[volt-nuts] The Art of Electronics

[Marv @ Home]

When AoE was released in 1980, the intended audience was electronics 
for a non-EE major.  How this morphed into an engineering text shows 
how what is 'core' has changed.  It had a friendly style, akin to 
having a instructor with you.  AoE was best read in chapter sequence 
through the fundamentals, and higher chapters expect readers to know 
material from previous chapters without reference to it.  On occasion 
it used concepts a jump forward but could be figured out by cross 
referencing its index.  It was a semester course for us back in early 1980s.

AoE v2 updated more in the digital domain with many corrected errata 
and typos from V1.

I'd wait for V3 2nd printing or later, as typos from 1st printing are 
being reported as well as I read references to unpublished chapter 
"Xs" not in this printing.

T&S is an excellent text, if you already know the material and just 
need a refresher.  It gets to the point quickly.

Only 2 T&S editions were translated to English; German has ?10+ 
editions.  The only edition I ever looked at in print was v1, and it 
was $180+ in 1990s, compared to $50 for AoE new, or $20+ used.  T&S 
used in the USA is harder to find, and few V1 I've seen sell near $100+.

Student or someone with a cursory interest, cost, writing style and 
similar breadth could be a tie breaker, AoE V3 sells for ~$100 
delivered, and V2 $20-30 used.  T&S V2 from 2008 is ~$US260 delivered.


At 04:33 AM 4/17/2015, Attila Kinali wrote:
>On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 08:24:38 +0000
>"Poul-Henning Kamp" <phk at phk.freebsd.dk> wrote:
>
> > >How does it compare to the gold standard of the Tietze&Schenk?
> >
> > No idea.
>
>If you know a bit of german, get yourself a copy of it.
>You will love the in-depth explanations of the various
>electronics compontents. Also you can use it to knock
>out any burglar, should the need arise ;-)
>
> > You have to remember that not everybody here are professional electronics
> > people, I'm a software person who knows enough electronics to be useful
> > without being dangerous, and I've certainly learned a lot from AOE3
> > over breakfast this past week.
>
>True that. The AoE gives at least a nice overview of quite a few
>electronics techniques. And probably not the worst thing you can
>start with, when you are new to electronics.
>
>That said, I kind of miss the amateur radio/electronics literature
>that was so abundant in the 80s. They really did a good job of
>introducing various circuits and how successfully build them if
>you don't have any professional equipment.
>
>                         Attila Kinali