Mostly YouTube videos and online articles. One book in particular I do recommend however is "Practical Electronics for Inventors". Tons of great information, but may be a bit too much if you're a complete noob.

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

These websites also have lots of great info:

http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/

u/rockitman12 · 8 points r/electronics

I polled Reddit once, asking which books everyone would recommend. This one was by far the most suggested, followed by Practical Electronics for Inventors. I was gifted both last Christmas, but still haven't found the time to open them up. I'd like to go on a vacation somewhere cozy, and just power through this one.

The "... for Inventors" book is more something that you'd reference on an as-needed basis. Not as much teaching and instruction as this one.

u/AveSophia · 6 points r/AskPhysics

Hey buddy!

I'm a college senior studying computer engineering (the hardware side of computer science). I'm about to hook you up.

For the circuits and electronic components. This book is so good we used it for two of my classes. Oh and it is relatively cheap. It also explains the physics in a really approachable way.

You are going to need to learn to program in C, This game is free and is a great place to start!!

You are also going to need a good, cheap source of electronic components. Mouser is what I use.

In short here is your checklist!

Learn to program in C.
Read practical electronics
STUDY MATH (you can't get around it. You need Calculus, Trig, and Differential equations. Wave related subjects are especailly important. For computers throw in algorithms.) If all that seems overwhelming just know you don't need it at first but if you hit a roadblock or don't understand why an equation works you probably just need a more advanced math.

u/kryptoniterazor · 6 points r/diypedals

Electrosmash has some great analysis articles on some classic pedals. They get into different components and design choices in exacting detail. If you don't know anything at all about electronics, a lot of stuff will be a mysterious (what's an op amp??) until you read about a specific part (oh, it's a miniature integrated circuit with some transistors that lets you amplify a signal using a fixed gain set by some resistors). But seeing the parts in context will give you an idea what they're doing. A lot of electronics guides focus on on the abstract mathematical relationships between components, which are important but don't give you the "what's this do" information you might be looking for. Practical electronics for inventors is a good book that covers fundamentals with common examples.

u/fatangaboo · 6 points r/AskElectronics

Build a couple of kits from Velleman. Buy an Arduino and play with it. Pick out one of these books and follow it in your lab. Purchase a copy of Practical Electronics for Inventors.

u/goblinhangover · 4 points r/BMET

Almost done with the program, if you want to just pass course 101 then you only need https://quizlet.com/BMET101 (EDITED: wrong link previously)

and

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtz1snimkmSqHtOzvTGIup-qqxy_TmTXV

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if you want a more in-depth understanding then I would recommend something like

Getting started in electronics by Forrest Mims

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering (up to Electrostatics section)

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/

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u/AnalogKid2112 · 4 points r/chicago

What you're looking for is hobbyist electronics more than engineering. I'd suggest checking out a hackerspace like Pumping Station One. They're sort of community workshops that allow you to use their equipment and attend more informal classes/events.

If you'd like some books that are a good starting point I recommend Make Electronics and Practical Electronics for Inventors

u/thenickelfish · 3 points r/electronic_circuits

Hey there! Welcome to the hobby!
For reading, I recommend Practical Electronics for the Inventor. If you're brand new and want something a bit less dense, the Make series is a good place to start.
The box you've got looks a lot like a component kit a friend of mine gave me. He tried the electronics program at ITT before they went under and this is what they gave him. It's got some nice stuff in it and it's great for a beginner.
Now, you want to know what's in there? Google is your best friend. Everything has an identifying code on the side. Punch that into the search bar and 90 percent of the time you'll find everything you need to know about it. It's tedious, but it's the way of things.
Good luck and have fun!

u/infectedketchup · 3 points r/audioengineering

Get yourself a minor in mechanical (or possibly even seismic if your school offers it). Opens up anything dealing with transducers or how sound waves behave in a medium within a space.

Maybe pick yourself up a copy of Modern Recording Techniques to get a feel for what's going on hardware wise in the field. If you want to do more with the actual acoustics side of it, then grab Master Handbook of Acoustics. As a former EE major (I split before I graduated), I've also found Practical Electronics for Inventors handy to have around, even if only as a quick reference for things. Even has some theoretical refreshers in there if memory serves me correct.

If you find that you want to get into working with instrument amplification, then I'd recommend picking up Ultimate Bench Warrior since, to my understanding, tube circuits aren't really dealt with at the university level anymore.

Hope at least something in here is helpful.

u/suhcoR · 3 points r/programming

>very good book to get up to speed on hardware.

Yes, with analog cirquits, transistors and op amps. Sure you can build gates with transistors. But why should they buy a book with 1100 pages if they only need about 250? EDIT: and with no mention of any HDL or FPGAs at all; if the software engineers were really that much interested in general practical electronic cirquit design including digital and Verilog programmable logic then I would rather recommend this book: Practical Electronics for Inventors by Scherz and Monk.

u/wchill · 3 points r/SeattleWA

There was some book I bought a while back that I thought was good as a basic reference, forget what it was called though. I think it was this one

Might be worthwhile picking up a copy since it's only 20 bucks.

Edit: Also, I learned most of what I did out of sheer necessity - as in I wanted to build something that required hardware and I incrementally learned what I needed to get it built. Doesn't provide the most solid foundation, but I always found hands-on to be the fastest way to learn things especially when supplemented with actual reading material

u/e1ioan · 3 points r/raspberry_pi

The transistor acts like a switch, when the GPIO pin goes up (current applied to base), the transistor opens and high current flows between collector and emitter. If you are interested in understanding and learning more, I can recommend you a book (it helped me A LOT): Practical Electronics for Inventors. It explains this and much more in words that most would understand ~~and doesn't go into the math or formulas that explains how it works~~. You'll learn to use IC, transistor, diodes, to create your own schematics, etc.

u/Chade_Fallstar · 3 points r/EngineeringStudents

Try 'Practical Electronics for Inventors' by 'Paul Scherz'. This book is awesome. It is quite cheap too.
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

You can also try 'The Art of Electronics'. Its 3rd edition was released a year back I think. It has an informal style, so, I suppose you'll like it.
https://www.amazon.com/d/cka/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/0521809266

This site is also good.
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/

u/SavvyNik · 3 points r/ElectricalEngineering

I would recommend Practical Electronics for Inventors. This book is awesome for all electronic concepts. Plenty of examples and working problems. Here’s a link on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=electronics+book&amp;qid=1567720843&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1

u/andrewq · 3 points r/electronics

This one is also good. I've gone through both of them.

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

u/whiskeysixkilo · 3 points r/ElectricalEngineering

Personally I love Practical Electronics for Inventors. It is massive and covers the basics as well as so many different subdisciplines that you can pursue. Also to my surprise it is only $20.

But more practical advice would be to research your university’s EE course path and read through the course syllabi. Find out what topics are covered in the core/required courses. See what electives you think you’d be interested in. Consider buying 1st edition (cheaper) versions of one or two or more of the textbooks that are used in those courses.

u/papaburkart · 3 points r/raspberry_pi

Maybe something like this?

http://vetco.net/products/300-in-one-experimenter-kit

I'd also recommend the following books:

Practical Electronics for Inventors:
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1259587541

Make: Electronics:
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1680450263

Make: More Electronics:
www.amazon.com/dp/1449344046

u/treeses · 3 points r/Physics

Practical Electronics for Inventors is really good. Very accessible, but still comprehensive and as the name implies, practical. Best of all it is 20 bucks.

u/gpmandrake52 · 3 points r/ElectricalEngineering

I really like this book.

Practical Electronics for Inventors, Fourth Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1259587541/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7BfADb7106476

u/cad908 · 2 points r/ECE

This book by Paul Scherz was recommended in one of these threads, and I've just started reading it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1259587541

It seems to cover what you're looking for... a good overview of a large number of topics. It does get into some detail, but I like it so far.

u/OscarjGrouch · 2 points r/EngineeringStudents

As a ECE this book is awesome and only $20. Great practical as well as theoretical info. https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

u/holeycrap · 2 points r/Skookum

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

If you want to get a good overview of AC and DC beyond wiring circuit breakers and light switches.

u/Frogblaster77 · 2 points r/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

He sounds a lot like me. I hate clutter. I would recommend this.

If he already knows all that, then this.

If he already knows all that, then he's set for life and you can probably just stop getting him gifts now.

u/Truth_Be_Told · 2 points r/embedded

I am in a similar boat like yourself and found the following useful.

Designing Embedded Hardware by John Catsoulis, 2nd Ed. - A very logical approach to HW without drowning in Electronics.
Introduction to Embedded Systems by Jimenez, Palomera et.al. - Just enough explanations of HW accompanied by how to use it in SW.
Practical Electronics for Inventors by Scherz, Monk 4th Ed.

u/fremandn · 2 points r/electronic_circuits

There's a book called the Practical Inventors Guide to Electronics: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/

I really liked Getting Started in Electronics by Forest Mims: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282/

u/social-insecurity · 2 points r/chemistry

Good idea. I did an "electronics for scientists" class from the physics department when I was an undergrad. Can't remember what book we used, I think it was by a guy at Duke University maybe. It was a good starting point, covering LRC circuits, transistors, and opamps.

Edit: It's this book: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Electronics-Lloyd-R-Fortney/dp/0195178637/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469462772&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Fortney+electronics

Horowitz and Hill is a really good reference. I have another book on my reference shelf, I think it's this one: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469455654&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=electronics+for+inventors

Here is a great website with some circuits that are common building blocks of instrumentation:

http://www.ecircuitcenter.com/

(see "Circuit Collection" link).

Finally, Linear Technologies has a free version of Spice called LTSpice that you can use for circuit simulation on Windows (hope I'm not violating any rules on commercial stuff; I just happen to use it and like it). If you use Linux, there is a package called gEDA that has a schematic entry tool and a version of Spice. I haven't used the Spice tool yet from that package, but it's probably good.

u/PineappleMechanic · 2 points r/AskElectronics

As a student, I can recommend "Practical Electronics For Inventors, Fourth Edition" by Paul Scherz, accompanied by the occasional youtube video and reddit question :)
You can buy it from Amazon here

I havent read any others, so I cant compare the quality, but you can go through it like a book and be able to understand everything. You may run into some problems in the real world that requires some fairly advanced calculus, which the book doesn't cover. (It does cover where to apply it, just not how). It is really extensive (1256 pages on my desktop e-reader), so if you have an idea for something specific you want to build, there might be something more efficient out there :)

I would think that not a lot of electronics books, if any, explain the math in full, so I would suggest that you find an online source for whatever specific piece of math you've run into. I can recommend Kahn academy.

Good luck :)

u/NeoMarxismIsEvil · 2 points r/raspberry_pi

The guide is pretty good considering that most of them suck. It contains like 10 small example projects, but won't teach you everything.

This is a good book to get eventually but you don't need it right away: Practical Electronics for Inventors, Fourth Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1259587541/ Its like a textbook for about $20 except it has a lot more practical how to info.

There are lots of tutorials online about using the RPi and Arduino, especially by Adafruit and sparkfun.

u/o0chris0o · 1 point r/arduino

I was at your stage not long ago and had the same concern. Then I stumble on this book, available in electronic version that start you at the very begining and explain very well the basic of electronic, each excercise add a little bit more complexity till you reach arduino stuff.

http://www.makershed.com/products/make-electronics-2ed

And

http://www.makershed.com/products/make-more-electronics

And a good reference book:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1259587541/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_1259587541

u/RedBaron91 · 1 point r/arduino

If you're looking for a book to get started, I'd highly recommend Practical Electronics for Inventors. It's not arduino specific, but there is a whole chapter on microcontrollers.

u/balgan · 1 point r/electronics

PEI is excellent... https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

u/Nick_rp · 1 point r/electricians

It's a fun hobby. Biggest learning curve is learning how to code. I didnt know a thing when I first started but the arduino community (link below) is really helpful with the process. They will even go over code you've written if your having issues.

Arduino community forum:
https://forum.arduino.cc

Book for learning arduino program language:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1430247762/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_jqgLBbP544HBT

A good starter kit. Comes with alot of goodies like the program used to write the code and compile it, the arduino itself, super sonic sensor, DC motors to name a few as well as data sheets for each piece:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EWNUUUA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_krgLBbN85GPHF

Book recommended to me that helps with the more complex builds: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1259587541/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_UrgLBb7STEDSA

My first project I made/wrote was to make a couple LEDs blink in specific intervals. May not seem like much but like I said, biggest learning curve is learning to program the arduino itself.

Good luck

u/Hantaile12 · 1 point r/IWantToLearn

Assuming you’re a beginner, and are starting with little to no knowledge:

I bought the 3rd edition of the book called “Practical Electronics for Inventors” by Scherz and Monk it starts from the basics and you slowly build more and more complex and practical circuits.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1259587541/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_eTs2BbXN9S1DN

Another fun on by Monk is “The Maker's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse: Defend Your Base with Simple Circuits, Arduino, and Raspberry Pi”
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1593276672/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XVs2BbYMVJT5N

If you are looking for something more theory based (I wouldn’t recommend initially unless you’re just curious) there’s a whole slew of texts books depending on what exactly you’re interested in you can pick up for cheap at a used book store or on amazon.

Remember build slowly in the beginning until you get a good grasp on the content and have fun. Diving in too deep to quickly can overwhelm and kill morale.

Happy learning!

u/tuctrohs · 1 point r/AskEngineers

Scherz's Practical electronics for inventors is a good intro level book that includes theory at an understandable level and lots of practical stuff. The early editions had a lot of mistakes but presumably by now it's better edited

https://smile.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/

u/aliasfpv · 1 point r/engineering

Luckily it's never been easier to start learning electronics. I know you want hands-on experience but you gotta learn some theory first - I'd recommend a book like Practical Electronics for Inventors to learn the basics (some people swear by The Art of Electronics but it is not a beginners book, rather more of a intermediate-advanced reference). Then something like the Arduino Starter Pack that will start you on the path to building circuits!

Along the way, watching electronics tutorials and teardowns on youtube, and taking apart stuff to see how it works would also really help.

u/mncoder · 1 point r/retrocomputing

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266/

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/

u/wischylini · 1 point r/AskElectronics

I had the same approach as you when I first started learning electronics; I'd recommend Practical Electronics for Inventors. While it does explain just about every topic in great detail, it does so at a pace that's neither too slow nor too fast; you can easily skip the more technical chapters, and stick to the easy bits too.
However, if you want to do more than create simple signal clipping distortion pedals, I would suggest that you read the technical stuff as well, to learn what actually goes on in a circuit, and to understand how you might modulate your guitar's sound.

u/laziestengineer · 1 point r/AdviceAnimals

There's definitely something to be said about being self-employed. If you can pull it off, being your own boss is probably pretty liberating. I was actually having a conversation with my roommate last night about work and money, etc. He graduated college a few months back with a 4-year degree and now he's making $30k/year at a job he already hates after working there for a month. It does suck to feel like a pawn of the system - you work for pennies while other people profit immensely off of your productivity. So going freelance might ameliorate that problem for you.

In regards to printing PCBs, yeah, that's electrical engineering. There's a book my EE friend made me buy that you might find useful for that endeavor: Practical Electronics for Inventors. Though that link to American Amazon might not be the best based on your usage of the word "flat." I've been working my way through a different one - Essentials of Computing Systems, which I've found pretty cool. Starting with NAND gates (in a hardware simulator) it has you build up a fully functional computer, which you then write software for. Pretty cool stuff. For context I'm a 23 year old chemical engineering graduate who's 2 years into a 7 year MD/PhD program. So lots of tests left to take and reports to write for me at least.

u/AgAero · 1 point r/engineering

I favor books over websites and youtube videos for most technical learning projects like this.

Practical Electronics for Inventors has been in one of my amazon wishlists for a while now, saved for when I decide to start tinkering more myself. It looks pretty decent and isn't uber expensive.

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