Need some recommendations

[DragnsBane]

Hey all,

I'm trying to understand the whole concept of electronics, but I am having some difficulty understanding some of it. Could anyone suggest some good books to teach myself some theary and design stuff?

[Al_The_Man]

One way of learning quickly is to obtain some material that offers instruction in building electronic projects as you go, while teaching the theory behind it, which would be based on the area of electronics you wish to persue.
Because there are so many areas that come under the umbrella of electronics it is really important to obtain a very good background in basic Electricity, which essentially is AC & DC theory and how individual components are affected by each.
Once you have this you can virtually go into any area of electronics/electricity and get up to speed faster.
Because, I assume you are not making this a life career, the fastest way maybe the first method I mentioned, together with a good book on basic AC/DC theory and one hopefully, complement the other.
There is also a wealth of information here on the w.w.web.
If you get something laid out in lesson fashion, make sure you are confidant you have it, before going to the next step.
Al.

[DragnsBane]

Al,

Sorry I didn't mention it earlier, but I do have a pretty good understanding of basic electricity. I work off and on with a journeyman electrician for some extra cash. I used to tinker with electronics when I was younger too.

What about Basic Electronics by Grob and Electronic Principles by Malvino? Can pick them up pretty cheap used. Just might anyhow.

A life career? Maybe. Depends on whether or not I can get a good understanding of it before I plop down alot of cash on a piece of sheepskin. Would be nice to stay clean and dry and work in a heated and air conditioned area instead of whatever mother nature decides to throw at me that day.

[Al_The_Man]

It is fine to have good text books as a reference but if you are getting serious about it as a career change you cannot beat some form of monitored instruction, I would at least recommend either a night school class or if this is not possible, a decent correspondence school.
It is very difficult to learn solely from a book text, without some form of instruction, however limited, this not only prevents forming alot of mis-conceptions, but creates a much faster learning rate.
That would be my spin anyhow.
Al.

[Jay C]

So I don't fully understand your request. Like Al said, how far are you wanting to go? Are you wanting to design circuits, layout PCBs, or just be able to tell if a transistor is bad or how to pick the right sized resistor?

What you should be able to answer with is what knowledge are you expecting from those books.

Jay