Make: Electronics, 2e (Make: Technology on Your Time)

This is the third book aiming at beginners that I have read and by far the best. The writing style is that of somebody explaining it to you in plain and simple English yet it still somehow manages to be very technical and interesting. Would highly recommend this book to anybody new to electronics we are looking to refresh some basic knowledge. The emphasis in this book is through reading and then experimenting with real life circuits and equipment. In disregard there are many different circuits to experiment with. Something for everyone you would hope! There is also a very handy little section around soldering technique and explaining certain integrated circuits and types of equipment. Excellent balance of text, pictures and schematics with reference to useful equipment and good examples. The books use of colour is also particularly good in that it aids the diagrams and pictures to be clear and detailed more than other books I have read in this range. This book has truly inspired me😁… now all I need is more time to create my own circuits!

This is my favourite textbook of all time. I am someone with 0 prior experience in electronics and it has been a joy to work my way through the various experiments with Mr. Platt as my teacher. This book's intention is to get your hands dirty and to focus on the intuition and application rather than, say, working your way through differential equations. So while this book won't help you derive the time constant formula for calculating the speed at which a capacitor charges, it will tell you what the formula is, how to use it, and make you set up some real circuits where you can see this in practice and motivate you to see how understanding this would be useful in real world applications. This is definitely teaching at its best. I feel this is a book the author really enjoyed writing (I could be wrong, of course, but it really does seem like a real labour of love). It's just so well-executed: well-structured, well-written, detailed, thoughtful, and with the odd bit of humour every now and again. You will get the most out of this book if you work your way through the experiments -- but this will involve some non-trivial sum of money. As a UK resident, I spent around a total of 150-200 pounds sourcing the supplies for all 30+ experiments (including a mid-range soldering iron, multimeter, etc). I'm sure I could have shaved down the costs somewhat, but I find it hard to see it costing less than 100 pounds if you're starting from scratch like I did. I used a combination of farnells and amazon and probably spent around 3 hours putting together my shopping baskets of individually sourced items. The book has a US-bias so most of the suppliers listed are US-based. There are kits available, but most of these seem to ship from the US so the shipping charges can be steep. Having recently completed this book I am now going to reward myself with Make:More Electronics!

good first step

This is a really well written, well structured book aimed at people like me that have, at best, a passing knowledge of electronics. I couldn't have asked for anything more from this: a well pitched mixture of fundamentals, a little history, and most importantly, great practical experiments. These aren't just childish experiments either. You do start small in a way that reenforces the required basics but move on quickly to more complex examples that build on those. As the reader you are expected to 'learn by doing' and test-as-you-go through the examples. This means you can get your hands dirty pretty quickly and see for yourself what's actually happening. 'What happens if you do this? Well lets find out!'. This approach feels very intuitive and rewarding. You get a real sense of achievement. You'll obviously need some supplies to work with. These are explained in an early chapter along with a 'Bill of Materials' style appendix which is laid out in an easy to understand way along with places to look for them. So if you're new to electronics, or have a passing interest you want to expand on or consolidate then this is the one for you. There's also a follow up to this that I will definitely be buying.

This book is absolutely brilliant, it is so well written and enjoyable to read. It takes a step by step approach and leaves nothing to chance, it is well presented with lovely colour diagrams which are easy to follow and well explained. For anyone starting out in electronics I would highly recommend this book it is well worth every penny.

In the beginning, it seems to be aimed at little kids, as the text was a bit childish even to my 12yo son. But as the book progresses, the less technical vibe actually makes it easier to understand the more complicated concepts, which was where I got stuck when I was his age.

Really good and simple for a beginner. Clear diagrams and pictures. This is an American publication so all the parts suppliers and websites are in America. The kits can be ordered in the UK but cost a bit more. If you have the time all parts are listed individually for you to order yourself.

This book is great if you are new to electronics and need somewhere to start! I didn't know the first thing about electronics and this book goes through it in a logical way and encourages you to think about the process as you are going through it. The experiments are well thought out and ordered in a logical fashion. The book layout is okay. I would say that it could improve by having the schematic diagrams and the breadboard diagrams on the same page to save you having to flick from one page to another when trying to understand a circuit you've constructed, this however is a small point and doesn't take away from the books overall brilliance. Couldn't recommend this enough.