2021-09-10 - Practical Electronics ------------------------------------------------------------------- So after a lot of pondering and checking out book reviews and trying out sample chapters, i've finally purchased an actual physical book to learn a bit more on the basics of electronics; Hoping to focus on learning about discrete analog parts; without being glued to the computer to look up stuff on the internets. In the end i've decided to go for "Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk, as this book seemed to be the most suitable for my current (limited) skill level. (Although i really hope i can keep up with all the 'scary looking' maths which is outlined within this book) I've long considered getting a copy of "the Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill. But after reading some sample chapters of this book, i've decided that it might be a bit too advanced for me at the moment. (Which is kind of a shame, as i've already seen that the writing in the book is really nice, and the humour delightful). I'll probably appreciate TAOE more once i have a bit better understanding of electronics. So "the Art of Electronics" will remain on my wishlist/backlog for for the coming time, and first i will be focusing on "Practical Electronics". Next thing on the list will probably be finding a good ol' second hand oscilloscope. I definitely don't want a new one; there is already too much electronics junk in the world really. So a second hand will do just fine. Strange really, that i'd be interested in a hobby that is intrinsicly quite unsustainable in a way. Would be quite cool to make things using scavenged components taken from old electronic scraps. Basically what Mark Tilden was doing already in the early 2000's for his BEAM robots. I remember being quite taken by this idea back then as well... I think another 'Gopher-ist' wrote on the topic of an electronics hobby and sustainability some time ago... Can't remember who it was though... Oh yes, it was ~solderpunk (what's in a name :) [1]. He wrote all that stuff better than i could do, so check that out. [1] gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space/0/~solderpunk/phlog/ hobbyist-electronics-without-hypocrisy.txt