A nice find at the local library

We have a really great library here in Ann Arbor. It’s won “library of the year” honors in the past, and it continues to do a fabulous job. In addition to books and magazines and music, you can borrow stuff like telescopes, energy meters, thermal cameras, and a bunch of other cool stuff.

One of the best features, however, is the Friends of the Library book sale. Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, and as you might expect, people here have a lot of books. So many books that we don’t have enough shelf space to store them all. So, when shelf space needs to be freed up, many of these books get donated to the Friends of the Library and get sold in the Friends’ shop. This shop is open every day, and you never know what you might find.

I’ve purchased many technical books from the Friends of the Library book shop. My latest find is Understanding Basic Electronics, 1st edition. I snagged it for two dollars. I would never have purchased this book new. After all, I think that I’m pretty well versed in basic electronics. But, for $2, I couldn’t pass it up.

I’m glad I didn’t. It explains some of the basic concepts in ways that makes these concepts understandable to newcomers. For example, instead of just saying that the phase angle between voltage and current in a capacitor is 90º, it explains why this is:

It appears that capacitors don’t like the applied voltage to change. They react to a voltage change as to oppose that change. When the voltage is increasing, they take energy from the voltage supply. You could view this as an attempt to prevent the voltage from increasing. When the voltage is decreasing, the capacitor returns stored energy to the circuit. Think of this action as working to prevent the voltage from decreasing.

There are similar explanations of concepts such as resonance and how transistors are made and how they work. I’m hoping that by reading this book, I’ll come up with new ways to explain how some of this stuff to the folks taking my ham radio classes.

Before you buy the book, note that there’s nothing in the book about antennas and very little about electronic circuits. That’s because this book is really devoted to the basics of electronics.

Also note that there is a second edition that was published in 2010. I haven’t seen that edition, but I’d guess that it’s even better than the first.