Encyclopedia of Electronic Components Volume 1: Resistors, Capacitors,…

EASY TO READ
I found a interest in making something electronic and I come across many different kinds of electronics kits here on Amazon, but I do not know what the parts are or even what they do. So, while searching around and waiting on a answer from my conscious whether to buy the book or not I took the risk of which at the price it is is not very muh compared to some electronics books Ive seen. So far I am learning from it and enjoying the very straight forward explinations of what a part is, how it works, and so on. It is very easy to understand. This is the first volume of a three set and I will be buying the next volume as soon as I finish this one. I do recommed this book. The thing is it is not organized in a structure to teach even as it says in the book from begginer to advanced. But still it is comprehendable and easy to get used to.

A valuable addition to the bookshelf: worth the time and the money
Platt’s ‘Enc. of Electronic Components’ is a good read, lots of information on the components covered, and strikes a fine balance between underwhelming the knowledgeable and overwhelming those who ‘just don’t know.’I wanted to know more about capacitors. Now I have read why I might choose polyethylene over mylar, or tantalum caps over electrolytics. I wanted to know more about coils, inductors, and now there is a little more knowledge to fill the wells of memory there as well.Lots of good information on resistors, capacitors (including the actual schematics for RC high and low pass filters), a little later there are LCR filters, diodes, a variety of diodes and transistor types. There is a very good section on a variety of motors – better here than I expected, so I learned more where I hadn’t thought I would.Platt introduces the volume by suggesting the book will gather enough information to be usable, in one place, effectively ‘peer reviewed’ for accuracy and legitimacy, and the book certainly lives up to that aim.In all chapters on components there is a ‘what could go wrong’ section; that is what I’m going to add here. My two big complaints have to do with typeface/font selection and the layout of illustrations. The font used for formulae I find hard to read quickly and accurately. Most troublesome is the ‘pi’ symbol which quite often I mistake for an ‘n’ which I catch because I know the equation – but I can see being caught out. That I would like to see changed. The other complaint is the number of times throughout the book where the text refers to an illustration — which is on the next page. It sounds like a minor complaint but can be irritating.Those two quibbles aside I’m glad I bought the book. If my bookshelf had a fire, earthquake, tsunami, or house-cleaner come through I would buy another copy quickly.And, once through the first couple chapters, I want to know when the next (two!) volumes are coming out?Worth your time and money.

Too much detail on simple things not enough on hard things
This book is great as an introduction into Electronics. I think it’s useful to have around in case you ever want to look anything up but I was under the assumption it would be more encyclopedic whereas this is sort of like a 6th graders reference book for not any sort of actual practical referencing but just something need to look at in read. There are some chapters that are incredibly long on things like relays that, while correct and useful to people who use a lot of relays, are incredibly boring for 90% of the people that are going to be reading this book. Relay is a great device if you’re making an oven but if you’re making an oven you’re not reading this book. That is to say, the writer is very intelligent as far as electrical engineering goes however the writer is not cognizant of who he is writing to, he switches between thinking his audiences incredibly developed in their Electronics knowledge and thinking that his audience knows nothing about Electronics. For example, the DC motor and AC motor section is the majority of the book. I mean not exactly but it’s very long however a DC motor has two connectors and we all know how to wire it up to get it to work it’s the simplest electronic component in the world. The mosfet is given 2 pages and is lumped in with the JFET, and enhancement mode, depletion mode, and channel, P Channel, the various regions, and it’s applications (of which the P Channel mosfet application listed was something like “no one uses p channel mosfets”) are zoomed through. The incongruity there being that the mosfet is very likely the most used electronic component in history and the relay is giving much more detail.however I got this book when I didn’t know s*** about electronics and now I do so maybe I can sound all high-and-mighty like this because I read the book and having read the book I Now understand Electronics. It’s a chicken or the egg kind of thing. But this is a genuine review and if this is what you want, and I’m sure it is, then you should buy the book because I did and now I know electronics well enough to write a review ragging on this book (chicken/egg…ya know).

Excellent Book
This book is an outstanding reference book on a number of electronic components. Anyone interested in learning more about electronic components or reviewing should have this book in their library.

Great reference book, absolutely purrrrrfect, easy to understand even for an artist LOL, nice pics and disposition, gonna buy the other two volumes!!! Can absolutely recommend.

Ho acquistato tutti 3 i volumi dell’ Encyclopedia of electronic components.Sono presenti praticamente tutti i componenti utilizzati solitamente nelle schede elettroniche, con immagini a colori, foto, componenti sezionati.Vengono spiegati i principi di funzionamento e i comuni utilizzi .Il libro è ideale sia per i principianti, per gli appassionati che vogliono capire come funziona un componente, ma anche per chi conosce già bene l’elettronica e vuole avere un riferimento a portata di mano.I libri si concentrano maggiormente sul funzionamento e utilizzo dei componenti, e non su calcoli e teorie di progettazione.È scritto in inglese facile, quindi va bene anche per chi non conosce bene la lingua.Le pagine sono abbastanza spesse , la qualità di stampa / risoluzione delle immagini è abbastanza buona.