my parents recently gave my wife and i a gift certificate to amazon.com  and i wanted to know what books you suggest that i get for my electronics library?  thanks in advance.

i just found $80 worth of used books on amazon that are incredible... i should start receiving them this coming week.  i'm really excited... i had no idea they were so easy to obtain, but of course, if i name them in here, the few remaining units will probably blow out of the used bookstores.  amazon apparently has relationships with lots of used bookstores across the country!  i found books which i would have imagined would be worth $200 at prices as low as $7!  pretty incredible.

what's really ridiculous is that i haven't seen many of these books in years because they've been stolen from the local public library!  public libraries should be going back through their lists of stolen and lost books and replacing them using used copies available through amazon!

i'd suggest any of the big thick circuit books by John Markus or pretty much anything by Forrrest Mims, III.  i'm weird though... i can get inspired to build a guitar effect while staring at an air conditioner control circuit... "hey, if i just put a super hard-on right there, i could make something that simulates a helicopter!"  8^)

All depends what level you're at.  You can't go wrong with the Babani range of books (especially the Penfold ones).  Dirt cheap, packed with practical circuits and an easy to understand explanation is always given.

http://www.babanibooks.com/bb7.htm

Sadly, some of their better ones are out of print.  Thank heavens for local libraries!

My local libraries have some excellent books.  'Semiconductor Circuit Design' by Watson (can't remember his first name and it's sadly out of print) has been really useful to me over the years, plus Art of Electronics.

The ones that have been most useful to me are Electronics Projects for Musicians by Craig Anderton, Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims, and Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz.

If I had to choose one, I'd get Practical Electronics for Inventors.

Probably more than one person will recommend The Art of Electronics, but I must confess that I have owned a copy for almost 20 years, and no matter how many times I go back to it to try to get something useful from it, it proves impenetrable. I feel funny saying this here, because lots of people really seem to love this book. Not me.

Whatever, read the reviews on Amazon before you buy. Great present!

too numerous to mention, but sure the basic Horowitz/Hill,
Tietze/Schenk and Rathheiser are among them,
lots of Amateur Radio, TV, HiFi, Synthesizer, Guitar-amp,
Studio-Electronics books;
Siemens, Phillips & Telefunken
Vademecums & Application books;
as well as the (mostly monthly) magazines:
"Radio Bulletin" (dutch, yrs. 1937-1967);
"Funkschau" (german, yrs. 1947-1972);
"Elektor" (german, yrs. 1970-2004);
"Elrad" (german, yrs.~1977~1998);
plus hundreds of on-topic patent-files from the past 80 years.

I have piles of electronics related books, funny thing though I usually just look on the internet for info.

Quote from: ErikMillerProbably more than one person will recommend The Art of Electronics, but I must confess that I have owned a copy for almost 20 years, and no matter how many times I go back to it to try to get something useful from it, it proves impenetrable. I feel funny saying this here, because lots of people really seem to love this book. Not me

Nothing to apologise about, it assumes a fair bit of prior knowledge and isn't that accessible at first. Many text books tend to make quite simple concepts overcomplicated. They're more concerned with the mathematical proof of a phenomenon that getting the big picture across. The Art of Electronics is better than some in this respect, but I'd still put it in that category. The Watson book I mentioned is definitely a bit of a head scratcher in parts, but is worth the effort for the info it contains.

That's one of the reasons why I like the Babani stuff - simple to understand, though some of the cirucits can be quite advanced.

I still can't find a "beginner" book I can recommend (but, there is always the Forrest Mims books that RS used to sell). For the more advanced, the ones I like are:
The Art of Electronics (yeah, I know...!)
"Troubleshooting Analog Electronics" by Robert Pease
"design with operational amplifiers and analog integrated circuits" Sergio Franco
"IC op Amp Cookbook " Jung
"CMOS cookbook" Lancaster

and here is one out of left field:
"electronic analog and hybrid computerds" Korn & Korn

BTW I have most of those huge 'circuit compilations" & they are pretty crap IMHO, at least for FX work.. And Penfold is full of errors :roll:

If you're interested to read up on BBDs, you can try:

Audio IC Circuits Manual, R. M. Marston

It has a chapter on charge coupled device.

any of the craiganderton books.

the way things work..  was a good book, but i dont' have the authors name its a 30 year old book with everyttihnng from guitars to lasers to hover crafts to mascarra.

any basic college electronics book start from te beginning adn work your way up.

Melvyn hiscok's buildd your own electric guitar.

has basic guitar stuff in it, and helps ya understand the mechanics of the istrument.

im such a 21'st century kid, but i've leared almost everything online!  there's so much great stuff here, that its hard to imagine there being another world of information in books....im in the genration that grew up doing reserach reports on computer... "wow, i didn't realize my school library has books, too! I thought it was just computers!"

Well...i looked at my local library and they had _nothing_.  So...maybe i should follow everyone's advice and look for some good books...

Quote from: AnsilMelvyn hiscok's buildd your own electric guitar.
has basic guitar stuff in it, and helps ya understand the mechanics of the istrument.

Nice pick. Recommended reading for someone who wants to go past the "buy parts and put em' together" phase. Each of the 3 projects are a different lesson in design and build techniques. Sounds funny, but I bought back when it came out for the electronic end of guitar making. I already had a lot of experience in cabinet and furniture making, so the woodworking end was easy. Still interesting now. Kinda gives you the "Brian May Spirit" by building completely from scratch.

Quote from: ErikMillerThe ones that have been most useful to me are Electronics Projects for Musicians by Craig Anderton, Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims, and Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz.

If I had to choose one, I'd get Practical Electronics for Inventors.

I have 2 anderton books, and Practial electronics for inventors that i refer to constantly.  i have about 8 other books, but i have either outgown them, or they just arent written very well.

Some of them i paid way too much for and never really got anything out of them.

What i would like to see is a nice book just about filters, active and passive

watch out: Don Lancaster`s Active Filter Cookbook
(at least in the 8.th edition 1994/German issue)
got way too much mistakes.....

For me, any of the old National Semiconductor Linear Analog Circuits books is great, even though they are essentially compendiums of appnotes and datasheets.

In a pefect world I would have the entire Rudy Graf bibliography, or least the various volumes of Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits.  Only a smattering of it is musically or even audio-related, but like ZV, I find it remarkable what you can learn from staring at a bunch of circuits and seeing design ideas and approaches.  On the other hand, a lot of libraries have them.

There is always the Standard Handbook of Audio Engineering by Whitaker and Benson (http://www.audioxpress.com/bksprods/books/bkmh31.htm), although there are earlier editions available cheaper (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/offer-listing/0070047774//104-1134263-1912729?condition=all)
This is a killer book. Understanding how hearing works will take you a lot farther than you'd realize, so for me the chapter on hearing alone is worth the price.  Lots of excellent conceptual stuff in there.

And on behalf of Randall Aiken.....

* Audio Cyclopedia, 2nd Edition - Howard Tremaine. Published by Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc. The Bobbs-Merrill Co. Inc., 1974.  International Standard Book Number 0-672-20675-7, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 77-82885.  "This huge volume is arguably the best book ever published on tube amplifier circuits and other electronic circuitry, from filters to test equipment and everything in between.  It is presented in a question-and-answer format, and contains concise, easy-to-understand explanations of almost every tube circuit known to man (some of the newer patents on amp circuitry bear a suspicious resemblance to circuits in this book).  Don't buy the later, solid-state edition, the 2nd edition is the one you want.  Good luck finding a copy, as it is long out of print."

for a begginers book~

texas instruments... "undersatnding solid state electronics" is great... it doesn't exceed a 4th gade math level... but left me with a much, much better understanding of electonics..

it even goes into the chemestry behind diodes/transistors... which i though was pretty interesting..
hth,

there has been a lot of upheaval about some Japanese effects book, lately... :?