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Practical Electronics for Inventors by Scherz and Monk

Recommended as a reference that explains the physics behind each component. Common caveat: it mixes basic practical material with advanced theory, and some find it overwhelming.

Summarized from 9 comments.

Recommended as a reference that explains the physics behind each component. Common caveat: it mixes basic practical material with advanced theory, and some find it overwhelming.

recommend
4
criticize
2
months recommended
4 of 13

What people warn about

  • Mixes basic and advanced theory · 1

    I personally found it a bit overwhelming with the mixture of really basic practical stuff combined with more advanced circuit theory

    Jan 2026 · comment
  • Less practical than the title · 1

    not really as practical as the title implies

    Sep 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

Every quote

The 8 most detailed of 9 comments. Each links to the original.

  1. I personally found it a bit overwhelming with the mixture of really basic practical stuff combined with more advanced circuit theory

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware”

  2. not really as practical as the title implies

    Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2026)”

  3. PEFI/PE4I as a technical reference when you need details about a specific topic

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “The Secret Life of Circuits”

  4. the authors explains the underlying physics for each component

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “The Secret Life of Circuits”

  5. check out "Practical Electronics for Inventors"

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Prepare for That Stupid World”

  6. has a whole chapter dedicated to sensors

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “The Secret Life of Circuits”

  7. It looks considerably better than Practical Electronics for Inventors

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Cursed circuits #6: reverse avalanche oscillator”

  8. found it to be way over my head

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “The Secret Life of Circuits”

Counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, Nov 2025 to Nov 2026. How we count · Report a mistake