Practical Electronics for Inventors: Amazon.ca: Paul Scherz: Books

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Product Description

An intuitive, applications-driven guide to electronics for engineers, hobbyists, and students--one that doesn’t overload readers with technical detail. Chock-full of illustrations--over 750 hand-drawn images provide clear, detailed instructions on how to turn theoretical ideas into real-life gadgets. Covers integrated circuits (ICs), digital electronics, and various input/output devices; includes a complete chapter on the latest microcontrollers.

Book Info

Provides beginning hobbyists and inventors with an intuitive grasp of the theoretical and practical aspects of electronics. Takes the reader through reading schematics, building and testing prototypes, purchasing electronic components, and safe work practices. Softcover.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
Perhaps the most common predicament a newcomer faces when learning electronics is figuring out exactly what it is he or she must learn. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

31 Reviews

5 star:		(19)
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3 star:		(6)
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Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (31 customer reviews)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars An interesting book,but can it survive the errors?, Dec 3 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Practical Electronics for Inventors (Paperback)

The preface indicates that the book is primarily for electronic neophytes who, apparently, fill the ranks of inventors & hobbyists (?). I would think that the persons who would get the most out of this work would be those with some formal traning in electronic circuit design, perhaps those about to graduate or just grtting established in discrete, commercial circuit design. Also good for the older crowd to stay current.

What I see is a voluminous & varied amount of material focusing primarily on discrete circuit design & the IC's/components available for such work. There is very little math - calculus is avoided where possible. There is a lot of practical info on general circuit development. There is a good overview on digital, op amps, filters, PSs, stepper moters & microcontrollers among others. Some nuggets for the EE too. Remember how you rejoiced when they introduced Phasors during sinusoidal steady-state analysis? But after converting everything into complex numbers & solving the problem, why did you through away the imaginary part? See an elegant little explanation in Chap. 2.

Earlier reviewers have spent some time on the errors. Suffice it to say that there are many preventable, inexcusable errors. Many are typos & schematic errors, but others leave you wondering. How could an author with such an obvious command of this subject matter confuse electrical power & electrical energy or enhancement-type & depletion-type FESs? Fun for the EE's - How many errors can YOU find?

Other impressions: 1) If you're responsible for designing a special circuit - maybe a filter or switching PS & need some pactical info on the subject, would you not search out a book devoted to that single subject? 2) The Water Analogies - spare me, please; Rube Goldberg would turn over in his grave. 3) What about citing a few references every once in awhile? 5) How many of these schematics (for the novice) were modeled or breadboarded?

And finally to McGraw-Hill: Don't you people have any technical proof readers on staff? I think YOU owe us all a recall on this book to be replaced free with an error corrected revision.

The revision will be worth 4+ stars; as is 2- stars. There are similar books w/o the errors.

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars BEWARE, Jan 1 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Practical Electronics for Inventors (Paperback)

I confess that I bought the book because the majority of the reviews were very favorable. I was looking for a good explanation on how a SCR, a TRIAC and similar devices work, as well as some challeging examples to "sink in" the knowledge. I was dissapointed with what I found on the subject, as well as many others. Sometimes the material presented looked more like a typical data sheet on a device, rather than a textbook presentation. After a two-day review I returned the book for credit.
The book might help readers without any previous exposure to DC or AC circuits or electronic devices. I do say maybe because I have reservations about using the water analogy to explain active semiconductors. Too many valves have to be taking in account in carrying the analogy, masking the basic concepts that differentiate one from another.
I do commend the author for explaning the basic components used in electric and electronic circuits in detail. Very few books cover the different types of wires and other passive components when covering the basic knowledge on circuitry.
"The ABC of electronics" could have been a better choice for the title.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Simply wonderful..!!!, Dec 6 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Practical Electronics for Inventors (Paperback)

I'm a first year student in electrical engineering. At first view, this book is for the "gadgets beginner", but when you dive in a complete overview of the content and the way it is explained, it is AWESOME. The fluid flow analogy is way far the best I ever saw in a book. Every student or engineer should have a copy for quick reference to basic concepts explained SO CLEARLY. Of course, most complex maths are left aside, but still some important concepts are covered, (basic derivatives for transients analysis for example). Any beginner can build his own circuit with this book and the engineer can quickly find a forgotten concept without having to search in a giant guidebook where the practical side of theory is often hard to catch.

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