Customer Reviews

Operational Amplifiers, Second Edition (EDN Series for Design Engineers)

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

 

 

In science and engineering, textbooks gradually decay in quality. The first text is written by the guy who invented the idea, and is rigorous but very lucid (H. W. Bode's "Network Analysis and Feedback Amplifier Design" is a good example). Then you get people who write books about things they aren't really expert in, and the treatments become derivative and are progressively dumbed down with time. The logic becomes fuzzy and many errors and half-truths creep in.

Jiri Dostal may not have invented the op amp, but he writes as though he had--this book is readable, analytically rigorous, and full of clear explanations. Nothing is left unconsidered, and wow, what a help that is. I recommend this book very highly if you need to use op amps for anything at all demanding.

This is still one of the best op-amp books out there. It's certainly not for the casual user, but despite what some have said, I think it's accessible to anyone who's had at least 1 semester of linear circuits at a EE level (and a lab to go with it.) There's a good mix of intuition and rigor. The author employs all the tricks of the trade deftly switching between them depending on the application and explaining why. The explanations are very clear, unusual for an english translation of any technical book. Find me a textbook with the nads to say "The only practical way of mathematically analyzing an operational circuit is analysis by partial tests and idealizations of unimportant things." Most authors would burst into flames if they tried to write that.
The book has 2 major downsides though that render it useful only as a reference. First, there are no homework problems. So the book doesn't make a usable textbook except for instructors energetic enough to write their own problem sets. Second, it's insanely expensive. $200 is just plain ridiculous. The price tag puts it way out of reach of any student and any but the most serious designers. Get it from your local college library if you can.

Dostal's book is not for the newbie, or for the timid. It goes way beyond the typical simplistic approaches used in academia, yet is practical enough to take a top position on a practicing analog engineers bookshelf.

When you have unexplainable issues, and the factory apps guys start to act clueless, this book is a treasure trove of ideas. A must have for any analog guru, or for those who wish to tread where few would ever want to go.