Best book to learn basics electronics (2024)

Electronics is way more fun than anyone can think. There are many useful resources you can use to learn and practice it. The traditional and forever greenway is to grab some best basic electronics books, make yourself a coffee, and start reading.

Every book is great. If I say this book is best than the other. It would mean I know nothing about books.

So, each and every book I am gonna talk about in this article is best in its own space. Each book is well written, keeping in mind the different kinds of people and readers.

If you are a theory guy you will have your taste, if you practice guy you will your own. I myself is a DIY guy, I like reading and then try to do it practically. Common, who likes to just read electronics without doing it.

Hopefully, you will enjoy all the listed books, as I did.

Table of Contents

Best basic electronics books for everyone

The term basic electronics is itself a huge topic, you can’t specifically define it nor you just can learn it in a short time. It needs time, practice, and interest.

For me, learning basic electronics should make you able to understand the basic of electricity, should make you able to understand the working of electronics components and instruments, should make you able to understand the working of some basic circuits, and should also make you able to somehow design you own small circuits and projects.

I just keep the above in my mind and make the following list of books, that I think will make to understand the basics of electronics. You will be able to use electronic instruments like a multimeter and make your measurements of voltages and currents, and much more.

List for complete beginners

Let’s talk about those people who are just getting with electronics and know nothing about it. The following books are written for such people. Things and concepts in these books are presented in a simple yet understanding way.

A general overview of “Getting Started in Electronics”

This book is written by Forrest M. Mims, III, who has written dozens of books, hundreds of articles, invented scientific devices, and traveled to the Amazon for NASA. This book talks about the basics of electronics in a way you will find hard to find anywhere else. The author, Forrest Mims, has a unique way of teaching and delivering the concept which a reader can feel while reading this book.

The book starts with the basics of electronics, later talks about analog and digital electronics and components, explains how each component works, how components get together and make circuits for various applications.

Besides the theory, there is a lot of practical stuff to do. I love doing electronics, as for me theory without practical electronics is not complete. And this book includes circuit assembly tips and 100 electronic circuits and projects you can build and test.

You get to make 100 unique circuits all by yourself. The circuits are purely based on the knowledge you learn in the book so don’t worry about any complications and confusion.

If you are interested in this book and want to know more about it, check out this link, Getting started in electronics (Amazon link).In my opinion, you will enjoy reading this handwritten book a lot.

List for everyone

The above books are great, but if you are familiar with electronics a little bit. Though I would say you should read those above books as well for making your concepts more strong or to revisit your concepts, if you don’t you will do greats without them.

The below list is for everyone, you can read them anytime.

A general overview of “Make: Electronics: Learning Through Discovery”

This is another best book from Make magazine for learning basic electronics. As the name suggests there is a lot of practical work involved. In this book, you not only learn the theory but also get your hands dirty with some basic electronics. The author says, Make: Electronics is the book that I wish I had owned when I was a young teenager, struggling to learn the basics of electricity and electronics. My goal is to give readers today an easier learning experience than the one I had to go through. And I want it to be fun.

Everything is represented with beautiful illustrations and diagrams which the reader will enjoy while reading it.

The book starts with basic electronics concepts, then goes to some advanced topics such as working with integrated circuits. But don’t worry, everything is explained in a very easy way.

Talks about different techniques while you playing with electronics. Such as soldering, the book teaches how to solder well, how to differentiate between a good and bad soldering wire, and a lot of more fun stuff.

This book is the best starting point for everyone into electronics, no matter if you are a student or hobbyist, you will find great value in this book. If you are interested in this book and want to know more about it, check out this link, Make electronics by Charles Platt (Amazon link).

A general overview of “The Art of Electronics”

A truly remarkable book written by Paul Horowitz, a Research Professor of Physics and of Electrical Engineering at Harvard University, wherein 1974 he originated the Laboratory Electronics course from which emerged The Art of Electronics, and Winfield Hill is by inclination an electronics circuit-design guru.

This book needs no introduction. A remarkable gift for engineers as well as hobbyists. The book will teach you almost everything you need to know as a beginner. And will lead you from basic concepts to more complex and advance topics.

The book deals with real-life situations, no ideal assumptions. For example, no ideal assumptions are taken while analyzing the circuits. Usually, books take an ideal assumption like there is no loss in the circuit to make the mathematics easy, and when you actually design the circuits, results are a little different.

At the start, the book deals with analog circuits designs and later moves to the basics of digital electronics. So, the reader gets the taste of both analog and digital electronics.

I personally love this book. The reason I am listing it at three because I think it is a little advance for complete beginners.

To know more about this amazing book, here is the Amazon link, The Art of Electronics. If you are interested give it a try. It is a little expensive but the money worth it.

Is there any other option available?

Of course, there are so many books out there. There are lots of youtube channels that you can follow to learn electronics.

When you get into electronics, the first part is what you want specifically in electronics. Let me explain. I myself an electronics engineer, but not all electronics are fun for me. I only enjoy designing and testing the circuit especially the analog circuits. And this whole site is all about circuit designing and testing.

My point is just first to read the above basic electronics books, find the part which you find exciting. Then give dedicated time to that particular area only.

Final words

Every book is great. Every basic electronics book is awesome, get any basic book and you will learn all the basic concepts. If I say that the book is great, it is just my opinion. Maybe for other people, it is not.

You have so many choices. Above are the books that have proven themselves among different people, and people found them effective. I read them myself and found them amazing.

Above listed books teach you the basics of electronics in an easy and effective way. These books are not theory-focused, they lead you through practices and give you hands-on experience playing with electronics.