Hey guys,
I’m just half way through reading “The Art of Electronics 2nd Edition” by Horowitz and Hill, and I have to say I absolutely love it. I have learnt more from about 100 pages of this book than I have at school in my whole life. I would highly recommend it.
What books have you read, and what ones would you recommend / keep on your shelves for reference?
I have that one, as well as oohh about 100, but the best is from the internet!! biggest book of all
Every IC and discreet component can be referenced One of my favorite books is Electronic princples
[url]http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Principles-Albert-Malvino/dp/0028028333[/url]
Cheers Ian
Indeed the internet is a great source, but Its more of alookup for me, which means that I don’t learn the full theory, just the application of it I’m after. What I’m doing now is trying to learn the whole theory, which is likely to improve my future applications in general.
Going to stock up on some books and have a good read over easter holidays.
Your marker is in Africa, but if you’re living in London now, that’s like heaven for excellent bookstores. I suspect that you could also find a lot of electronics user-groups or free/cheap courses to attend.
I remember of a great book when I was a kid, which was about the gap between theory and practice. The title sounded a little bit dumb like “Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s not”. So many tips inside ! What was behing the datasheets specifications, the tolerances, why in some diagram a LM317 from brand X would work and not one from brand Y ! One of the greatest electronic book I’ve read. I’ll try to find the book again, I’ll post the title and author here… 
Sad but true. We graduate so many from university who have no practical skills whatsoever, that is, they have no idea whatsoever how to put into practice all of the theory they have learned. Since most professors have only been in school their whole lives though it is not surprising. Our university has several student design teams (such things as solar car, formula SAE, etc.) that give students to put their studies to practical application. A much better endeavor than a sports program in my estimation.
I’ve got to say, I’m not even at uni yet 
All I do is practical work, I haven’t done any theory, and that’s why I want to read up a bit.
And I have absolutely no clue why my marker is in Africa. I would love to go there one day, but I haven’t been there before in my life 
And Jeff, may I ask which university are you referring to?
Sure, www.mst.edu
It’s true Jeff!! My apprentice is doing his Electronic Engineering HND at the moment and he learns far much more at work than at college… They STILL learn about the Motorola 6800… WHAT FOR!! you can’t even buy them anymore.
Cheers Ian
Well, at my school I don’t actually have a teacher for “Systems and Control”, I just have a lab full of tools and all kinds of chips, and an extremely experienced technitian. So in all seriousness I’ve never had a single theory lesson, I just spend about 4 hours a day in that room putting stuff together.
Arhhhh the good times, vacuum tubes, 68xx
My Last 68hc11 board… The main controler for a balloon weather like probe, panda size actualy, full of sensors, transmitting data at 1200 bits/s AX25 protocol on 144Mhz… with 128kb Flash and 128kb rom… In the 1990’s. It was a powerfull board at the time ! Man the things you have time to do before having children… or a boss 
Thats indeed pretty amazing, especially for the 90s
I’m also working on a balloon weather data logging project - But I bet its much easier these days
Ok I found it back in my mess !
One of the best book I’ve read : Troubleshooting Analog Circuits / Robert A. Pease
Why does a LM317 work fine in California and not in february in North Carolina ? Everything is here
I know here the main subject is digital circuits, and many peoples are interested only in the software part, but to make software, you need digital hardware… To understand digial hardware design, you need to start with analog… and more than often get back to it !
For french readers :D, there is a very good translation : "Un coup ça marche, un coup ça marche pas
Heur(t)s et malheurs des circuits analogiques " eds Publitronic / Elektor.
Awsome, thanks I’ll definitelly have a look at it. And I might be on here, but my main thing is actually analogue design :).
Very sad news, R.A.Pease died last week in a car accident. This guy was a guru. http://www.edn.com/article/518568-Analog_engineering_legend_Bob_Pease_killed_in_car_crash.php
Oh, how sad. I used to enjoy a lot his column in Electronic Design years ago.
The guy was amazing.