Practical Electronics for Inventors [Paperback]

I did not find his use of water or rope analogies to electronic devices or circuits useful, but that is my personal preference.

The big problem with Scherz's book is poor proofreading and/or editing. One has to be on constant watch for errors. These range in degree:
From simple mislabeling
Missing a dT term in working out the relation of W to C and V
on page 22, referencing fig 2.37 in the third paragraph of
page 34 when Fig 2.37 is meant, giving 5/13 + j1/15 on page 33
when 5/13 + j1/13 is correct, mislabeling the right hand side
of fig 2.4, etc etc )
To simple math or verbiage errors
Substracting rather than adding 0.375 x 5000 for Case I on
p 18, calling the third number on capacitors "3rd digit" rather
than "multiplier" on p 106 or leaving out the word "not" in
Rule 2 for npn case on page 142,
To incorrect statements
Saying (P 53) that notch filters reject all frequencies except
those near the resonant frequency, when in fact notch filters
pass all frequencies except those near the resonant frequency.

This is simple sloppiness and detracts from the straightforward reading of an otherwise useful book. I hope a second edition will appear with these unfortunate errors (and lots I've probably missed) corrected.

Now, I must say although I have a degree in electronics I am quite rusty on fine points and one thing I never did well and subsequently never used, were FETS. I have found unforgivable errors in diagrams and examples in the transistor chapter...mostly related to MOSFETS. When you deal with P and N channels and layers...YOU MUST NEVER make mistakes in a textbook...practical or not. I had to reread sections 10 times to realize that gate voltage polarities were reversed...and the worst..an n-channel depletion layer MOSFET turning on a relay when positive biased at its gate by an AND gate. Hello? An ENHANCEMENT n-channel sure..but like..what the heck???

Especially when new learners will be tackling this stuff, some find it hard enough to cram into their brains without it being explained wrong. This book needs fixed!! It is also not really designed for new learners...although I can say new people can gain a lot from it, but you really have to have some background or I could see getting lost fast on the loose use of formulae and Ohm's law (fundamental but we all had to at least learn and practice it first) SO...good book again could be THE greatest practical instruction book ever if it was cleaned up. I back up the previous reviewer who said that. ONE STAR for the glaring lack of responsibility. It really is a 4 and 1/2 star book but hopefully the bad reviews will kick start the author and McGraw into releasing the second edition.

What I see is a voluminous & varied amount of material focusing primarily on discrete circuit design & the IC's/components available for such work. There is very little math - calculus is avoided where possible. There is a lot of practical info on general circuit development. There is a good overview on digital, op amps, filters, PSs, stepper moters & microcontrollers among others. Some nuggets for the EE too. Remember how you rejoiced when they introduced Phasors during sinusoidal steady-state analysis? But after converting everything into complex numbers & solving the problem, why did you through away the imaginary part? See an elegant little explanation in Chap. 2.

Earlier reviewers have spent some time on the errors. Suffice it to say that there are many preventable, inexcusable errors. Many are typos & schematic errors, but others leave you wondering. How could an author with such an obvious command of this subject matter confuse electrical power & electrical energy or enhancement-type & depletion-type FESs? Fun for the EE's - How many errors can YOU find?

Other impressions: 1) If you're responsible for designing a special circuit - maybe a filter or switching PS & need some pactical info on the subject, would you not search out a book devoted to that single subject? 2) The Water Analogies - spare me, please; Rube Goldberg would turn over in his grave. 3) What about citing a few references every once in awhile? 5) How many of these schematics (for the novice) were modeled or breadboarded?

And finally to McGraw-Hill: Don't you people have any technical proof readers on staff? I think YOU owe us all a recall on this book to be replaced free with an error corrected revision.

The revision will be worth 4+ stars; as is 2- stars. There are similar books w/o the errors.