The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design (Edn Series for Design Engineers) [Hardcover]

Jim Williams (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0750695056 | ISBN-13: 978-0750695053 | Publication Date: August 11, 1995

* Visualizing the operation of analog circuits * Troubleshooting for optimum circuit performance * Producing a saleable product * Career guidance for engineers


In this companion text to Analog Circuit Design: Art, Science, and Personalities, seventeen contributors present more tutorial, historical, and editorial viewpoints on subjects related to analog circuit design. By presenting divergent methods and views of people who have achieved some measure of success in their field, the essays and anecdotes give some constructive guidance in areas not usually covered in engineering courses, such as marketing and career development.


Visualizing the operation of analog circuits
Troubleshooting for optimum circuit performance
Producing a saleable product

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Williams has taught leadership and management in a number of universities and undertaken a variety of research and consultancy projects with a diverse range of clients in the public and private sectors. His teaching and examining experience spans the range from Advanced Certificate and Diploma to Doctoral level In the course of his career he has worked in several countries in North America and Europe.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Newnes (August 11, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750695056
• ISBN-13: 978-0750695053
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,733,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Williams, who worked for Linear Technology for nearly three decades, started as an applications engineer in the early years of the company. His contributions were many-fold. He was a legendary analog circuit designer, problem solver, writer and mentor to many engineers over the years. Jim passed away in June 2011 after suffering a stroke.

Hailing from Detroit in the shadow of a booming postwar US automotive market, Jim developed an early curiosity and interest in all things electronic. He would talk about working at a TV repair shop during his early years, so he could poke around inside to find out how they worked. His passion for electronics took him to Boston, where his intellect and drive helped him find a technician's job working on the Apollo program. Although self-taught in electronics, Jim taught and did research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1968 to 1979, concentrating exclusively on analog circuit design. During this time, he began his legendary writing career--finding clear, elegant ways to describe complex and seemingly indescribable design challenges and solutions.

Before joining Linear Technology in 1982, Jim worked in National Semiconductor's Linear Integrated Circuits Group for three years. In nearly 30 years with Linear, Jim had the unique role of staff scientist, with interests spanning product definition, development and support. He was consumed with developing analog circuits, helping set up instruments in the company's labs, mentoring junior engineers in-house and customers outside, even answering his own phone. Jim maintained a lab at his home and worked there, in a lab at least as well outfitted as the one at work.
Jim Williams was named Innovator of the Year by EDN magazine in 1992 and elected to Electronic Design Hall of Fame in 2002. His outside interests spanned sports cars, collecting antique scientific instruments, art, and restoring (and using) old Tektronix oscilloscopes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable Lore For The Analogue Designer, April 3, 2001

By 

Philip Hobbs "Phil Hobbs" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design (EDN Series for Design Engineers) (Paperback)

Jim Williams is a famous circuit designer, and has a bunch of friends who are famous circuit designers (or very good ones who are liable to become famous one of these days). This book, a sequel to his excellent "Analog Circuit Design: Art, Science, and Personalities" gives you a look inside the minds of these guys, and the result is very illuminating. It is an eclectic volume, ranging from Harrison's eighteenth-century maritime chronometer to oscilloscope vertical amplifiers to detailed advice on how to approach design problems. Williams's own chapter, "The Importance of Fixing" focuses on the intellectual discipline of troubleshooting, and what a wonderful classroom the inside of a broken but well-designed piece of hardware can be.

The emphasis of this volume is growing good engineers, by teaching the rhythm of the insight, design, prototype, debug iteration as practiced by the best. If you have circuits to design, this book will pay for itself in about 5 minutes, and you'll be a more confident and adventurous designer. I've owned it for five years or so, and read it at least annually.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining book on serious science, June 15, 2002

By 

Scott Bronson (SF, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design (EDN Series for Design Engineers) (Paperback)

This is a Lazy Saturday Afternoon book. You can read it front-to-back or you can just flip to random pages. Either way, you'll find very entertaining stories (as long as you're an EE) packed with great information. Covers everything from obscure transistor parameters to marketing. It made me a better engineer and I enjoyed every page.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Electrical Engineering Novel, June 20, 2007

By 

Kishore "Kishore" (Pocatello, ID, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design (EDN Series for Design Engineers) (Paperback)

You gotta admire the experienced geeks and how they learnt electronics stuff the hard but lasting way. They can never forget the basics as they have so much practical experience. Being a beginner in this wonderful field of analog design, I enjoyed the book a lot. We tend to cram ourselves with knowledge from different books and our instructors also encourage us to explore different methods of explaining things but nothing can beat the time tested, practical experience gained by doing stuff on the bench. Some of the design ideas are really good. After reading this book read the book "trouble shooting analog circuits" by Bob Pease. The authors have proven that practical bench experience is as important as theory in doing good, marketable designs.