# The Secret Life of Circuits by Michał Zalewski

26 Hacker News commenters recommended The Secret Life of Circuits by Michał Zalewski and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Readers recommend it as a friendly, conversational introduction to electronics and circuit intuition, though critics say its cover and title miss the target audience.

## Why people recommend it

- Friendly, conversational explanations (2 comments): "reads more like someone kindly explaining stuff instead of sending diagrams and formulas your way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50204246)) "seems to be a bit more approachable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49765161))
- Good intro to electronics theory (3 comments): "looks like it’ll be a good book for me to learn more about electrical theory and circuit design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49767030)) "SLOC as an overall introduction to give a good intuition" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49765636)) "It’s great to finally see an explanation of a lot of things I’ve only seen experimentally." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50203977))
- Gift for young learners (2 comments): "Reading the sample chapter makes me think this would be a good gift to a 10+ year old who is interested in learning about electronics." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50203718)) "giving a copy to my niece and nephew this weekend" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50203924))
- Thoughtful approach, well written (2 comments): "I'm a fan of the book. Love the topic and the thoughtful approach!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49775540)) "it is incredibly well written" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50203917))

## What people warn about

- Cover and title miss audience (3 comments): "The content is pretty good but I think they missed the target audience pretty badly with that title and cover." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50203845)) "The cover art and title give the impression of a children's book or a coffee-table book" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50204018)) "The cover art is a gross error of judgement" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49769677))
- Too simplistic, a wasted opportunity (3 comments): "IMHO this is a wasted opportunity to write a solid book on the subject." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48959196)) "a wasted opportunity to write a solid book on the subject" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48960244)) "much too simplistic to explain circuit theory and design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50204864))
- Fonts and layout look poor (2 comments): "the fonts and layout are visually repulsive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49721271)) "visually it stood out to me as bad looking" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49770826))

## Alternatives hackers 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
- [Forrest Mims electronics books](https://hackerapproved.com/p/forrest-mims-electronics-books.md): 4 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Secret+Life+of+Circuits&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Secret Life of Circuits by Michał Zalewski", https://hackerapproved.com/p/secret-life-of-circuits/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).