book recommendations

[blaghaus]

i'm building my first effect, the mayqueen from runoffgroove. while it's not too difficult to put things together, i'd like a bit more of an indepth look at whats actually going on.

I'm thinking of getting Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics (TAB Electronics Technical Library)  
. how do you guys rate this book?

and are there any others you recommend?

[T-Man]

I'm not sure what the best beginner book is, but there sure are a lot of them...

Once you have a bit of momentum though, I strongly recommend getting The Art of Electronics but Horowitz and Hill. Some of it is outdated, but most of the analog stuff is still great.

[blaghaus]

I'm not sure what the best beginner book is, but there sure are a lot of them...

Once you have a bit of momentum though, I strongly recommend getting The Art of Electronics but Horowitz and Hill. Some of it is outdated, but most of the analog stuff is still great.

just been checking that out. looks like the best book. expensive though! definately worth the cash? i'm a complete newbie when it comes to electronics.

[Mark Hammer]

I recently took this one (http://titles.cambridge.org/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521478790) out of our public library, and I'm quite enjoying it.  When I saw a schematic of a tube preamp circuit and the identical circuit with FETs, I knew I had stumbled onto a good one.

[ErikMiller]

For the absolute beginner, Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims would be my first suggestion. It was published by Radio Shack, and may still be available at some locations. It's worth getting used from alibris.com if you can't find it new.

Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz would be the next one after that.

I've owned a copy of The Art of Electronics for 20 years and have yet to get anything from it. My guess is that it's a great book for people who already have a strong theoretical background. Take the "once you have a bit of momentum" caveat seriously.

My current strategy for getting electronics books is to ask my local library to get titles for me on interlibrary loan. That way I can try before I buy. Certainly, I look up anything I'm interested in on Amazon to read the user reviews.