Ask HN: Best Layman's Book on Electricity | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best Layman's Book on Electricity

225 pointsidontwantthis62 comments

I'm looking for a book that will explain how electricity and electronics work to a level that will be useful day to day. Concepts like how the grid works, how electricity does work, what different electrical components do and how they do them.

Something not requiring multivariable calculus.

I recently read "Immune!" by Phillip Detmer about the human immune system. Is there anything at a similar level to that that you would recommend?

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Decades ago, like in the 1950's perhaps, the US Navy created a training manual about electricity and electronics for its personnel (a reasonable facsimile of laymen). This was used as the basis for a book called Basic Electricity.

1970:

https://www.amazon.ca/Basic-Electricity-Bureau-Naval-Personn...

2002:

https://www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Basic-Electricity-Naval-Perso...

2020:

https://www.amazon.ca/Basic-Electricity-Bureau-Naval-Personn...

Also free from Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/navpers

Extending from this, there’s also the NEETS reading material: https://www.hnsa.org/manuals-documents/2575-2/

A friend of mine recommended this to me many years ago. I love how concise and straightforward the material is. It doesn’t assume much of anything of the reader and will take you through it pretty methodically.

On the other hand, it is not a quick way to learn electronics, which is what I was interested in.

For that (and not the grid stuff) I’d recommend Charles Platt’s Make:Electronics. It’s great.

Thank your for introducing me to books by the US navy. A treasure trove!

See also Chs. 1 & 2 of Applied Engineering Principles: https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Elec...

I love that it’s just called “Basic Electricity”

Not electrical engineering, not electronics. Let us scare nobody off with the cover.

It's funny to see the cover design degrade over time. The 1970 design is lovely

For small scale circuits, I like Scherz's "Practical Electronics for Inventors". For a good high level overview of the grid, along with other civil engineering topics, Grady Hillhouse's "Engineering in Plain Sight" is good. Hillhouse's videos pop up on HN occasionally (e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34472122)

If you're interested in digital electronics (e.g. computers), I strongly recommend "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software"[0].

It's a bit of a history book on the invention of computers, starting from the telegram. By the end of the book, you should know enough to create a computer from wires and a power source alone. The section on the physics of electricity is only a few pages though.

Personally, for a more high level and intuitive understanding of electrical concepts, I generally find educational YouTube videos more effective than books. I strongly recommend "The Engineering Mindset" channel on YouTube[1] but there are many others.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code:_The_Hidden_Language_of_C...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@EngineeringMindset

I like All About Circuits: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/

I've seen this site before, it looks really good but is there a downloadable/PDF version?

The entire content from this was open source and they built a community and advertising network around it and slowly devalued the content. I’m not sure what they did license wise with the original.

The original source material is out there still but I can’t remember what it is called or where it is.

Interesting history I had no idea about. Thanks for sharing, will keep an eye out for the original. Sad that sometimes credit is not given where it's due.

Credit is very much given but the spirit of the original work is lost under the layers added over the top.

You can download the whole thing if you click on any of the characters. It made me make an account first.

Man, I've been looking for something as accessible and free for years. Thanks!

"Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Paul Scherz [0]. Not only does it have practical circuits it also has chapters on theory presented in such a way as to have me understand it.

I think many of the books I read in the past shied away from complex math, linear algebra, etc. whereas PEfI uses them as needed. "The Art of Electronics", for example, I found to be absolutely abysmal.

It's not an in depth book, it's pretty much a beginners book, but it's thorough and practical.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourt...

I would stay away from practical electronics for inventors. The book historically was chock full of really bad explanations and mistakes which brings into question the author’s knowledge and credentials. You don’t see that until you look at it from the professional side of things. To a new electronics person it looks credible. I can’t speak for later editions.

The Art of Electronics is an excellent book but misunderstood. It’s a reference book not an introductory text. It should be used in a professional capacity or be read alongside the accompanying student manual.

The book situation in this sector is pretty horrible unfortunately. The old NEETs stuff is verbose but teaches you nothing, the Make books teach you what but not how. Same with the Forest Mims books.

I have been considering writing a book which covers enough electronics for people to competently solve a problem they have without being led up the wrong path or delve too heavily into mathematics (the latter is unfortunately mostly unavoidable but basic algebra should be enough to solve nearly all problems)

I for one would be very interested.

Can you give some examples of the mistakes?

Comments about impedance and the BJT calculations were completely wrong. Also it suffers from having bits of information in little islands and no clue as to how to stick them together.

One of the fun things in electronics is when someone builds a small signal amplifier then wonders why the output is lower than calculated with zero understanding of source / load impedances. Because no one taught them about that.

Sorry to push back on this but I'm a little suspicious.

I found a list of (independent) errata for the 2nd edition [0], presumably because it was used in a class. I see one note about the "Rule 2" for transistors but, to me at least, it looks like the author just forgot a "not" in the sentence.

In general, the errata looks like what would exist for a textbook that was written by a person. It has mistakes, mostly typos but just a quick glance doesn't uncover some fundamental lack of knowledge from the authors part.

I'm no expert in electronics, so I don't have enough confidence to make a statement about the competency of Scherz, but your assessment seems hyperbolic.

[0] https://my.ece.utah.edu/~ece2210/errata.pdf

It's not in any errata. It's a complete misunderstanding of the problem domain and modelling. I don't like to crap on the authors too hard, but they are both hobbyists on the EE side of things and really shouldn't be writing authoritative material on the matter.

The only way to outline this is to do better which I may do if I ever get the time to do so.

Do better

I can add to this as I've read parts of the 3rd edition.

First off, it's a one thousand page textbook so it's not a short read. However, the second chapter is just called "Theory" and it's about 200 pages long, and that single chapter is an excellent primer on electrical engineering.

Don't get the kindle version, it's too hard to read on Kindle.

Just found PEfI's 4th edition online and looked through it. It's beautifully laid out with clear illustrations, summary tables and well-explained text. I'm not usually tempted to buy a hardcopy but this looks super handy.

> "The Art of Electronics", for example, I found to be absolutely abysmal.

Agreed. I had this damn thing collecting dust on my coffee table until someone expressed interest and took it off my hands.

I'll check out the PEfI book. I don't consider myself a total noob, but I'd also fail the first week's exam in any EE intro course.

I agree too. AoE is more a cookbook than a textbook.

I've got the third edition and I'm not very impressed with the adjective "practical" in the title.

It does not deal with practical topics like safety, system layout and grounding, board layout, reliability (heat, vibration, mechanical parts), connectors, testing, record-keeping, and so on. Some of these things get a superficial mention, to be sure. But not much practical advice.

For example there is a section of a few pages on transient [over]voltage suppressors, but it's just a catalog of a few different types of device with no real practical information on how to select and size them for different needs, test your design according to the standards, or the design tradeoffs.

I already know simplified treatments of the theory and I would have found a book on practical electronics to be useful.

I guess practical is a term that changes somewhat based on the level someone is at. As more of a beginner, the book looks great. Eg, for a beginner it's highly practical to learn how to read resistor bands or calculate Ohm's law.

Whereas "for Inventors" seems a bit of sleight-of-hand marketing. Beginners in the field may also identify as and aspire to be inventors, making a more broadly-appealing title vs "for Beginners", though it may have been more accurate.

You might start with something like [1] which is a 63 "slide" | page introductory overview to a first year engineering (common core) electrical fundementals course (the linked version is from Oregon State niversity in the USofA but looks similar to courses elsewhere).

It's not the course handbook (there are many) and doesn't have any heavy math (aside from a few descriptive relationships) but it does a helicopter overview of the concepts that would be covered in a course that is fundemental to both electrical (grid | household | industrial) and electronic (circuits, sensors, computers) engineering.

If you skim through that you'll have an idea of what interests you and what to further ask about.

[1] https://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~webbky/ENGR201_files/SECTI...

Here's a good reading about problems with teaching electricity: "Why Electricity is hard to understand?" http://amasci.com/miscon/whyhrd3.html

Oh man, this is great. I was always confused with this stuff and didn't notice that this is such a big mess...

Thank you

Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M. Mims III

It makes basic electronics very intuitive.

Seconded. For intuitive learners out there - it won't teach you a bunch of math but it will get you enough of a framework to start seeing landmarks and self-directing to relevant subjects for later deeper dives. Just having the vocabulary helps a ton, and this book provides it. It could be read in 2 or 3 dedicated sessions, and comes with all sorts of interesting circuits to build up to really kickstart that intuition.

I think in late high school, or maybe even after I started my electrical engineering degree, I bought a few of his books from Tandy (the Radio Shack brand here in Australia). They were a great way to get enthused about electronics and encouraged me to build and get hands-on (which is obviously what Tandy wanted to achieve)

Forrest M. Mims III is a treasure! http://www.forrestmims.com/

If you're interested in how the grid works and has evolved, I really enjoyed The Grid: Biography of an American Technology by Julie A. Cohn (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262537407/the-grid/).

Since it is important not to die, NFPA 70. No multivariable calculus required.

https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-stand...

If you want to know the why, get the handbook too.

https://catalog.nfpa.org/NFPA-70-National-Electrical-Code-NE...

Alternatively, Epigram 48.

Good luck.

I honestly wonder why such a book costs $150.

As a layperson, I would have thought that not dying from electric shock must be a pretty timeless body of knowledge. So I’d expect the cost of research, writing and publishing to have been spread out over many decades, in contrast to other literature. How come the book is so relatively expensive? Does electrical code change so often?

It's something that's a) a business expense for the target group and b) something they don't really have an alternative to. It's not like you can go "nah, those local electrical standards are to expensive, I'll use the ones from Pakistan instead".

I would have thought that not dying from electric shock must be a pretty timeless body of knowledge

What gauge of copper conductor is required for 50m run to a 30A 240v recepticle?

What type of conductors are allowed if that run is outdoors a underground?

How deep does the trench need to be?

What over current protection is required?

And so on.

I see. Thanks!

Reading sucks; check out "The Mechanical Universe" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtMmeAjQTXc&list=PL8_xPU5epJ...

Basics of electricity start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMmRRIB5yw

It glosses briefly over the mathematical parts with advanced-for-the-time animations that may or may not be instructive.

Look around for an older edition of the ARRL Handbook (no need to spend a lot on a newer copy, based on what you're asking.)

Once you are more comfortable with the basics, the usual next recommendation is Horowitz & Hill's Art of Electronics. For that, you do want the newest edition. This ia an incredible book but it will be far too much to deal with at first, so I'd strongly suggest starting with the ARRL Handbook.

Art of Electronics and the accompanying lab manual are hands down the best electronics books I've read. Yes, definitely have the very fundamentals down - the equivalent of a day's reading on the fundamentals should be more than enough IMO.

The Grid[1] by Gretchen Bakke. May not get as low-level as you like (physics of electricity) but great for learning about how the grid came to be, the operation of it, and the regulatory environment surrounding it.

[1]The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future https://a.co/d/g78jGlx

Closely related to this! Does anyone know of any good books that would build upon this knowledge as an introduction to integrating RF / the theory of RF circuits, antennae's etc?

I suggest the ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs.

Thanks! This looks like just the thing I needed.

I'd separate electricity topic which has more to do with energy generation / distrubution / usage from electronics which is a specialized niche in the field of electrical engineery.

If you’d like to know about BIG circuits (the power grid), “Electric Power System Basics for the Nonelectrical Professional” is good.

Electric Power System Basics for the Nonelectrical Professional (IEEE Press Series on Power and Energy Systems) https://a.co/d/2tlLXfN

Not sure it will go deep enough for what you’re asking here but the “Practical Engineering” YouTube channel (which has some great videos about random bits of civil infrastructure) recently released a book “Engineering in Plain Sight”

https://practical.engineering/book

I watched "Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity" by Jim Al-Khalili (it's available to stream on Amazon Prime Video), and enjoyed it. In fact, Jim Al-Khalili has produced excellent documentaries about other topics of scientific interest as well.

For electronics i highly recommend

Bebop to the boolean boogie by Clive Maxfield

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25558880M/Bebop_to_the_boole...

For power systems, I like Blume's "Electric Power System Basics For the Nonelectrical Professional". It does a good job of introducing all the parts of the distribution/transmission/generation system.

I learned electronics from Forest Mims III.

“There are no electrons”

Thank you for this great recommendation. Read a sample of this and it's very readable. It also appears that the same author has written other books in the same vein. Do you recommend any of them?

Agreed. This is the first book that made stuff click for me and helped me enjoy electronics.

YouTube + personal labs were far more effective and enjoyable in my experience.

Electroboom and Eeevblog are a couple great channels to get started.

The recommendation engine will pick up pretty quickly.

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