What are your top 5 electronic books every engineer should have? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Mr J
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 03:33:13 am
content: On the last amp hour with Dr. Howard Johnson, there was a mention that his book should be a staple in an professional electronic engineering personal library along with the art of electronics.What would be your top 5 picks? For you personal library. (sets count as one book, ex: Forrest Mims)

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 04:42:25 am
content: For me the answer would be none.Most of my general learning was from magazines like Electronics Australia, Wireless World, The HP Journal, and the books I used to refer to most regularly were manufacturer's data books.Many of the Philips databooks for ferrites, thermistors, etc had great design information as well, and I really miss the fact that I no longer have those books.When working as a professional engineer, you invariably end up working in a specialized area, and you need books that are written at the level you are working at. The generalist books just do not have enough detail to be much use. I never had "The Art of Electronics". I have a couple of books of a similar nature that I have had since the 70's but I hardly ever look at them.When I was designing filters, I had books on filter design. Sometimes books on communication theory, statistics and lots of other subjects that are unbelievably boring unless you are actually doing design work in that area.I really think you find your niche in Electronics and get books relevant to your interests. Anything else will sit permanently on the shelf gathering dust - as noble as they may be.Richard

author: slateraptor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 05:00:06 am
content: http://www.eevblog.com/wiki/index.php?title=Electronics_BooksI put together the "Books" sub-section on the wiki (someone else contributed to Magazines)...most occupy space in my personal library. Take your pick of the litter.P.S. If you aren't already aware, it'd be an understatement to say that there's a significant disparity between Johnson and Mims. If you're considering Johnson's book, don't bother unless you understand the abstractions inthisorthisorthis.P.P.S. But if I were to pick 5, the Art of Electronics would not be one...to each his own.

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 05:10:58 am
content: Quote from: slateraptor on January 18, 2012, 05:00:06 amThat is a really great list. Thanks for that.

author: JohnnyG
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 07:51:50 am
content: Besides the ones on the EEVBlog Wiki, I have two other favourites:1) For the widest range of topics, the Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering is great. My school has it, and whenever I need a concise 5-minute intro to a new subject, I turn to it. However, I can't recommend that you buy it because I think it retails for $6000. (If you want it, torrent it now before that new anti-piracy law)2) A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations (Fleisch): The best qualitative book on electromagnetics. A mere 130 pages will give you a really good intuitive understanding of electromagnetics as well as a physical understanding of what all those vector calculus equations actually mean. Plus I think it only costs $30!

author: DaveW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 08:39:35 am
content: Quote from: JohnnyG on January 18, 2012, 07:51:50 amThis is a great book!Also, Troubleshooting Analog Circuits by Bob Pease, despite the title it also is about the design side as well.The Circuit Designer's Guide by Tim Williams is a useful book, covering some of the gap between theory and actually getting a board made

author: caffeinatedbard
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 05:37:40 pm
content: QuoteTo be thorough the correct title is Circuit Designer's Companion. The newest third edition was released under a new author--Peter Wilson a couple of weeks ago.I haven't had a chance to compare the two but certainly the second edition will be cheaper, while the third edition is more of a revision and clean up than new material...

author: Rufus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 06:08:11 pm
content: ...

author: PStevenson
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2012, 06:12:36 pm
content: I'm not sure whether I would class these as books every engineer should have but they are books which are kind of sentimental to me and I go to often when I need info or if someone asks for a recommendation.1. The Art Of Electronics - no real surprise there, though the trend is either you love it or you hate it - it seems however for me it's a "love" I often find it useful, more so than the internet alot of the time because you look for a fragment circuit and the internet just offers too much info with nothing confirmed sometimes.2. Practical Electronics Handbook (Ian Sinclair) - this is one I got back in about '94 - it's not that involved however I use it a lot because it has all the pinouts for 4000 series and TTL IC's in order at the end which is so useful (for me)3. Linear IC/OP AMP Handbook (Joseph Carr) - this is pretty good for Op-Amp problems you might run into, again nothing too advanced, most of my electronics books tend to be ideal toilet reading if I'm honest.4. PCB Design by our own Dave Jones - this helped a great deal when I started laying out boards and I think I would have given up and pressed "autoroute" had I have not had this so it's a definite recommendation and I think it's available on this forum somewhere or at alternatezone.com5. The art and science of analogue circuit design (Jim Williams)

author: Gall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2012, 09:35:25 am
content: For everybody:1. The Art of Electronics. (Horowitz & Hill).2. Electronic Circuits --- Handbook for Design and Applications (Tietze, Schenk).Everything else depends on the stuff you're making.