Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics, Fourth Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Just to make this clear, I'm writing this as somebody who does NOT have a degree in Electrical Engineering. I've been trying to get into electronics for years and have tried many different books.
I'll break this review into three sections as I think this book needs three different ratings.
1. 5 stars for teaching basic electronics theory and concepts. The majority of the theory is in the first two sections of the book. After wrestling with "The Art of Electronics" and the 1st edition of "Practical Electronics for Inventors" for years this was the book that finally made sense. The chapters are well paced and the tests are a good way to help think about what you've learned.
2. 3 stars for Section 3. This is an issue because section 3 is where the book starts with diodes, transistors, and electronics circuits. As far as helping us understand electronics, this section is not even near the level of the first two sections of the book. More importantly, the author does not adequately explain the circuits presented.
3. 1 or 2 stars for teaching "Practical" skills. After moving through almost 3 sections of this book, I understand a lot of theory but can't understand what is going in a basic circuit when I look at one. This book is completely lacking in the practical aspect. I assumed all this would be explained in the third section but it isn't.
I think this would be a great first book. You will, however, need other books to learn some practical skills, which is why you wanted to get into electronics in the first place.

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Learn the hows and whys behind basic electricity, electronics, and communications without formal training
The best combination self-teaching guide, home reference, and classroom text on electricity and electronics has been updated to deliver the latest advances.Great for preparing for amateur and commercial licensing exams, this guide has been prized by thousands of students and professionals for its uniquely thorough coverage ranging from DC and AC concepts to semiconductors and integrated circuits.
Written by Stan Gibilisco, an electronics legend and McGraw-Hill's most popular TAB author
Perfect for hobbyists, students, and those of you who want to get ahead in tech-related careers
Packed with everything needed to enhance learning: 600+ illustrations, practical examples, and hundreds of test questions

NEW TO THIS EDITION:Updated to reflect the latest technological advances in: * Computers * Robotics * Artificial Intelligence * Amplifiers * Transmitters * The Internet * High-fidelity
EXPERT HOW-TO GUIDANCE ON SOLVING PROBLEMS SUCH AS:
Simple current-voltage-resistance determinators
Power calculations
Designing acoustical and audio systems
Designing circuits and systems

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RF Circuit Design, Second Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)RF design can either be understood from first principles through Maxwell's equations (wave theory) or from circuit analysis through the basic passive and active electronic components. This book takes the latter approach because it is much easier and far more practical for building actual circuits. Also the mathematics can be held to a minimum with this approach. One of the main reasons the first edition of this book was so popular was the emphasis on reading and understanding Smith charts. This provides a very quick visual entry into RF design without the heavy emphasis on differential equations and boundary conditions.
The book under review is the second edition, which updates the (now more than 25 years old) first edition with two new chapters on RF Front-End Design (chapter 8) and RF Design Tools (chapter 9). Chapter 8 covers modern radio front-end design including sections on intermodulation, receiver architecture and software defined radios. Chapter 9 gives an overview of design tools before going into a detailed case study of IEEE 802.11a in CMOS using Analog Office software.
It is instructive to see both how many things have changed and yet how the basic principles have remained the same. Even though the individual NPN transistors mentioned in the original chapters are long gone (replaced by highly integrated op-amps and LNAs), the passive components are still used in designs every day. And the transistor design issues (S parameters, transistor biasing) still apply today in the multi-GHz range just as they did in the MHz range a quarter of a century ago. Today's integrated designs might include an on-chip inductor created with rectangular traces wrapped into a "coil" instead of an actual physical coil and on-chip capacitors and resistors, but the principles remain the same. In fact, the performance of passive on-chip capacitors and inductors is normally orders of magnitude worse than is required for high performance designs. Thus the physical components are still widely used today.
There are a number of RF circuit design topics missing from this book, including oscillators, distributed elements, microstrip and slot line designs for GHz ranges and advanced integrated circuit topics for CMOS and GaAs radio design, but these would not fit into an introductory text such as this one. Another item the book doesn't emphasize is the wide variety of online tools available now for RF designers. The website http://rf.rficdesign.com/ has consolidated a number of links to free tools covering many aspects of RF design mentioned in this book, including a Pi Network calculator, S parameter utility and Smith chart Java tool.
In conclusion, this book is ideal for either the RF design hobbyist or professional digital designer who needs to design front end circuits without going back to school. The book has a companion website with high resolution versions of many of the Smith charts in the book, http://books.elsevier.com/companions/defaultindividual.asp?isbn=9780750685184


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Short-range Wireless Communication, Second Edition: Fundamentals of RF System Design and Application (Communications Engineering Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a good book to give you an overview of the topic, but do not expect any indepth coverage. There is also a demo version of Mathcad, useful with the worksheets provided.

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Handbook of Radio and Wireless Technology Review

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(More customer reviews)I have some knowledge of wireless technology, and I think this book covers the whole field. There is good information about security and privacy issues. This is a good book for the general public, because it's easy to read. Engineers might use it as a general reference, but probably not as a design guide.

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From the popular electronics author whose name is synonymous with clarity and practical sense, here is a comprehensive, plain-English compendium on the entire field of radio and wireless technology. Containing more than 1,000 concise articles, this one-stop source of user-friendly insight provides blanket coverage of one of the fastest-growing areas in communicationsÑfrom antennas and transmission lines, to analog and digital modulation techniques, to satellite, space, and laser communications. It also offers hundreds of clarifying illustrations, tables, and charts, and extensive cross-referencing, enabling professionals and hobbyists to quickly access a wealth of related material on any given topic. For mastering terminology, understanding technology and theory, or forming an overview of a single subject or the entire field, this reference is simply the best there is.

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