Not covered. Why would you choose one type over another? Not covered. What are oscillators used for? Not covered.

I'm an instructional designer by profession and, as an instructional text, it's first rate. Succinct, practical examples, frequent checks for understanding, summaries at the ends of sections, etc. Very well done.

Unfortunately, the author(s) make the assumption that the reader has a solid grounding in electricity, and has already had passing familiarity with electronics. I bought the book thinking that it might be useful as a teaching tool for those who are studying amateur (ham) radio electronics.

I'll have to keep looking.

I've read a few reviews on here complaining that this text is not for the beginner, and that's true if you just want to kind-of know what it is someone else is talking about. But if you're willing to try and teach yourself electronics, as implied by even being interested in this text, then this IS the book for you.

Look, to get a book that covers the basics is a waste of time and money and here's why: The basics that this book expects you to know can be learned over the course of a couple of days. We're talking about a couple of very casual hours at MOST.

I am a complete beginner and I bought this book last weekend because my beginners book of choice (Electronics for dummies by the same author) was not available and I wanted to get started right away. Ohms law? No idea. But with a couple of online resources [...]and this book's first chapter (a full review of topics expected as knowledge base complete with review problems and a test), you're through the basics. BAM! that's it.

Get a beginners book and you'll be missing out on all sorts of material. BUY THIS INSTEAD. Do the work, you'll be proud of yourself, you'll go further, you'll be more skilled etc...

By the way I just finished the chapter 2 test on Diodes and though challenged, I am not stumped. This book challenges and engages, just as all of the reviews said it would. It does have it's flaws as in there's a couple of times it has skipped explaining an equation, but nothing that keeps you from moving forward and improving your knowledge-base.

If you're willing to do the work the title of this book implies, then GET IT. I can't recommend it enough.

My experience with this book is very two sided. On one side, it is a great refresher or even a descent beginning for people wanting to learn about basic electronics. On the other side, it is a very poor update to a book that was ahead of its time.

I have read the 2nd edition and this book offers almost nothing new and instead takes the easy to follow format and makes it more lengthy (and in some cases worse). I bought this book because a lot has changed between 1986 and 2008. According to this book, electronics has stood still because there is no mention of anything new. I thought the book would at least mention various advances that an electronics technician should know or things on the horizon. If not, this should be called the self teaching guide to the basics or fundamentals of electronic components. It would have been nice to have a short overview or road map of new technologies like programmable logic controllers and digital circuits. Instead, all there is a supplemental reading section (some of which points to his own books which, from the quality of this update, they probably aren't very good and are just made to make money). Plus, it is sad when a couple pages of my physics review book provides a great and better introduction to electronics then this.

I thought the author wrote "all new" because he wanted to stress that it is "all new". Instead, simply writing edition 3 and adding the word basic to the title would have been a better move. There is no way you can simply get away with calling it an "electronics" guide anymore because too many advances have been made and if this is all you knew, it wouldn't get you very far other than basic troubleshooting of simple circuits.

I woke up one morning and decided to learn all about electronic circuits. My main interest is in building effects pedals for guitars. After a few weeks of looking at schematics and not knowing why all of the components were arranged as they were in a circuit, I decided to either take an "EE 101" class or get a good book. I went the cheaper route.

This book is really in-depth. One warning: the format may be off-putting at first to some. The author will ask a question before the reader knows the answer then he goes about explaining how the answer was derived. At first I kept flipping back to see where the question was explained until I got the feel of how the format works.

Basically, you take this book at your own pace. I make a point to understand the entire chapter and every formula in it before moving on. There are plenty of self-tests and a review and test at the end of every chapter. The math involved is basic algebra so it can act as an algebra refresher course to those out of school for a while, like me.

A lot of material is covered here and the scope of what I learned is beyond circuit building. Anyone interesting an building anything related to music will find value in this book as the author into great detail around frequency analysis and oscillation.

If you're looking for a book to teach you beyond "let's build a circuit to make the LED blink" this is the one to get. On the flip-side, if you are looking for a lot of hands-on "lab time" this book deals more with theory than the actual building of complete circuits, so if that's the case, you may want to look elsewhere.

It's really not clear to me who this book is supposed to benefit. In the first chapter, the authors explain that it will not teach you the basics of, say, Ohm's law, and it refers you to Electronics for Dummies as a prequel. Following instructions, I duly bought Electronics for Dummies and read it first (and enjoyed it). Then I dug into this book, and found that it basically restated what I had already learned, just less clearly and with a lot of gaps. But by far the most irritating feature to me is the ceaseless barrage of inane and distracting questions, in the following sort of format: "For this task, you will need a resistor in the 100 to 200 ohm range. QUESTION: Which of the following resistors can be used: 50 ohms, 100 ohms, 150 ohms, 250 ohms? ANSWER: Either the 100 ohm or 150 ohm resistor may be used." This is pedagogically useful?? And yet at the same time, between the tests of our knowledge of the number line, we encounter all sorts of unexplained perplexities. For example, when JFET's are first introduced, we're told that current flows from the drain to the source. No explanation for why this terminological weirdness may exist; the authors appear oblivious to the possibility that alert readers might find it confusing.

I suppose, had my mood been more generous, I would have given the book 2 stars, but given the unaccountable number of five-star reviews, I feel compelled to drag the average down...

It's a treat to find a book that is both instructive and effective at a practical level in understanding basic components in electronics as well as circuits.Physics textbooks taught me about Ohm's law, resonant circuits, and transformers, but this book present the concepts in a context that is practical rather than theoretical. I can do something useful with what I have learned! The writing is very clear, and the questions are excellent. Solving them made me test my understanding of the reading material - it's a great way to make sure that I get it before moving on to a new topic. I'm about halfway through the book, and when I finish, I think I'll be ready to tackle a book like Boysen's Electronic Projects for Dummies.

So I had a very basic knowledge from school, and needed to brush up. This book is excellent for anyone, as it teaches you by asking questions, rather than pages of boring preachyness. It starts from the basics, which either confirms what you already know, or gets you an understanding and just keeps on building. You can get up to a pretty advanced level quickly, or stop when you get to the level you need. I got 3 books and this was by far the best to learn quickly from.