{"id":600101,"date":"2023-01-22T06:49:26","date_gmt":"2023-01-22T12:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/22\/ask-hn-best-laymans-book-on-electricity\/"},"modified":"2023-01-22T06:49:26","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T12:49:26","slug":"ask-hn-best-laymans-book-on-electricity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/22\/ask-hn-best-laymans-book-on-electricity\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask HN: Best Layman’s Book on Electricity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ask HN: Best Layman’s Book on Electricity<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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\n 118 points<\/span> by idontwantthis<\/a> 8 hours ago<\/a><\/span> <\/span> | hide<\/a> | past<\/a> | favorite<\/a> | 33\u00a0comments<\/a> <\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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I’m looking for a book that will explain how electricity and electronics work to a level that will be useful day to day. Concepts like how the grid works, how electricity does work, what different electrical components do and how they do them.<\/p>\n

Something not requiring multivariable calculus.<\/p>\n

I recently read “Immune!” by Phillip Detmer about the human immune system. Is there anything at a similar level to that that you would recommend?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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I love that it\u2019s just called \u201cBasic Electricity\u201d<\/p>\n

Not electrical engineering, not electronics. Let us scare nobody off with the cover.<\/p>\n

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If you’re interested in digital electronics (e.g. computers), I strongly recommend “Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software”[0].<\/p>\n

It’s a bit of a history book on the invention of computers, starting from the telegram. By the end of the book, you should know enough to create a computer from wires and a power source alone. The section on the physics of electricity is only a few pages though.<\/p>\n

Personally, for a more high level and intuitive understanding of electrical concepts, I generally find educational YouTube videos more effective than books. I strongly recommend “The Engineering Mindset” channel on YouTube[1] but there are many others.<\/p>\n

[0] https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Code:_The_Hidden_Language_of_C…<\/a><\/p>\n

[1] https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@EngineeringMindset<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Grid[1] by Gretchen Bakke. May not get as low-level as you like (physics of electricity) but great for learning about how the grid came to be, the operation of it, and the regulatory environment surrounding it.<\/p>\n

[1]The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future https:\/\/a.co\/d\/g78jGlx<\/a><\/p>\n

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For small scale circuits, I like Scherz’s “Practical Electronics for Inventors”. For a good high level overview of the grid, along with other civil engineering topics, Grady Hillhouse’s “Engineering in Plain Sight” is good. Hillhouse’s videos pop up on HN occasionally (e.g., https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=34472122<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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The entire content from this was open source and they built a community and advertising network around it and slowly devalued the content. I\u2019m not sure what they did license wise with the original.<\/p>\n

The original source material is out there still but I can\u2019t remember what it is called or where it is.<\/p>\n

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Man, I’ve been looking for something as accessible and free for years. Thanks!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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“Practical Electronics for Inventors” by Paul Scherz [0]. Not only does it have practical circuits it also has chapters on theory presented in such a way as to have me understand it.<\/p>\n

I think many of the books I read in the past shied away from complex math, linear algebra, etc. whereas PEfI uses them as needed. “The Art of Electronics”, for example, I found to be absolutely abysmal.<\/p>\n

It’s not an in depth book, it’s pretty much a beginners book, but it’s thorough and practical.<\/p>\n

[0] https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourt…<\/a><\/p>\n

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I’ve got the third edition and I’m not very impressed with the adjective “practical” in the title.<\/p>\n

It does not deal with practical topics like safety, system layout and grounding, board layout, reliability (heat, vibration, mechanical parts), connectors, testing, record-keeping, and so on. Some of these things get a superficial mention, to be sure. But not much practical advice.<\/p>\n

For example there is a section of a few pages on transient [over]voltage suppressors, but it’s just a catalog of a few different types of device with no real practical information on how to select and size them for different needs, test your design according to the standards, or the design tradeoffs.<\/p>\n

I already know simplified treatments of the theory and I would have found a book on practical electronics to be useful.<\/p>\n

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I can add to this as I’ve read parts of the 3rd edition.<\/p>\n

First off, it’s a one thousand page textbook so it’s not a short read. However, the second chapter is just called “Theory” and it’s about 200 pages long, and that single chapter is an excellent primer on electrical engineering.<\/p>\n

Don’t get the kindle version, it’s too hard to read on Kindle.<\/p>\n

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I would stay away from practical electronics for inventors. The book historically was chock full of really bad explanations and mistakes which brings into question the author\u2019s knowledge and credentials. You don\u2019t see that until you look at it from the professional side of things. To a new electronics person it looks credible. I can\u2019t speak for later editions.<\/p>\n

The Art of Electronics is an excellent book but misunderstood. It\u2019s a reference book not an introductory text. It should be used in a professional capacity or be read alongside the accompanying student manual.<\/p>\n

The book situation in this sector is pretty horrible unfortunately. The old NEETs stuff is verbose but teaches you nothing, the Make books teach you what but not how. Same with the Forest Mims books.<\/p>\n

I have been considering writing a book which covers enough electronics for people to competently solve a problem they have without being led up the wrong path or delve too heavily into mathematics (the latter is unfortunately mostly unavoidable but basic algebra should be enough to solve nearly all problems)<\/p>\n

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Comments about impedance and the BJT calculations were completely wrong. Also it suffers from having bits of information in little islands and no clue as to how to stick them together.<\/p>\n

One of the fun things in electronics is when someone builds a small signal amplifier then wonders why the output is lower than calculated with zero understanding of source \/ load impedances. Because no one taught them about that.<\/p>\n

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Just found PEfI’s 4th edition online and looked through it. It’s beautifully laid out with clear illustrations, summary tables and well-explained text. I’m not usually tempted to buy a hardcopy but this looks super handy.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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> “The Art of Electronics”, for example, I found to be absolutely abysmal.<\/p>\n

Agreed. I had this damn thing collecting dust on my coffee table until someone expressed interest and took it off my hands.<\/p>\n

I’ll check out the PEfI book. I don’t consider myself a total noob, but I’d also fail the first week’s exam in any EE intro course.<\/p>\n

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You might start with something like [1] which is a 63 “slide” | page introductory overview to a first year engineering (common core) electrical fundementals course (the linked version is from Oregon State niversity in the USofA but looks similar to courses elsewhere).<\/p>\n

It’s not the course handbook (there are many) and doesn’t have any heavy math (aside from a few descriptive relationships) but it does a helicopter overview of the concepts that would be covered in a course that is fundemental to both electrical (grid | household | industrial) and electronic (circuits, sensors, computers) engineering.<\/p>\n

If you skim through that you’ll have an idea of what interests you and what to further ask about.<\/p>\n

[1] https:\/\/web.engr.oregonstate.edu\/~webbky\/ENGR201_files\/SECTI…<\/a><\/p>\n

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I think in late high school, or maybe even after I started my electrical engineering degree, I bought a few of his books from Tandy (the Radio Shack brand here in Australia). They were a great way to get enthused about electronics and encouraged me to build and get hands-on (which is obviously what Tandy wanted to achieve)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Seconded. For intuitive learners out there – it won’t teach you a bunch of math but it will get you enough of a framework to start seeing landmarks and self-directing to relevant subjects for later deeper dives. Just having the vocabulary helps a ton, and this book provides it. It could be read in 2 or 3 dedicated sessions, and comes with all sorts of interesting circuits to build up to really kickstart that intuition.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Not sure it will go deep enough for what you\u2019re asking here but the \u201cPractical Engineering\u201d YouTube channel (which has some great videos about random bits of civil infrastructure) recently released a book \u201cEngineering in Plain Sight\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/practical.engineering\/book<\/a><\/p>\n

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Closely related to this! Does anyone know of any good books that would build upon this knowledge as an introduction to integrating RF \/ the theory of RF circuits, antennae’s etc?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Look around for an older edition of the ARRL Handbook (no need to spend a lot on a newer copy, based on what you’re asking.)<\/p>\n

Once you are more comfortable with the basics, the usual next recommendation is Horowitz & Hill’s Art of Electronics<\/i>. For that, you do want the newest edition. This ia an incredible book but it will be far too much to deal with at first, so I’d strongly suggest starting with the ARRL Handbook.<\/p>\n

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Art of Electronics<\/i> and the accompanying lab manual are hands down the best electronics books I’ve read. Yes, definitely have the very fundamentals down – the equivalent of a day’s reading on the fundamentals should be more than enough IMO.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Anthony Badon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ask HN: Best Layman’s Book on Electricity 118 points by idontwantthis 8 hours ago | hide | past | favorite | 33\u00a0comments I’m looking for a book that will explain how electricity and electronics work to a level that will be useful day to day. Concepts like how the grid works, how electricity does work<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":600102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34338,118279,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-600101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-electricity","8":"category-laymans","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}