There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings (Paperback)

by Kenn Amdahl (Author) "Some people honestly believe they understand electricity, just as alchemists once thought they understood how to transform lead into gold..." (more)
Key Phrases: whisker diode, vacuum tube diode, rubber bar, Thomas Alva, Lars Thorvillson, Salt Lake City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Amdahl's book has a serious purpose behind the flippancy and silliness: to teach electricity and electronics to mathematics and physics anxiety sufferers." -- Choice

"Don't let non-ham friends or family find this book in your library, though; if they read it, they'll find out that there's no big mystery to electronics and spoil their image of you as a master of a stupefying technical art." Brian Battles -- QST Magazine

"Every millennium or so, a radical non-conformist type appears on the scene to challenge the status quo of science. In this case, the heretic postures that electronics doesn't have to be so difficult. Kenn Amdahl is to electronics manuals what Dr. Seuss is to children's books" Scott Rundle -- B & W's Coda

"Here at last is a book that explains electricity in terms simple enough even for the scientifically impaired. Though uncredentialed and unconventional professing disbelief in the existence of electrons even as he describes their behavior Amdahl is nevertheless wise, witty, and very effective, aiding comprehension of abstruse jargon and arcane concepts with gimmicks like dancing chickens, wizards, and green buffalo" -- A Common Reader

"Like a lighthearted melding of Mr. Wizard and the folks of National Lampoon, There Are No Electrons takes a radically different approach to electronics. Electrons are little green men on their way to a killer party; capacitors are parking lot sized traffic jams; Greenies, it seems, like to surf on magnetic flux. And why not? Even the experts must speculate the details of electron theory. Amdahl just sees things a little differently. You will too." -- Videomaker Magazine

"Most of all, the book is a thought provoker and teacher, leading the reader with no background in science or math gently down the road to electrical enlightenment. It would be a useful supplement to any beginning course in electronics." -- Old Colony Sound Lab

"The Mysteries of Electricity are Revealed in this bizarre and often amusing text-book-in-a-clown suit. It'll seem needlessly frivolous and even flippant to the annoying minority that have no trouble copping an A in physics. For the other four billion or so earth citizens, it's about the easiest and clearest course in basic electronics imaginable. It serves well as a refresher course or a solid introduction to the complicated stuff. The presentation is accessible to a sixth-grader, yet I'd guess that most adults would not be gagged by the author's antics. If you can hack this style of teaching, you'll get what you need." -- The Whole Earth Review

This is a totally painless way to learn about something that affects our lives every day. If only we could get Amdahl to write books on history, geography, grammar, math and brain surgery, we'd have no need for schools. -- Big Books From Small Presses

Product Description
An off-beat introduction to the workings of electricity for people who wish Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut had teamed up to explain inductance and capacitance to them. Despite its title, it's not wild ranting pseudo-science to be dismissed by those with brains. Rather, Amdahl maintains that one need not understand quantum physics to grasp how electricity works in practical applications. To understand your toaster or your fax machine, it doesn't really matter whether there are electrons or not, and it's a lot easier and more fun to start with the toaster than with quarks and calculus. The book is mildly weird, often funny, always clear and easy to understand. It assumes the reader doesn't know a volt from a hole in the ground and gently leads him or her through integrated circuits, radio, oscillators and the basics of the digital revolution using examples that include green buffalo, microscopic beer parties, break-dancing chickens and naked Norwegian girls in rowboats. OK, it's more than mildly weird.

The book has been reprinted numerous times since 1991 and has achieved minor cult status. Reviewed and praised in dozens of electronics and educational magazines, it is used as a text by major corporations, colleges, high schools, military schools and trade schools. It has been studied by education programs at colleges across the United States. This book was making wise cracks in the corner before anyone thought of designing books for dummies and idiots; some say it helped to inspire that industry.

It may be the only "introduction to electronics books" with back cover comments by Dave Barry, Ray Bradbury, Clive Cussler, and George Garrett, as well as recomendations from Robert Hazen, Bob Mostafapour, Dr. Roger Young, Dr. Wayne Green, Scott Rundle, Brian Battles, Michelle Guido, Herb Reichert and Emil Venere. As Monitoring Times said, "Perhaps the best electronics book ever. If you'd like to learn about basic electronics but haven't been able to pull it off, get There Are No Electrons. Just trust us. Get the book."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 322 pages
• Publisher: Clearwater Publishing (October 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962781592
• ISBN-13: 978-0962781599
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #143,577 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amdahl deserves a teaching award., August 25, 2003

By	Godfrey T. Degamo (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

I just recently finished reading this book. The motivation for reading this book was, ofcourse, to learn electronics, both analog and digital, and to ultimately be able to build out ideas that I have floating in my head for the last several years.

The cover of this book caught my eye, and flipping through the pages, I could tell the book was definitely not dry. But was it good? I looked up some of the reviews and all of them were positive from some more reputable sources: National Public Radio/ Car Audio and Electronics / Science News / Radio Electronics Magazine. So I decided to purchase the book.

This book introduces basic concepts of eletronics by use of analogies; imagery of little green men, chickens, and magicians to get his points across. Amdahl was impressed that his children could comprehend the entire Star Wars universe after watching the movie for 2 hours, and he figures he could do the same with electronics.

Usually the format goes, introduce a theory with the usual electron jargon, translate the jargon into a story about Greenies who want to party. Repeat a few times, then review the last few sections with a story about Greenies and electron jargon.

The concepts learned are pretty basic. It doesn't get into much detail, or formulas except for the two basic ones where a component is in series versus in parallel. Semi-conductors are covered.

The stories themselves are somewhat entertaining. And they help you *some what* remember the concepts you learned. Amdahl has borrowed a concept used by mnemonics.

However, the stories can be quite long. Some sections have five pages worth of stories to go through, and none of it has to do with electronics, or analogies. Just pure entertainment. I'd rather he just make analogies, and keep the narrative to the minimal. Remember, the more unusual, the better remembered, and to have a long narrative in a story helps make the bizarre imagery rational, thus losing it unusualness.

The stories themselves with the electronics makes this book -for me- worth 3 stars. What makes this book worth five stars is the following.

The book got me over my 'procrastination' hump and into learning electronics. I also liked the analogies and at times Amdahl pretty much comes out and says there are no really good analogies to electronics and everyday life. You'd be foolish to think that the dry textbooks know it all, and he gives some examples of how explanations in textbooks don't really make sense.

That's a big thing, because having forgotten the electronics I learned in highschool, I do remember knowing the rules and how to apply them, but feeling quite anxious about not understanding. which I felt hindered my remembering the subject. Remember, whatever the textbooks or physicists come up with, it is only a model of reality, a mental construct, which just so happens to be the best at the time, but can change.

I also liked the homemade gadgetry he introduces to people which I see lacking in many textbooks on the subject.

The repetitive nature of the concepts introduced along with regular 'review stories' helped to remember important concepts.

Finally, and most important of all, I like the inventive spirit the book seems to have. Kenn Amdahl manages to cultivate your imagination, definitely not something you'd find in other textbooks.

So the negatives of the book. I mentioned one. The stories could be too long at times. The imagery is not 'continuous' first it was green men, then chickens and ducks. The other major problem is that there is no index at the end of the book. There were a few times I wanted to look up a term, but couldn't remember where in the book I read it first.

For those that are impatient and need to learn electron theory fast, I don't recommend this book. It's not detailed enough and the jargon and concepts are not introduced fast enough. But if you are not in this category, this is a great book to start.

(Right now, I am reading as my second book 'electricity: a self teaching guide by Ralph Morrison. It's a good book so far.)

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So That's How It Works!, April 17, 2003

By	John Downing (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a Professional Engineer with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and 15 years experience in the field. As a result, I was living under the delusional assumption that electronics had something to do with electrons. Fortunate for me, Ken came along and set me free of this silly idea.

After all those years of math, physics, and chemistry, I've never been very comfortable with electric shock therapy, or electricity in general. Ken's book has changed my outlook entirely. Now I get up in the morning and can't wait to turn on all the electrical gadgets in my house.

I recommend this book to anyone trying to understand electrical theory. Ken's book is entertaining and very memorable. He takes one of the most complex topics in modern science and reduces it down to a level that even an engineer like me can understand.... Now that's an accomplishment!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing electricity from the perspective of the electrons, June 13, 2003

By A Customer

Computers, in 2003, have combined many features of low-level electronics, radio, basic electricity, and electromagnetism. Understanding what's inside the box, and even many of the system components that come with a new computer, depends on having some sort of knowledge of things like transistors and capacitors. What's the difference between SRAM and SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM, and RDRAM?

Until recently, I thought electricity "flowed" from positive to negative. When I learned it was the opposite, I wondered about everything else I'd learned. This book is one of the few outside of histories of Nikla Tesla that really speaks to the foundation of our knowledge of electricity. Using an ongoing model where electrons are "greenies," Amdahl creates a combination of science-fiction, and swords and sorcery to lead us into the microcosmic world of particle physics, magnetism, and how the two intertwine.

I thought it was a great book, easy to read, and filled with humor. Sometimes the humor had so many twists and turns it became fairly insane; but how often does a science textbook ever really capture our imagination as "just a plain book to read?"

There are lots of highly complicated books about electricity, but few of them define the fundamental concepts in such a way as to make them memorable. Amdahl's book reminds me of the "For Dummies" series of computer books, particularly the early ones. Many times he mentions technical jargon or certain formulas, but then goes on to tell us not to worry about learning them. Oddly enough, by the end of the book, you've learned them anyway.