Forrest Mims electronics books
Shares rank 5 of 12 electronics books by recommenders
People credit these electronics books with teaching schematic reading and circuit basics; the main caveat is they lean toward recipes over understanding.
People credit these electronics books with teaching schematic reading and circuit basics; the main caveat is they lean toward recipes over understanding.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Teaches reading schematics and circuit basics
“I had just learned to read schematics from one of the Forrest Mims books at Radio Shack”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Publishing Schematics Before "Open Source" Was a Word” Covers the subject more thoroughly than others
“his covering of the subject matter is dwarfed by someone like Forrest Mims”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “Things you can do with diodes” Informative despite clumsy writing
“the clumsy but informative Forrest Mims series of books”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “The Secret Life of Circuits is now in stock everywhere”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Leans toward recipes, not understanding
“It's recipes and instructions not building understanding.”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “Electronics for Kids, 2nd Edition”
Other electronics books people recommend
The four most recommended other electronics books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Secret Life of Circuitsby Michał Zalewski | 26 | 10 | 72% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Art of Electronicsby Horowitz and Hill | 11 | 3 | 79% | 7 | — | Approved |
| PySDR: A Guide to SDR and DSP Using Pythonby Marc Lichtman | 8 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Getting Started in Electronicsby Forrest Mims | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Forrest Mims electronics booksThis page | 4 | 1 | 80% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
4 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the clumsy but informative Forrest Mims series of books”
“I had just learned to read schematics from one of the Forrest Mims books at Radio Shack”
“It's recipes and instructions not building understanding.”
“his covering of the subject matter is dwarfed by someone like Forrest Mims”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.