Difference Between Art of Electronics Editions

[schwarzrmsu]

Hi All,

I am looking to purchase a copy of the popular text book Art of Electronics.  I hear the third edition has recently been released and am wondering if this latest edition contains information from the previous two editions or if it is all new material.

It would be a great help if someone could please let me know which edition I should begin with.  Thank you for the help.

[Tandy]

Yes and no, take the op-amp section for example the fist edition talks mostly about old designs like the 741, the second edition has most of the same information but expands on it and uses some more modern op-amps. The third edition does away with much of the outdated information and again covers more modern op-amp types instead of the 741.

So there may be some information in the older editions that was not considered particularly relevant for inclusion in the 3rd edition but is still interesting. My evaluation of it is that any edition will give you a good general reference for electronics, even the first edition is worth it if you can't afford the latest. But the older editions do cover components and circuit ideas that are used a lot less these days so if you are starting out the 3rd edition has a lot more relevant material for more modern circuits if you can afford it.

[tggzzz]

From http://www.wisewarthog.com/electronics/horowitz-hill-the-art-of-electronics-3rd-edition.html

Some chapters from the 2nd edition are not in the 3rd one because otherwise the book would have become too heavy to carry around with you: Chapter 12 Electronic Construction Techniques, Chapter 13 High Frequency and High Speed Techniques, Chapter 14 Micropower Design, Chapter 15 Measurements and Signal Processing. The same is true for some of the information in others chapters. I guess everybody who knows the 2nd edition will find a few of his personal favorite pages missing. One example for this is the "quickie guide" on capacitors in chapter 1 - one page describing qualitatively the most important properties of every type. I was even more shocked when I discovered that the "Bad Circuits" had gone. Luckily, the authors say in the preface that both the "Circuit Ideas" and the "Bad Circuits" will re-appear on their artofelectronics website. The site is quite new, so at the moment (6th April 2015) there are only a few of the bad circuits present. Also useful (if you own the book) is the errata page.

[JoeO]

No one can truly help you unless you post some information about yourself.  What is your age, experience, job, goal.

[schwarzrmsu]

No one can truly help you unless you post some information about yourself.  What is your age, experience, job, goal.

Touche,

I am a 26 year old Electrical Engineer.  I am a recent graduate and have been working in the Electronics industry for close to three years.  I currently work for a tier 1 automotive supplier for electronics.  My goal is to continuously learn more and more about the field of electronics.  I have heard the Art of Electronics is a must read and feel it would be a great book to server as a refresher course for the topics I have neglected over the past few years. just want to make sure I am spending my time accordingly.

From the previous posts it sounds like I should maybe skip edition 1 and go straight to edition 2.  Once I finish that I will determine whether or not to go for the third addition.

Please let me know if this is a good idea or if I am making a terrible mistake.  Thanks guys!

[tggzzz]

Skip the first edition. Buy the third edition.

If the "sections missing" from the third edition are important, get the second edition.

I have the first and third editions.

[schwarzrmsu]

Sounds like a plan  Thanks for the help!