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Introduction
Welcome to the amazing world of electronics!
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated with electronics. When I was about 10 years old, my dad bought me an electronic experimenter’s kit from the local RadioShack store. I still have it; it’s pictured here.
I have incredible memories of evenings spent with my dad, wiring the sample circuits to make squawking police sirens, flashing lights, a radio receiver, and even a telegraph machine.
The best part was dreaming that when I grew up, I’d have a job in the field of electronics, that someday I’d understand exactly how those resistors, capacitors, inductors, transistors, and integrated circuits actually worked, and I’d use that knowledge to design televisions or computers or communication satellites.
Well, that dream didn’t come true. Instead, I went into a closely related field: computer programming. But my love of electronics never died, and I’ve spent the last 40 years or so experimenting with electronics as a hobbyist.
This book is an introduction to electronics for people who have always been fascinated by electronics but didn’t make a career out of it. In these pages, you’ll find clear and concise explanations of the most important concepts that form the basis of all electronic devices, concepts such as the nature of electricity (if you think you really know what it is, you’re kidding yourself); the difference between voltage, amperage, and wattage; and how basic components such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, and transistors work.
Not only will you gain an appreciation for the electronic devices that are a part of everyday life, but you’ll also learn how to build simple circuits that will not only impress your friends but may actually be useful!
About This Book
Electronics All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition, is intended to be a reference for the most important topics you need to know when you dabble in building your own electronic circuits. It’s a big book made up of eight smaller books, which we at the home office like to call minibooks. Each of these minibooks covers the basics of one key topic for working with electronics, such as circuit building techniques, how electronic components like diodes and transistors work, or using integrated circuits.
This book doesn’t pretend to be a comprehensive reference for every detail on every possible topic related to electronics. Instead, it shows you how to get up and running fast so that you have more time to do the things you really want to do. Designed using the easy-to-follow For Dummies format, this book helps you get the information you need without laboring to find it.
Whenever one big thing is made up of several smaller things, confusion is always a possibility. That’s why this book is designed with multiple access points to help you find what you want. At the beginning of the book is a detailed table of contents that covers the entire book. Then each minibook begins with a minitable of contents that shows you at a miniglance what chapters are included in that minibook. Useful running footers appear at the bottom of each page to point out the topic discussed on that page, and handy thumb tabs run down the side of the pages to help you find each minibook quickly. Finally, a comprehensive index lets you find information anywhere in the entire book.
This isn’t the kind of book you pick up and read from start to finish as if it were a cheap novel. If I ever see you reading it at the beach, I’ll kick sand in your face.