Reddit reviews Practical Electronics for Inventors

I found the book "Practical Electronics for Inventors" to be very helpful explaining things when I was getting started. It starts from results and metaphors and then introduces theory. Sort of the opposite of a lot of textbooks that are theory oriented and light on practical uses and metaphorical explanations of components.

With that book and some Arduinos I have gone on to fame (well my mom thinks I am famous) and fortune (I am a hundred-aire!) selling electronics I design and program.

Practical Electronics For Inventors was the one and only reason why I got an A in my Digital Electronics, Circuits I, Circuits II, Electronics I, Electronics II, Elab II, and Elab III classes. It is completely unheard-of at my school for people to get an A in all those classes, but this one book summarizes every topic in a wonderfully practical way. This one book enabled me to get a grasp of all the major basic electronics topics in a unifying, intuitive way.

AllaboutCircuits.com is also very good, and the forums are great, but if you want to genuinely learn in a concise, concrete manner, get this book.

It also teaches you about exactly how all the major types of transistors work in a way that Freshman/Sophomore-level engineers can understand. Honestly, this book will be the best $25 book you'eve ever bought from Amazon if you take Electrical Engineering seriously.

Not an eBook but this book has the best intro to electronic components I have ever seen. I have been using it to help my wife learn electronics: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Paul-Scherz/dp/0070580782/

Try Practical Electronics for Inventors. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's very task oriented. It doesn't exactly deal with projects, more the pieces you need to know to accomplish your own project.