circuit Books

This is a classic delivered in a modern top-notch layout, with very clear organization and focus. The first edition was written before the modern-day sidebars, peripheral remarks, and time-consuming case studies. The eigth edition does have some added "extra-material" (like chapter openers), but not at the expense of a clear-cut presentation. In particular, this sets it apart from Alexander/Sadiku (3/ed.).

It also has a more modern and clear feel to it than Dorf/Svaboda, which is also a classic, albeit one to be steered clear of; it has not been modernized like Nilsson's book and was less clearly written from the start.

I enyojed Nilsson/Riedel's narrative, the in-chapter excersices (with answers and with suggested end-of-chapter problems), and the problems (many with answers). With Nilsson, you know your learning is in the hands of an athorative educator.

This text is alright, but it does assume prior knowledge of circuits. The exercise problems are way more difficult than any of the examples in the text and not all of the answers are provided in the back of the book. Also, (VERY IMPORTANT) this ISBN does NOT include the PSpice manual that is usually required for a basic circuits course.

I'm only 4 chapters into this book, but so far i like it pretty well. It seems more readable than other physics texts ive had. It seems like the biggest complaint ive read about is it being too hard, or not having answers. I have every answer in the book, since it comes with p-spice and i can check them. As far as being more difficult than the examples, that seems to be the case in any physics course ive taken, and i've just gotten used to it i guess. I suppose the fact that i have a great teacher helps a lot, but i definitely dont think this book is as terrible as everybody on here is saying. Just a quick word to the post "a stinker", we were assigned problem 2.11, and using p=IV and V=IR, its a simple problem.

I bought this book for a undergraduate University course. The book is extremely thorough in the topics discussed and has plenty of examples. My only complaint is not having all the answer values in the back of the book, this makes checking my own answers difficult.

The book is organized very well. It's clear, uses appropriate boxes/highlighting, and succinct. It was more explanatory than my teacher was most of the time. Doesn't shirk from doing the math, but not too math-based.

I've always been particularly fascinated by electronics, circuits, and the whole realm in general, and I bought this book with the hopes of expanding that interest into a constructive hobby.

I have had basic experience with electronics in the past, and taken classes in Differential Equations, Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra, Physics, even some intro Electrical/Computer Engineering courses (all a long time ago though), but WOWee is this book complicated. It's 1300 pages and EVERY SINGLE PARAGRAPH is filled with mind crushing complexity.

Maybe it's all just above me, but from a complete beginners standpoint, this was far too difficult a first step.

I'll try to forge ahead (the author says don't get discouraged by the complex Math), but I have a feeling I will understand less and less the more I read.

Buy this book, complement it with Tietze & Schenke's book and you got a very respectable library covering semiconductor circuits. The T&S book will give you the solid circuit background on the mathematical modeling of semiconductor devices as circuit building elements and that EE's should need to consider in serious projects. This book does very well on the "intuitiveness" side of subjects but clearly lacks in providing an in-depth calculation basis on the subjects it covers. This might be OK for most uses but if you are working on mission-critical circuitry or on circuitry that must perform in extreme conditions you'll certainly need to use more math that you'll be exposed in this text.

In a nutshell, if you start with this book and then read T&S on the same subject you'll build a very solid base in EE.

It is obvious to some that this book would contain material for the design of electronics but everyone who has any interest in the subject could just as easily learn electronics by giving this a read and performing some of the practice problems. I wish this was my text book in college. The book is a very easy read as the authors keep the material light at first and build on the knowledge gained from earlier chapters. I would recommend to anyone who might be interested in the subject.

Perhaps it is rare to review a book after 20 years of owning the 1st and then the 2nd edition. This is an invaluable book for the practicing engineer or inventor or hobbyist. It eliminates much theoretical background and gets to practical implementation. You will find a wealth of practical tips that you will never find in standard engineering textbooks. This is a reference book that I have used for many years. However I agree with the last reviewer that it is in dire need of an update. Needless to say there are 10+ years of advancing technology some of which would be valuable to included. It is still quite a useful book however. At this point, if you are a perspective buyer you may want to wait for an update.

The Art Of Electronics combines a lot of practical information about electronics that makes it a very useful reference text. I just wish they would update it. A 2007 version would probably get 5 stars.

this book is thick and covers a lot of topics quite in-depth, definitely not very good book to start with on microelectronics, but it does make a good ref text!

As most of the people say I agree, this book is not for beginners, and I think further that this book should not be used for the people who think to continue in Academia.

This book is for engineers, when they need to recall something, they will open and use as a reference.

I recommend the `Introduction to Electronic Circuit Design - by Spencer and Ghausi` for a circuit design course instead of Sedra&Smith`s book and Gray, Meyer, Hurst, Lewis book on Analog IC for further topics.

This book is written with the big assumption that the reader is quite versed in the topic already and is very sophisticated in math manipulations to get the results that Sedra ends up with !

Well for a beginner student intersted in this topic this is a book that he or she would struggle with for sure!

But this is the common problem with tech writers who use information and formulas that they never first explain and then assume the reader already knows the material being presented. This is why tech writers rarely get the Pulitzer Prize in writing !

Could Sedra correct this flaw ?

Sure, but often these authors are so set in their ways that it is a struggle even to bring it up to them, so the only answer to new students in the field is to keep searhing for texts that do meet the student half way at least.

Gerard J Sagliocca, P.E.
gerard_sagliocca@yahoo.com

I had to get it for a class but i wouldn't get it on my own. The book lacks explainations and examples that would normaly be expected in this level of a book.

I purchased the item and my credit card was charged, then a few days later I received a letter saying they no longer had any in stock (apparently they sold more copies than they had available) and my money was refunded. This delayed my process.

This book does an ok job of giving exmaples. However, I found that I did have to refer to websites for additional examples and explanations. The additional websites found on my own were a huge help.

wow - thanks to this book I now know that I do not want to be an accountant.

what a relief now I can cross that off my list of things to do in life.

Good textbook. Great coverage and exhibits to assist in learning. Easy to read and follow the step by step process.

This book is well written, and it is easily understood. You'd understand signals and systems, review you math skills, and hone your Matlab skills with this single book. I think the author must have been a great teacher.

This is a pretty good textbook for Signals and Systems.

However, the examples in the book often do not correlate well to the exercises.

This book though lucid in its conversational language does not explain how the author came to his conclusions. Gives examples that the solutions of which are not traceable to the method described and is dirth of the supposed answers to exercises included. As a required text it is a nightmare to an engineering student required to take this couse as a introduction to the subject.
David M. Cook (actual name)

This book without a doubt is a masterpiece when it comes to studying systems and signals. The author does a brilliant job of explaining the concepts. When I took this course the book that my university used was so pathetic I couldn't make out anything from it. But when I purchased lathi's book as an extra aid my scores in tests, exams and homeworks started to skyrocket. I came very close to getting an A- for the course and largely the credit goest to this Lathi's book on systems and signals. Certainly worth the extra investment!

This book has it all: logic, concepts, math, many examples, practical applications, even little historical notes and matlab sections. It's just a very accurate, neat, and well organized book. The guy actually exlains "why". He explains not only how to DO Laplace, Fourier, etc but how to UDERSTAND it. And he is very accurate with what and how he is saying. I bought this book for my undergrad systems & signals class for extra reading and thanks to this book it wasn't one of those 'mechanically' learned classes but math actually acquired meaning.

This book ist not too different in quality from Nilsson, quite normal; some topics are explained okay, others lack a bit of depth in derivation. But the problems are not very fun to solve.

This is by far the worst college textbook I've ever had to use and I don't know why any college would still use it. It was required for my electric circuits engineering class, which unfortunately, I decided to take online. This book was no help at all. It not only doesn't explain the basic electronic concepts in a clear way, but it hardly shows how to solve any relevant problems. The problems it does provide, it provides no solutions for and for the few problems it provides the answers to, it doesn't even show how to solve them to obtain those solutions. I had to end up using my calculus and physics books to be able to answer most of my assignment problems.

If you want a book that holds your hand and babies you through circuit theory, than this book is not for you. Mastery of advanced calculus, and calculus based physics is necessary.

Having said that, being able to understand what is in this book will set you apart from an EET. You use this book because you want to be an EE. (You know, the guy who is the EET's boss. hehe)

This is a well presented book for a skilled enginering student.
You will know more about circuit theory than the average joe tech will ever know.

Saying you can't understand this book is like saying you can't understand Advanced Quantum Mechanics because it has too much math.

Don't be a baby. Just take your 3 semesters of calculus w/ differential equations and 2 semesters of calculus based physics
and then and only then will you be ready for this book. When you are done with this book, you will be a certified EE genius :)

And tell the EET's that they will be working for you. HEHE.

"Electric Circuits," 6th Edition by Dorf and Svoboda rates as the WORST text I've ever used in my undergraduate or graduate training. While it has many helpful tables and illustrations, the core-material presentation is garbled and not easily understood. This is complicated further by an inexcusable plethora of errors contained throughout the text. Though the authors are obviously knowledgeable in the subject matter, from me they earn a grade of "F" for their ability as writers. When used as an adjunct or self-learning text, where the student's knowledge comes directly from the textbook and without the aid of live lectures, this book is useless.

The following three textbooks cover the SAME material as Dorf and are much better suited as adjunct and self-learning texts. These are presented in the order of recommendation to you: (Monier is by far the best of all)

1. "Electric Circuit Analysis," by Charles J. Monier, 2001, Prentice Hall.

This text is EXCELLENT. As the chapter material and the math progress in complexity (up to LaPlace Transforms) the author inserts "math review chapters," which are especially helpful. The material is presented clearly and in an exact fashion in this book.

2. "Electric Circuits," by Alenander and Sadiku

3. "Introductory Circuit Analysis," by Robert L. Boylestad

Unless you're taking a lecture course directly from the authors or have access to a professor familiar with all the errors and quirks of this text, don't waste your time with it.

Disclaimer: I have no financial or business relationship or interests in any of the texts discussed here.

This is the worst book to teach basic foundation skills to future electrical engineers. It assumes that readers are genuises and is definitely not for beginners. It is very difficult to follow and understand. The examples are mediocre and the problems are difficult. It omits key steps in solving some of the problems. It's exponentially frustrating when your university prescribes it as a textbook.(Did the course coordinators even try to read it from a beginner's point of view?) It's only good as a doorstop, paper weight, a projectile to throw at a non-sensical, pretentious PhD student teaching the class(or at least that's what he/she thinks they're doing), or in extreme cases, a toilet paper. Horrible book! Good for bonfires though.

30 years ago I was an electronics tech. Then programmer. now inventor.
I checked out the first edition at the library and was so impressed with
it that I got online and bought the second edition. It is absolutely
great! I'm looking for breadth, not some full-of-himself-professors
rambling about some nit pick point. This book delivers. The only
omissions I have found so far (not errors) is the omission of Diffused
channel FET's (which operate in both enhancement mode AND depletion mode)
which is a common omission among other books, and the omission of optical
encoders. This is a book about the practical part of electronics, not the theoretical stuff that puts you to sleep. Most books that include
the color codes stop at four band. I have seen more bands too often to
count with no explanation of what the other bands are for. This book
explains four bands, two varieties fo five band and six bands before
you even get to the copyright page!

There is a rule among publishers: "don't include too much information
or you won't have anything to write about in your second book". This is
the second author that I found to violate that rule. (the first author
is the one who told me about the rule).

If you are learning to be an engineer, this may not be your book. If
you are trying to design something. This is where to put your money.

As someone with a technical background, but little knowledge or experience with electronics who is seeking to design and build some special purpose circuits, this is a perfect book. It is well written and very readable (a major plus). It covers the basics, and expands on them to cover some advanced principles. It is well indexed so finding topics is easy. It has a wealth of knowledge on almost every facet of modern electronics.

This book provides a broad background, and deep and practical knowledge of electronics. It provides diagrams of hundreds of circuits, so you can quickly find something close to what you are trying to do, see how it works and find enough theory and background that you can figure out how to get from the example to what you are trying to do without another reference or book. This is very useful.

I have purchased other electronics books, but this makes the rest obsolete. It is now the only one I use. While it does not replace an electrical engineering degree, it comes damn close covering most of what a bachelors program will span in the first two years.

This book is written in a very simple to understand format with lots of useful charts and diagrams. A very good book for visual learners. It is a good resource book for technicians, as well as a good introduction/refresher course in electronic fundamentals. As with any books in the electronics field a very solid foundation in algebra is a must, and knowledge in calculus is helpful... I wish more of my college texts were written in this type of format and easy to understand language. I am looking forward to more books written by Paul Scherz

About 10% of the figures seem to contain errors. Some trivial (like units) and others more unacceptable (Op-amp oscillator in figure 9.2 has + and - inputs the wrong way round). This is not the 1st edition, so many errors of a sometimes critical nature is simply shoddy work.

Conceptually it is a truly excellent resource of >900 pages. No strangely named circuits or jargon are left untouched. V. broad coverage of topics. Finally, some explanations of how circuits work. I'm astonished by the casual way in which circuits are usually presented without any explanation of their inner workings. Here we get a very plain and understandable explanation; I am not a young child but I appreciate the text's great simplicity in this regard.

If it were error free and contained the wealth of circuits that Forrest Mims provides, it would be 5 stars. Dollar per page, it's a fantastic bargain. You can secretly download it via torrent for free, but in this case the real thing is worth having.

This book is great, very straightforward and hands-on. There is just enough theory to understand electronics fundamentals if you really want to read through it. If your just looking for some sample projects to try or to tweak, this book provides some too. Provides plenty of troubleshooting tips.

I have read many electrical books,over the years.And this one was a pleasure to work through.The only problem that one might have with the book is that there are no explainations for your answers.So,i would recommend referencing this with other electrical trouble-shooting books.Rea's electronic problem solvers book is a great addendum to explore and inquire over.If your guesstimate assumption is incorrect,it's always comforting to understand why your proposed hypothesis is wrong.Rather than meeting theoretical dead-ends and getting nowhere.I have yet to find the ideal electronics book.This one is still pretty darn good for the sleuthing novice researching advanced electrical uses.

This book has the seeds to become a fantastic book, right now it's above average. I would have given it 3 stars but there is just so much information you can learn from this book.

The real problem is there is a lot that is over-explained for the purposes of teaching oneself and lots of it is disorganized, he needs some pedagogy in his work and to think like a total clueless person - how would you take someone that knows absolutely zip and build and relate the beginning concepts step by step, for your students to build a framework?

In the real world our ancestors did not start with electron theory or physics theory, they went from generalizations to theory. This is keenly forgotten by explaining theory first, instead of going from generalizations and then explaining theory. Humans learn in the former way first, not the latter, theory is for after you've had your "folksy" understanding of electronics. This idea of theory first is a bit preposterous considering how we actually learn in the real world. I hope he takes my criticism not as a slight against his book (which is good), but to improve his communication, organization and teaching of electronics.

It's great as a reference and to teach yourself, but you'll find yourself going to the Web using google and wikipedia will bring you to a better understanding (in combination with the book) by finding other publically available books / articles, written by people who understand how the process of learning works.

I think Stan has excellent writing skills, if not a bit pedantic and academic. This is why I think he should Wiki-Book is book and open it up to other teachers/experts/novices in the field, Wikipedia is so great because errors in expression, and repeting sentences get culled and deleted by many minds.

He should check out Metaphors we live by, by George Lakoff, and do some research into cognitive linguistics to help his pedagogy / communication and teaching skills.

Doing a monolithic work by yourself is hard work, hence I suggest Stan that you open it up for others to edit, organize, and help make THE resource for beginners for the next edition.

Thanks for your hard work!

As a teacher I find this book to be very helpful for the students to use as reference material. It helps to supplement my course of instruction in Electronics Certification, and preparation for FCC exams.

Just to make this clear, I'm writing this as somebody who does NOT have a degree in Electrical Engineering. I've been trying to get into electronics for years and have tried many different books.

I'll break this review into three sections as I think this book needs three different ratings.

1. 5 stars for teaching basic electronics theory and concepts. The majority of the theory is in the first two sections of the book. After wrestling with "The Art of Electronics" and the 1st edition of "Practical Electronics for Inventors" for years this was the book that finally made sense. The chapters are well paced and the tests are a good way to help think about what you've learned.

2. 3 stars for Section 3. This is an issue because section 3 is where the book starts with diodes, transistors, and electronics circuits. As far as helping us understand electronics, this section is not even near the level of the first two sections of the book. More importantly, the author does not adequately explain the circuits presented.

3. 1 or 2 stars for teaching "Practical" skills. After moving through almost 3 sections of this book, I understand a lot of theory but can't understand what is going in a basic circuit when I look at one. This book is completely lacking in the practical aspect. I assumed all this would be explained in the third section but it isn't.

I think this would be a great first book. You will, however, need other books to learn some practical skills, which is why you wanted to get into electronics in the first place.

This book is fairly comprehensive in terms of describing various electronic phenomena and the formulas which govern them. However, it is lacking in explanations of why things are the way they are. For a teach yourself guide there is not enough information to build up a good mental model of how electronic components really work. For example, this book teaches you that in a capacitor current leads the voltage by a 90 degree, but it gives absolutely no reason why this is so. If you want to learn the mathematic side of electronics this book would be a great resource, but if you want to understand how electricity and electronic components work in detail, you will be disappointed.

This is a great book for building the foundations of communication theory. Serves great as an introductory text on analog and digital communications. Concepts are explained very well.

I read this book for 2 of my semesters in my undergrad. In the beginning I didn't like the book much but today all that what I got from this book is helping me back in my Grad studies. One of the finest. Much better than many around.

My only concern about this book is that I have discovered it too late, after graduating in electronic engineering! Really, many explanations that Prof. Lathi gives about Shannon, Nyquist, and the exchange of bandwidth for SNR, both intuitive and rigorous, would have helped me very much at that time.

I really recommend this book for several reasons:
1) Clarity
2) examples
3) Historical background for the development of analog and digital communications.

I hope Lathi will write many other books like this one: I've never found any explanation better than his. He makes you love the subject.

The nice thing about this textbook is that it provides the needed background in probability and random processes. The first nine chapters discuss in detail how digital and analog communication systems work. Chapter 1 is an introduction to communications systems, and signal analysis is covered in chapters 2 and 3. Here the student is encouraged to see a signal as a vector and to think of the Fourier spectrum as a way of representing a signal in terms of its vector components. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss amplitude and then angular modulation. In the digital age many might feel that modulation should be deemphasized. However, modulation is a basic tool of signal processing and its understanding is therefore still necessary. Chapter 6 deals with sampling, pulse code modulation, and delta modulation. Chapter 7 discusses the transmission of digital data while chapters 8 and 9 discuss emerging digital technologies in communications as they were considered cutting edge in 1998. Chapters 10 and 11 are the promised chapters on probability and random processes, sufficient to the point of understanding what is covered in this book. Chapters 12 and 13 discuss the behavior of communication systems in the presence of noise. Optimum signal detection is the subject of chapter 14, and information theory is introduced in chapter 15. Error control coding is the subject of the final chapter of the book.

The best features of this book are its visual style with plenty of diagrams and also its numerous worked out numerical examples. The mathematics is as complex as necessary to explain concepts, but the author doesn't lose sight of the forest for the trees in this aspect of the book. Exercises include not only traditional numerical type problems but computer exercises as well. Although there are entire books written on what this book covers in chapters, particularly in the last half of the book when the author is surveying topics rather than laying foundations, this is a good first book to read even on these advanced topics as far as getting the big picture and seeing how these topics tie into the design of communication systems. Highly recommended.

EXCELLENT:
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This is an amazing book with many sections that are gems! Shannon's theorem is explained so beautifully in such detail that I have never seen anything like it. The chapters on Optimum signal detection and error correction codes are so beautifully written and easy to follow that I want to congratulate the author. The section on how to calculate the power spectral density of different line codes like bipolar, split phase, and polar was the easiest to read yet very detailed.

BAD:
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However the book is scattered. The same material sometimes is covered in multiple chapters in bits and pieces. Partially this is because the author wants to first introduce some of the concepts without discussing probability and later covers them again after studying probability. But, this still can't explain why things are so scattered. The new chapters added in the third edition covering some of the new applications are not written well. The contribution by a guest author to one of the chapters was horrible!

What will make this book excellent is to get rid of the guest author and some of the new material, clean up the presentation of the fundamentals and present in a more unified matter.

This book is a good relief from reading Proakis. I have read many advanced books which were easy to read. The reason Proakis was hard to read wasn't because the subject was advanced but simply it wasn't written well.

p.s. My second edition was read so often that the glued pages started falling out. I bought the third edition and once again the glued pages fell out! I don't know if it is because this is one of the books I most frequently use or just the binding should be improved.