Getting Started in Electronics
Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mimsby Forrest M. Mims
Ranked 4 of 12 electronics books by recommenders
Recommended as an approachable first introduction to electronics, especially by hobbyists who grew up with Forrest Mims's books. Critics say the example schematics are hard to follow.
Recommended as an approachable first introduction to electronics, especially by hobbyists who grew up with Forrest Mims's books. Critics say the example schematics are hard to follow.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 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
Beloved by hobbyists as an intro
“I'm just a hobbyist that went through Forrest Mims mini-notebooks”
Comment from 28 Feb 2026 in “Will vibe coding end like the maker movement?” “I loved the Forrest Mims books”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “I Pitched a Roller Coaster to Disneyland at Age 10 in 1978”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Example schematics hard to understand
“was intensely frustrated that I couldn't understand how the example schematics worked”
Comment from 23 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 Paul Horowitz and Winfield 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 M. MimsThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Practical Electronics for Inventorsby Paul Scherz | 4 | 2 | 67% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“several orders of magnitude better than Mimms' and Make garbage”
“They were my intro to electronics along with the Radio Shack kits.”
“was intensely frustrated that I couldn't understand how the example schematics worked”
“I'm just a hobbyist that went through Forrest Mims mini-notebooks”
“I loved the Forrest Mims books”
“there are some fairly famous handwritten books that maintain their handwriting in publication, my favorite being”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.