Re: Learning Electronics
 

The Kirchhoff's Laws the previous poster is referering to are the circuit laws. They basically say that all of the voltages in a loop must equal zero, and all of the currents at a node must equal zero.

That leads to the mesh-current and node-voltage methods of circuit analysis, which are fundamentals to all circuit design. Highly recommended starting point!

Re: Learning Electronics
 

The ARRL Handbook is really good and should be availible at your library. It had enough theory to get you started, and then lots of projects.

Re: Learning Electronics
 

What do you guys think of this? It's probably the most thorough book I've looked at!

Re: Learning Electronics
 

"Your session has timed out". Dead link.

Re: Learning Electronics
 

The three textbooks I used for my sophomore level courses at Purdue were Linear Circuit Analysis 2nd Ed (DeCarlo/Lin), Microelectronic Circuit Design 4th Ed (Jaeger/Blalock), Digital Design 4th Ed (Wakerly) (for ECE201, ECE202, ECE255, ECE270).

I wasn't too thrilled with DeCarlo's book, but the subject matter (linear circuit analysis) is very important for a solid foundation in electrical engineering. Jaeger's book is very thorough, and very heavy. It'll have most things you'll want to know about diodes, transistors, CMOS logic, and amplifiers. I really didn't touch Wakerly's book, but that's because the notes and labs for the class were that good ( https://engineering.purdue.edu/ece270/ ). Note that the course website is reused for each semester, so in January the content may be reset.

Hope this helps.

Re: Learning Electronics
 

Sorry about that! That was the first time I used the library catalog system since they changed it up last! Here's a link to it on Amazon!

Re: Learning Electronics
 

That made the engineer in me tingle :)

Re: Learning Electronics
 

Dev,
As Joe pointed out the ARRL Handbook, even an old copy is a good book to put on your shelf. There should be several at your library. I would check out the ARRL website for other titles, all of them are pretty good. Check for a hamfest in your area. Should be one coming up soon as most areas have a midwinter fest in larger urban areas. You can pick up components for next to nothing. Bring a pack so you carry stuff home. you should be able to find little kits and lot's of books if you just look around. ARRL retailers usually carry their book inventory to the fest.
Check out http://www.arrl.org/shop/Technical/
If you hurry, I think they are still shipping for Christmas. As Don pointed out, digital electronics are a world away from analog circuitry. RF is much different than audio, etc. Start off with basic AC and DC circuits. Learn DC first so that you can see how components function and then move to AC from there. When I went through school, DC was an entire semester and a per-requisite for everything else.

Re: Learning Electronics
 

One of the standards of the industry (getting a little long in the tooth, but the basics are things that don't really change): http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Electr.../dp/0521370957

Re: Learning Electronics
 

I'm going to be taking an online course from a friend teaching this:

http://contextualelectronics.com

It's kinda pricy, but I think it will be well worth it.