Electronics Explained: The New Systems Approach to Learning Electronics
Don’t spend time reading about theory, components and old ham radios – that’s history! Industry veteran, Louis Frenzel, gives you the real scoop on electronic product fundamentals as they are today. Rather than tearing electronics apart and looking at every little piece, the author takes a systems-level view. For example, you will not learn how to make a circuit but how a signal flows from one integrated circuit (IC) to the next and so on to the ultimate goal.
This practical application-driven viewpoint and breadth of coverage is unprecedented. This book touches upon TV, audio, satellite, radio, wireless communication, and networking. All of this content is brought to life through hands-on projects that you will enjoy whether you are a hobbyist, student, or engineer.
- A fresh look at how electronics work
- Learn about the inner workings of your HDTV, cell phone, and video game console
- Hands-on projects and experiments bring electronics to life
List Price: $ 39.95
Price: $ 19.99
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
An up to date overview of modern electronic technology,
I’d say this book is definitely not for the seasoned professional. But it’s a great book for someone who has at least some background in the electronics field, and who is looking for an overview of modern day electronic technology. For instance, I took my core electronic courses forty-years ago, and with that background I made it through the book without too much trouble. The electronics we now take for granted wasn’t even dreamed of in those days. So to me, this book was filled with fascinating material, including a good explanation of how all these newfangled electronic gadgets like the cell phone actually work.
Cited as the systems approach to learning about electronics, the author approaches each of his topics as a complete unit, rather than an explanation of the individual electronic components and how they operate. So after a brief introduction to simple circuit components like capacitors, resistors, transformers and a little about Ohms Law, the author takes the reader on a fascinating trip through everything from integrated digital logic circuits, and OpAmps, and power supplies, and computers, to cell phones, antennas, and satellites, to wireless networks, LANS and WANS, audio and video and industrial control technology, as well as a bunch of stuff I haven’t mentioned. That’s a lot of technical information in just 300 hundred pages, so it moves fast and it got a little overwhelming for me in a few places. But I finished the book and I feel that I learned a lot, which was my goal in reading the book in the first place. I recommend this book for anyone interested in an overview of up-to-date modern electronic technology and its applications.
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|Too cursory for its own good,
I really wanted to like this book. I come from a background in Computer Science, and have enjoyed dabbling in Electronics, but never had a taste for the hard-core engineering that make up Computer and Electrical Engineering. This book attempts to bridge a gap between basic electrical components and full-fledged electrical systems(TV, computers, Microwaves, etc..). Unfortunately, I don’t think it does a good job.
The first third of the book wallows in the minutia of electronics, covering basic theory like Ohm’s Law, electron flow, electromagnets, and the like. But it never goes deep enough for these concepts to make sense. The examples given are too sparse, and there’s no context. No equations are given that would allow someone to compute how large a resistor to place in front of an LED to build a christmas light, or how one would actually use an OpAmp in a real circuit. Seemingly complex electrical diagrams of common components are presented, but no indication how to apply those drawing if I wanted to build a circuit. The goal of these early chapters was supposed to present all these basic components, then to assume they are being used in more complex system components later on. Unfortunately, presenting these chapters at all left me more confused than enlightened. Would have been better to skip them entirely, or maybe stick them in an appendix.
The book moves on to larger things. A chapter is wasted glossing over microcomputers programming. Time is spent with a stub program showing what some syntax might possibly look like for assembly programming a microprocessor circa 1993. Not at all applicable. similar stubs of introduction are given to C and Basic.
Another chapter on wireless communication includes many facts about antennas, like how they are usually 1/4 the height of the wavelength being broadcast. The book is full of impressive graphics and charts, lots of facts and figures, but none of it is applicable. They are tidbits of knowledge without any indication how to actually use any of it. Why does it matter that Aircraft radios typically operate in the 108-135Mhz band and use AM. I don’t feel I actually know anything more. I’ve consumed a great deal of samples, but nothing in depth, nothing of substance. Junk food for electronics? Maybe.
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|Well worth the investment,
I wanted to be able to do one thing: Understand enough about electronics to take the fear out of trying to set up a solar panel/water heating system for a distant off-grid chicken coop. I’ve been trying to understand from my readings online what I needed to buy to accomplish such a thing, but I’ve been getting more and more hopelessly confused. Electronics Explained looked like just the book for me, and it turned it out it was.
I was a little scared to dive into the book, however, because I’ve never been very good at understanding charts and diagrams. Maybe I’m dyslexic, I don’t know, but I was afraid that even Frenzel’s simplified systems approach would be over my head. I was delighted to discover that I could get through the first two chapters actually understanding the material. Whenever my diagram phobia kicked in, I found that persisting and not moving on until I had overcome my own determination to be too stupid to understand it paid off handsomely. And there, in chapter 2, was the discussion of solar panels and battery types that I needed, all clearly explained. So now I feel more confident that I can accomplish my project.
One thing that’s been holding me back is the generalist’s fear of misunderstanding the specialist’s vocabulary. I encountered early on a word (I think it was “conduction”) that the author had not defined as he had other terms he’d used up to that point. Well, that almost made me stop reading because I thought I might not really know what this commonly used word means in the specialized context of electronics. Fortunately, a quick look in the index showed me that the topic wasn’t going to be dealt with until later on in the book, so I was able to relax and tell myself that it didn’t matter if I didn’t understand it completely at that point. So far, everything I’ve looked for in the index has been there, which is always reassuring when learning new material.
Frenzel makes learning how various electronic circuits work enjoyable. The electromagnetic angle was a delightful discovery for me; for some reason (and with some happiness because things were starting to make sense to me), I thought of James Thurber’s mother who “lived the latter years of her life in the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house.” I remember from my childhood Thurber’s funny drawing of his mother, and I know I don’t want to be like her!
I’m not going to say I’ve read the whole book beyond just skimming through all the different types of circuits. I got as far as the solar piece I was hoping to figure out, and there I quit. But this book looks to be a wonderful reference that I will consult on a need-to-know basis. Having gotten through enough of the material to be comfortable with the vocabulary, the basic concepts, and the visual indicators used in the diagrams, I no longer feel so clueless. I think Electronics Explained is well worth the investment of one’s money and time.
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