Customer Reviews

Make: Electronics (Learning by Discovery)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recommend this book strongly for anyone just starting out in electronics. Many other books introduce the subject of electronics by talking about the early discoveries concerning amber rods, Leyden jars, and static electricity. This book dives right in using parts that you can pick up at a local Radio Shack, or can easily order on-line. And it uses a fun almost playful approach to experimentation. Your first experiment involves touching a battery to your tongue! Man, that will either annoy you into quitting or completely intrigue you into learning more. My bet is it will spark (pun intended) your interest and excitement as it leaves you with a funny metallic taste.

This is exactly the hands-on approach that I was looking for to teach my son. Something that he can read on his own, or read with me. Easy experimentation, clear steps, good photography. No wondering if any of the experiments will fail because they were written only/mainly to think about. These were all written to be DONE by the reader. Getting into the nitty-gritty of learning is easy when you can actively experiment as you learn.

Highly recommended as a modern first book for electronics.

Edited: Added in the comments section that I keep buying copies of this book to give away...

I can't say enough good things about this book! I learned more in the first 20 minutes with this book than I did after pouring through several other "electronics basics" books for countless hours.

Instead of starting with math and theory and circuit analysis, this book uses hands on exercises and explains the theories in very easy to understand language and metaphors. But, it still does then circle back to explain the math and theory upon which the practical examples are based.

I'm only about 1/3rd of the way through the book and projects, but I'm excited to get to the point of using IC's. I've browsed ahead enough to be confident that I'm going to be able to put execute on these projects and then put this knowledge to good use.

I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to do some tinkering with electronics of any sort. Personally, I'm experimenting with data acquisition systems in a race car, and I'd like to be able to create and wire up my own sensors instead of being limited to the plug-and-play variety that are very expensive. I believe that this book will get me enough of the basics so that I can tackle these projects. Or, at the very least, I'll be able to intelligently engage my EE friends for help!

Charles Platt is a widely published science fiction author, electronics and bioscience consultant and superior educator. This is a guidebook to Electronics worthy of Heathkit in its glory days. It offers a completely hands-on and hands dirty approach including examining and pushing components beyond their limits, and assembling and testing all of the topics you study in the handbook. The pedagogy is clear and succinct. Beautiful full-color illustrations show you how to do "it" and to fully know what to expect on your workbench. Because all concepts are conveyed in this excellent hands-on experimental approach some topics are presented in a different order than that experienced with a conventional introductory electronics textbook. For example, wave shaping based upon 555-timer pulses is fully illustrated, as well as the digital electronics necessary to construct electronic dice, and to experiment with microcontrollers, but operational amplifiers and active filters are omitted in this experimental handbook.

This is a superb introduction to electronics, which will provide the conceptual and experimental bench skills to yield a lifetime of enjoyment.

Here am I, over 30 with a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering. I pick up this book because one day I would like to teach my son electronics, and before that teach some homeschool classes in my area on electronics. I was completely amazed at how well this book is laid out for teaching someone new to electronics! I remember my earlier days in junior high when my techie granddad gave me an electronic kit that sat on my shelf collecting dust, because the manual was just awful. I sure wish I had this book back then! I would have also have made a great introductory electronics class in college, instead of all that boring theory the professor droned on and on about all day then go to lab and stare at the breadboard. I made straight A's in those early classes, but not very confidently and no thanks to the professor.

The books does a wonderful job of building upon concepts and moving onto the next without jumping too far out ahead. It has some nice historical asides in the sidebars about inventors and scientists for a special touch. The downside is getting all the parts for the experiments, so I recommend you cough up the dough to get the Maker's kits that go with the lessons if you don't want to spend a lot of time ordering and searching. However, ordering and searching for those parts is another education in itself, because one must eventually learn to acquire these items if they want to do more electronics work in the future.

Overall, this book is worth the money!

O'Reilly has been churning out technical literature of unbeatable quality for as long as there has been a real IT industry. In recent years, they have branched into hobbyist and educational material, particularly including the Make series of periodicals and books that has not only reignited numerous hobbyist markets but also spawned its own set of conferences, the Maker Faires. DIY is enjoying a renaissance, and Make is at the forefront. I love pretty much everything about Make, but one of the most recent books under the Make brand exceeds even the high bar they have already set for themselves. I am referring to Charles Platt's Make:Electronics, which I have finally managed to pry from my 12-year-old's eyeballs long enough to review.

I was sort of obsessed with electronics when I was a kid. I read anything I could get my hands on, which unfortunately ended up being the Radio Shack catalog and a set of musty library books that seemed as though they were written in a foreign language. I pored over schematics and took things apart, much to my parents' dismay, in a vain effort to figure out just what made all those wires and components tick. I would have to say that, overall, I failed. I did manage to occasionally fix broken radios and such, but it was always by luck in finding a loose connection or a physically broken component. I simply didn't understand what all the little pieces did individually, so it was impossible to fathom what they did in concert.

Eventually I turned 16 and migrated to cars, which had actual moving parts, but a little part of me always pined to know how the solid state stuff worked. I took enough basic electrical engineering classes in college to gain a basic, dry understanding what resistors and capacitors and transistors were, but the magic of them was gone and I ended up in computer science instead, learning software algorithms instead of electrical traces. I still kept an eye out, but every electronics book I found frustrated me by its complexity, vagueness, and punishing attention to mathematics--I actually like math and I couldn't get through these books. I know from talking to others that I am not the only propellerhead with this experience.

When I encountered Make:Electronics in January, I figured it was yet another in the long series of confusing, math-heavy electronics books that had so thoroughly quenched my fiery interest in the subject.

I could not have been more wrong.

Make:Electronics is the book every single propellerhead wishes that they had had when they were 12 years old. Or any age. I'm not kidding. This book is the most approachable primer to electronic components and circuits that I have ever read, and I have read a LOT of them. It is friendly, well paced, full of good illustrations, and full of well-grounded metaphors that bring each component to life. I can honestly say that I never quite understood how capacitors worked until I read that section in this book, and now I will never forget.

This information is all packaged in the wonderful Make philosophy that breaking things (ok, small, easily replaced things) is a good way to learn about them, and indeed the book contains vivid instructions for burning up one battery and licking another, for "broiling" an LED, and for performing several other "dangerous" or destructive tasks in a controlled way that enables you to actually see what is happening. These are all things that I had to discover for myself, but with no one watching over my shoulder to explain what was going on I ended up discovering them repeatedly and wastefully. The book's subtitle is "Learning by Discovery", although what I found most satisfying was that the discovery was accompanied by friendly instruction.

Perhaps the most important feature of this book is the obvious love and almost childlike fascination that Charles Platt brings to the text. Platt is a science fiction author as well as a contributing editor to Wired and an important interviewer of other authors. Platt's writing skill is obvious, but more obvious to me at least is his desire to teach, and his joy in doing so. That joy leaks out of every page and it is utterly infectious.

In short, Make:Electronics is a wonderful book that should be required reading for anyone with even the slightest interest in the subject. In fact, it should be the first and possibly the only reading you do, at least until Charles Platt writes another one. I have never written a book review this positive, but I honestly can't say enough good things about it.

I'm still working my way through this book. It's an enjoyable read; the writing style is accessible, the pictures are informative and sometimes amusing, but there are a few things to consider if you try to follow it literally.
First- the parts list is expensive, especially if it's for the "Destroy" part of the tagline. For example, the author expects you to buy a $7 relay for a potentially destructive test.

Second- the parts list is always presented at the beginning of a section, before anything is explained. You're expected to buy "an assortment of capacitors", at least one of which has certain specifications. How is the reader to know what capacitors they will be most likely to use?

Third- even though the copyright of the book is 2010, the parts list is already obsolete, and some of the components are extremely difficult to find. For example, the 2N6027 transistor is needed, but this product has apparently been discontinued. Which is okay... if you know to substitute a different transistor. Which, if you've been plugging along, following the book, you won't.

It's a good book, but you cannot use it as your primary textbook for learning electronics; you'll absolutely need to refer to additional books, such as Electronics For Dummies or another such book.

I cannot overstate that Make: Electronics is the greatest electronics book for budding hobbyists. From touching your tongue to a battery to working with micro controllers, this book is great fun and very educational. The author does not simply provide examples without instruction, nor do they explain theory in a vacuum. Instead, you read (and build) along with the experiments while at the same time gaining crucial knowledge into Ohm's Law, resistor color codes, and other non-formulaic information such as how capacitors and transistors work. You will find the same tried water pump analogy, but it is not pounded into the reader's brain. The author prefers instead to teach concepts rather than metaphors and this sticks much better. As a teaching tool for electronics, this book is the best.

A few more notes: the pictures and diagrams in this book are fabulous. I have never seen so much attention to detail in an electronics book. From the most basic of tools to the most complex circuit diagram, the illustrations and photos are crisp, informative, unobtrusive and ultimately very helpful. The author keeps and even tone and always makes sure to explain in multiple ways anything that might be confusing. Many times I exclaimed out loud how the book made simple something I'd always had trouble explaining or understanding. All through the reading, my friends got an earful of me singing this book's many praises.

If there is one fault to this book, it is that this hobby is an expensive undertaking. Seldom does the author really explain the cost of beginning this hobby. Parts and tools cost quite a bit of money upfront, and I would wager that it is impossible to even begin most of the experiments without spending over $100 or maybe even $300 if you want to be a completionist. So many of the parts are hard to buy individually, and unless you have a good electronics store (like Fry's NOT Radioshack), you'll have to pay quite a bit to shop parts from online. Keep this in mind if you're taking up the hobby or giving this book to a friend.

In spite of the one negative, the book is amazing. Even if you don't learn by doing, the book is extremely enlightening and well worth buying. In short, this is the best electronics primer on the market and should be read by all people, young and old, that love learning or making, or both.

I think that this book is totally excellent. It's got a ton of projects, and everything is very clearly explained. The problem I have with it is that there isn't really much of a warning up front - but you're going to have to spend about half a grand to get all the stuff you need to make your way through this book.

I saw this mentioned in another review, but I didn't believe it until I saw lists of "Essential" items later on in the book. All sorts of equipment that I can't believe I might have to own. I just purchased supplies for the first few chapters, and already - including the price of this book, i'm about $200 in - and I haven't even bought supplies for soldering yet. I feel like $500 for getting through the whole book might be underestimating. By the time I'm done, i could have bought a pretty decent electric guitar instead of fiddling around with circuits.

That being said, I'm excited to fiddle around with circuits - and I feel like I picked the right book for it. I just can't give it 5 stars - if I didn't happen to have extra cash to blow, this book would be completely useless. So - here's my warning to you! If you don't seriously have $500 just lying around to blow on getting through this book, don't buy it. If you don't have at least $150 to spend, you won't even make it through the first couple of chapters. 4 stars.

I got this book for my ten year old son who has been tinkering with electronics for the past few years. This book is very well written for people with very little or no background in electronics theory. Author uses pictures and cartoon to make the subject interesting. For each lesson and concept there is an experiment. I have a large library of books on electronics but over all this is best book I have found to teach some one basic electricity and electronics.

After reading through 5 or 6 other beginner's guides to electronics, I have to say this is the first one that really clicked for me. Unlike pretty much every other book on this subject, the author combines the theory and background of electrical engineering with down to earth projects and a whimsical, non-academic tone. The book is richly illustrated with glossy finish and full color illustrations, and loaded with amusing anecdotes. This is an EE book that finally isn't painful to read!

What I liked best about this book is the author remembers what it's like to study this subject for the first time. He talks about mistakes he's made in the past. He even confesses to mistakes he's made while working on the circuits in his book! If you've ever stared at a complicated schematic and thought to yourself, "jeez, I never could've come up with that on my own", it's reassuring when the author tells you he's still learning by trial and error too. You feel like you could have a drink with his fellow, whereas every other EE book comes across as a dry college lecture.

This is by no means a comprehensive guide through the entirety of electrical engineering. But a lot of topics are covered here that I just didn't get at all until they were explained simply and clearly. This is a book that any absolute beginner should start with. This is the foundation to get you started on more complex texts.

My only criticism is that after thoroughly covering all the basic electrical components, the book trails off right when you're getting into modern integrated circuits. I really wanted the author to go on for another 400 pages to modern EE design. If the author doesn't follow up with a second book on ICs, PCBs, and modern design processes it'd be a real shame. I'd love to see how he'd tackle more complex circuits like those used in robotics, toys, and newer consumer electronics.