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The Art of Electronics
This is the thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the hugely successful The Art of Electronics. Widely accepted as the authoritative text and reference on electronic circuit design, both analog and digital, this book revolutionized the teaching of electronics by emphasizing the methods actually used by circuit designers a combination of some basic laws, rules of thumb, and a large bag of tricks. The result is a largely nonmathematical treatment that encourages circuit intuition, brainstorming, and simplified calculations of circuit values and performance. The new Art of Electronics retains the feeling of informality and easy access that helped make the first edition so successful and popular. It is an ideal first textbook on electronics for scientists and engineers and an indispensable reference for anyone, professional or amateur, who works with electronic circuits.
1125 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
August 1, 2007
This is kind of a no brainer, but I thought I should mention it. My only regret about this book is that I didn't get it years ago. I still don't own a copy, mind you, but I have finally figured out how to use the inter-university-library-loan system to borrow it more or less permenantly. But that's not really the review.
ANYWAY, everything you ever wanted to know about electronic circuits is touched upon in here. Whether it is dealt with in sufficient detail, or whether the author will actually be helpful, that may be different, but there is some commentary on nearly anything. Kind of like the Mishnah of analog electronics, if you will. If you are an undergraduate starting an Electronic or Electrical engineering program, shell out the $90-odd now and use this as a supplement and/or reference. You won't regret it.
If you are a non-technical person trying to learn from scratch, this will be a tough textbook, but it is do-able with a little dedication. There are example problems with solutions, but they are not always worked out in detail. You might be better off starting with something simpler (and cheaper) and working up to this.
On the other hand, there is something to be said for swinging for the fences, and if you get through this, you will have a pretty good start on the basics.
ANYWAY, everything you ever wanted to know about electronic circuits is touched upon in here. Whether it is dealt with in sufficient detail, or whether the author will actually be helpful, that may be different, but there is some commentary on nearly anything. Kind of like the Mishnah of analog electronics, if you will. If you are an undergraduate starting an Electronic or Electrical engineering program, shell out the $90-odd now and use this as a supplement and/or reference. You won't regret it.
If you are a non-technical person trying to learn from scratch, this will be a tough textbook, but it is do-able with a little dedication. There are example problems with solutions, but they are not always worked out in detail. You might be better off starting with something simpler (and cheaper) and working up to this.
On the other hand, there is something to be said for swinging for the fences, and if you get through this, you will have a pretty good start on the basics.
April 10, 2013
Probably the best Electronics book ever written. Very readable, practical, and understandable even for those without good background. Makes the subject fun !
A new edition is in the works so I'm told.
A new edition is in the works so I'm told.
July 11, 2022
i got a lot out of my first reading, and figure i probably left at least 75% of the material on the table. i'll definitely be digging again into Horowitz and Hill. at times, i felt completely lost, especially as they dug into relative minutiae of various components. whereas Practical Electronics for Inventors hurriedly builds up the theory in the first two chapters, Horowitz just figures you know...quite a bit. so far as i could tell, the entire EE undergraduate curriculum was assumed, and yet at times Horowitz would start from first principles and surely talk underneath the EEs in the room. a strange book, but i know nothing else nearly as thorough for basic electronic design.
quite often you'd start getting into the interesting shit, and there would be an annoying reference to the "X" chapters, sold in another (expensive) accompanying book. that grew wearisome.
props for stumbling upon material regarding buck converters that nonchalantly informed me that had i gone through with a plan of mine, i'd have started a major fire.
quite often you'd start getting into the interesting shit, and there would be an annoying reference to the "X" chapters, sold in another (expensive) accompanying book. that grew wearisome.
props for stumbling upon material regarding buck converters that nonchalantly informed me that had i gone through with a plan of mine, i'd have started a major fire.
April 16, 2020
The preface to the first edition claims this book requires no previous exposure to electronics; this is a lie.
Or, if not a lie, it at least sets you up for an extremely steep learning curve, not helped any by the authors' annoying habit of using concepts long before they're introduced, and you very much do already need to have a solid enough grounding (haha) in electricity to be able to read circuit diagrams (there's an appendix about them but it's about how to draw good ones rather than bad ones, not fundamentals) and to have some familiarity with how it behaves: though the first chapter starts with Ohm's law and the concept of the electron, it skips over a pretty significant middle bit as it throws you into the deep end.
If you do have the assumed background (whether you're a hobbyist breadboard toucher or a trained electrical engineer), The Art of Electronics is a great and extremely practical gap-filler, refresher course, and reference work for everything from simple analog circuits to modern computers. If you don't, you can probably still pick things up through osmosis, and you'd probably get the most out of it on your second pass through. At well over a thousand information-dense pages, though, that feels like an extraordinarily laborious way to get into a hobby that has next to no useful applications.
(Side note: if you're writing a textbook and removing a chapter for a new edition and find that there are a lot of references to it in other chapters, that's a hint that you shouldn't have cut that chapter, not a reason to tell readers they should own multiple editions of the same book.)
Or, if not a lie, it at least sets you up for an extremely steep learning curve, not helped any by the authors' annoying habit of using concepts long before they're introduced, and you very much do already need to have a solid enough grounding (haha) in electricity to be able to read circuit diagrams (there's an appendix about them but it's about how to draw good ones rather than bad ones, not fundamentals) and to have some familiarity with how it behaves: though the first chapter starts with Ohm's law and the concept of the electron, it skips over a pretty significant middle bit as it throws you into the deep end.
If you do have the assumed background (whether you're a hobbyist breadboard toucher or a trained electrical engineer), The Art of Electronics is a great and extremely practical gap-filler, refresher course, and reference work for everything from simple analog circuits to modern computers. If you don't, you can probably still pick things up through osmosis, and you'd probably get the most out of it on your second pass through. At well over a thousand information-dense pages, though, that feels like an extraordinarily laborious way to get into a hobby that has next to no useful applications.
(Side note: if you're writing a textbook and removing a chapter for a new edition and find that there are a lot of references to it in other chapters, that's a hint that you shouldn't have cut that chapter, not a reason to tell readers they should own multiple editions of the same book.)
June 3, 2018
I've been regularly reading this book for two years now as a reference. Both the textbook and the laboratory manual that comes with it. What I would say is that: This book does a poor job at explaining individual topics but that's fine. The breadth of material needed to talk about electronics is tremendous. It does a better job than anything I've seen in any medium of telling me enough about a topic to allow me to then look up more elsewhere. It's ability to serve as a conduit to which I find information is indispensable. If this is the only thing you plan on reading you probably won't learn much about electronics. If you use this as the vessel for which you explore electronics I have no doubt you'll learn a lot.
embarrassed-not-to-have-read
May 13, 2011this is a minor cult classic among EE's and CmpE's, or at least was at GT. i saw it on someone's desk today at NVIDIA, was reminded that i'd intended to look into it, and needed only a few pages to convince me of a winner. looks fantastic!
May 14, 2017
Read this book and you will not need anything else on the same subject.
January 12, 2015
I have just started reading this. Currently reading the third chapter. I wish i would have come across and read this book in my college days. It makes one aware of how to do design, for example, a common emitter amplifier, as if it's a piece of cake. This book seems to be damn good on its own. Use it along with a good book which covers the analysis of circuits and it should cover most of the needs of any practicing engineer.
April 15, 2013
This book favors an intuitive understanding over the endless math found in electrical engineering textbooks. It is the perfect "what they don't teach in school" electronics book. I highly recommend it for any electrical engineering student or graduate for the transistor chapters alone. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because it is dated. However, for those interested in 1960s-1980s vintage analog synthesizers, this turns out to be a plus.
December 28, 2007
I haven't read this, technically; it's a large book I use for reference. But it's very well-written and explains things in an intuitive way that I never really learned in college. Much better than the typical textbook.
April 18, 2012
Last update to this classic was in 1989. Still quite useful (=timeless) and my fave electronics reference. This book is actually FUN to read.
Looking forward to the much-anticipated forthcoming 3rd edition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_...
Looking forward to the much-anticipated forthcoming 3rd edition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_...
November 22, 2012
Great book for anyone dealing with electronics. Even bad circuit ideas are included for reference ;-).
November 27, 2012
The godfather of all electronics books , love it
December 3, 2019
This book can be read as a story book from night stand, and I literally do read it before going to sleep.
It would have saved me quite some friction had I gotten this book from the beginning of my electronics learning journey.
- It is loaded with real life devilish down to details advice that one could try to dig days on end from other sources.
- Theory is on target, just enough to be enough, described in plain language, expressed in math that everyone can grasp.
- Examples given are usable for current day applications.
Books as good as this make people want to learn stuff.
What else needs to be said.
It would have saved me quite some friction had I gotten this book from the beginning of my electronics learning journey.
- It is loaded with real life devilish down to details advice that one could try to dig days on end from other sources.
- Theory is on target, just enough to be enough, described in plain language, expressed in math that everyone can grasp.
- Examples given are usable for current day applications.
Books as good as this make people want to learn stuff.
What else needs to be said.
November 7, 2017
Too advanced for beginners, at least in my case. Read the Transistor section and it's very badly explained unless you know a good deal about transistors. Literally the worst introduction to transistors I have ever seen, for the past few hours I have been trying to find something worst and it seems impossible.
June 13, 2017
Know as the bible of Electronics, it is the must have knowledge source to master the exciting world of electronics and devices.
February 2, 2020
An amazing piece of work. The bible reference of electronics engineering.
October 17, 2020
An old favourite, but difficult to read.
December 1, 2025
It's remarkably easy to have a pretty-good high-voltage circuit fail, abruptly (and usually with a "snap" sound), leaving precious few clues to the cause.
The Art of Electronics is a practical and nearly comprehensive textbook on electronic circuit design. It covers nearly every part of the field - from passives to transistors, to operational amplifiers, to digital logic circuits, to the analog/digital interfaces and microcontrollers.
I've heard many a good thing about this book over the years from fellow electrical engineers, but only recently did I summon up the courage to pick up this massive tome (over 1000 pages) and actually read it cover to cover.
You will immediately notice that Horowitz does not inundate you with differential equations and transfer functions. He does so when necessary - but his main goal is to present a more intuitive sort of circuit design - an actual understanding of the underlying components.
Horowitz includes discussions and comparison of actual parts that you can purchase for your circuits, rather than relying on idealized models you'll find only in theory. Circuits use those actual parts in their diagrams and his discussions detail the nitty gritty details you won't find in a book on pure theory.
This book has been updated and revised several times. The most recent in 2015. The analog portion remains largely relevant, and I've picked up and used several of those circuits in my own designs. The microcontroller landscape is evolving rapidly, and those particular chapters are going to become quickly outdated. He covers usage of the AVR and PIC series microcontrollers, but has not updated it to include many of the newer and more popular models, such as the STM, ESP32, and the nRF series chips that include advanced wireless communications.
For anyone who works in this industry, this book is a must have. Read through it once and annotate and tab out the bits you find useful. I guarantee that it will improve your designs or give you a better and more intuitive approach to a complex field. If you read through this as a non-engineer and understand even half of it, you could well be on your way to earning a degree in electrical engineering.
The Art of Electronics is a practical and nearly comprehensive textbook on electronic circuit design. It covers nearly every part of the field - from passives to transistors, to operational amplifiers, to digital logic circuits, to the analog/digital interfaces and microcontrollers.
I've heard many a good thing about this book over the years from fellow electrical engineers, but only recently did I summon up the courage to pick up this massive tome (over 1000 pages) and actually read it cover to cover.
You will immediately notice that Horowitz does not inundate you with differential equations and transfer functions. He does so when necessary - but his main goal is to present a more intuitive sort of circuit design - an actual understanding of the underlying components.
Horowitz includes discussions and comparison of actual parts that you can purchase for your circuits, rather than relying on idealized models you'll find only in theory. Circuits use those actual parts in their diagrams and his discussions detail the nitty gritty details you won't find in a book on pure theory.
This book has been updated and revised several times. The most recent in 2015. The analog portion remains largely relevant, and I've picked up and used several of those circuits in my own designs. The microcontroller landscape is evolving rapidly, and those particular chapters are going to become quickly outdated. He covers usage of the AVR and PIC series microcontrollers, but has not updated it to include many of the newer and more popular models, such as the STM, ESP32, and the nRF series chips that include advanced wireless communications.
For anyone who works in this industry, this book is a must have. Read through it once and annotate and tab out the bits you find useful. I guarantee that it will improve your designs or give you a better and more intuitive approach to a complex field. If you read through this as a non-engineer and understand even half of it, you could well be on your way to earning a degree in electrical engineering.
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August 14, 2025
August 3, 2025
Currently reading this as a non-electrical engineer trying to learn electronics. I imagine it's a great reference book but the explanations aren't great for someone totally new, even though it states that's who it's aimed at in the first chapter. It's very extensive though and it's good for knowing what to read up on further.
June 8, 2020
It is not brief and even they accept it. it is a good try to cover everything about electronics. More of a reference book. Another book by the same Author "Practical art of electronics" is a better book. I couldn't finish this book completely since it is super big
December 31, 2022
An incredible resource for general circuit design questions! Doesn't dive terribly deep into any one specific topic, but has enough of everything to get started. 13 whole pages on the LM317 LDO! That's just amazing.
September 26, 2025
Better used as a reference guide than as a read through book. Very detailed, but do not use it for your primary study material when learning electronics, it should be supplementary to other materials, with its more in depth reasoning.
June 8, 2017
this book makes anyone fell in love with electronics. Shows actual practical applications of electronics.A classic and must read for any enthusiast.
January 18, 2019
So useful.
April 25, 2019
Glorious!
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July 19, 2019Read on the Sundays shift at my civil service. German version consist of several books.
August 5, 2021
This is the bible for electronics, anyone starting with electronics must go through once.
September 9, 2021
The book is true to ite description' non mathematical thumb rules adding up tp/'/b
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews