# Forrest Mims electronics books

4 Hacker News commenters recommended Forrest Mims electronics books and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People credit these electronics books with teaching schematic reading and circuit basics; the main caveat is they lean toward recipes over understanding.

## Why people recommend it

- Teaches reading schematics and circuit basics (1 comments): "I had just learned to read schematics from one of the Forrest Mims books at Radio Shack" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49252317))
- Covers the subject more thoroughly than others (1 comments): "his covering of the subject matter is dwarfed by someone like Forrest Mims" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45812330))
- Informative despite clumsy writing (1 comments): "the clumsy but informative Forrest Mims series of books" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50203970))

## What people warn about

- Leans toward recipes, not understanding (1 comments): "It's recipes and instructions not building understanding." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47476698))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Secret Life of Circuits by Michał Zalewski](https://hackerapproved.com/p/secret-life-of-circuits.md): 26 recommend
- [The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill](https://hackerapproved.com/p/art-of-electronics.md): 11 recommend
- [PySDR: A Guide to SDR and DSP Using Python by Marc Lichtman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pysdr-a-guide-to-sdr-and-dsp-using-python.md): 8 recommend
- [Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims](https://hackerapproved.com/p/getting-started-in-electronics.md): 5 recommend
- [Practical Electronics for Inventors by Scherz and Monk](https://hackerapproved.com/p/practical-electronics-for-inventors.md): 4 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Forrest+Mims+electronics+books&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Forrest Mims electronics books", https://hackerapproved.com/p/forrest-mims-electronics-books/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).