A Practical Introduction to Electronic Circuits [Paperback]

Martin Hartley Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0521478790 | ISBN-13: 978-0521478793 | Edition: 3

The effective learning of electronics must involve practical experience in circuit building. This book provides a practical explanation of electronics, understandable to any reader with some knowledge of electrical circuits. Martin Hartley Jones presents a full account of the subject, starting with basic concepts such as amplification, and progressing to analog and digital IC chip applications, including a lucid account of microcomputers. All the topics are effectively illustrated with lively experiments. Mathematics does not obscure the electronics concepts, so the book remains very readable. It is an ideal first text for degree and vocational course students in electronics. It will also be of use to those in other disciplines where electronics is a subsidiary subject. This highly successful text is now in its third edition and builds on its predecessors by maintaining the style and logical development of the subject. The author includes new sections on switch-mode power supplies, phase-locked loops, and analog to digital conversion.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Starting with basic concepts such as amplification, and progressing to analog and digital IC chip applications, this book provides a practical explanation of electronics that can be understood by any reader who has some knowledge of electrical circuits.

Product Details

• Paperback: 548 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 3 edition (January 26, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521478790
• ISBN-13: 978-0521478793
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,179,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional book, not for novices, December 27, 2004

By 

Mark Davies (London, UK & Seattle, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Practical Introduction to Electronic Circuits (Paperback)

Don't be swayed by M. T. "mtartagni"'s review - as he said, it was his mistake - he was obviously looking for something different.

This book is an exceptional intro to electronics but not for the novice. Suggest you start with "Foundation Electronics" by B G Barker (if still in print) if you are just starting out.

Why so good - some of the best engineers I have worked with have one piece of advice - understand electronics at the physics level and you will easily understand any circuit, be able to fault trace quickly and even build your own equipment from scratch. Electronic math is ok but no substitute for knowing what those darned electrons are up to. This book takes you from the physics through to theoretical and practical examples and will get you a long way to becommining an electronics engineer.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best ways to describe the science of electronics., August 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Practical Introduction to Electronic Circuits (Paperback)

I read too many books in electronics most of them try to explain the electronics using abstract method or as it is. This book is different, it shows you the theory with method or a model and the logic is very well explained. If you are tired from understanding the basic concepts such as amplification, power supplies, oscillators and digital circuits from other text books, try this book and trust me it will improve your skills in electronics dramatically. Also I believe this book will be a good and valuable reference with other advanced textbook in electronics. This is an excellent book for the beginners in the world of electronics.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the new gold standard for electronics, January 3, 2008

By 

A.Reader1 (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Practical Introduction to Electronic Circuits (Paperback)

If I could give this book 10 stars I would - it's that good. It's the best all-around electronics book for those non-EE people interested in understanding electronics.

Be aware it does not cover the basics like DC or AC circuits. Doesn't cover capacitors or inductors. Nor does it cover diodes or circuit theorems or meters or magnetism. This book assumes you know those basics already.

This book is primarily devoted to the study of solid state amplification - FETs and bipolar junction transistors. It covers both with equal depth and clarity. It does have a short chapter on vacuum tubes just for completeness. The math is straightforward (basic algebra and a bit of calculus) but what makes this book special are the descriptions of what's happening. It's absolutely crystal clear at all times. 11 of the 14 chapters are devoted to amplification and related topics like power supplies. The remaining chapters are on oscillators and digital circuits.

Another aspect that makes it so readable is the layout of the text and diagrams on the page. A nice large font was used and the character spacing is generous. The line diagrams are very clear. All of this combines for a book that's never an eye strain and a joy to read.

There are no end-of-chapter problems. Ordinarily this would be a negative. But the circuits presented are intended to be built and experimented with. This is the only true way to learn the subject. The author has identified all the components you'll need including IC pinouts! It's the only book I've seen to take this approach.

I'd pick this book as the new gold standard over Horowitz and Hill (H&H). The present work covers 70-80% of the analog topics found in H&H but does so with much greater clarity.