first book for a beginner

[Chopsticks]

hi all,
i know theres a sticky on good books to read and I've looked through it, however i'm more wondering what is 'the' book to buy first as a beginner in electronics?
a little background info on me will probably be helpful in getting your feedback on what book i need, so here goes. i'd say my soldering skills aren't to bad though i do have a nice weller WD1 station that makes light work of everything. my technical skills are a bit limited, i know what resistors, caps, diodes etc do and very very basically what a transistor can do however I'm still sketchy on that one. as for reading circuit diagrams I'm slowly beginning to become fluent in them and have even began dabbling in EAGLE and PCB etching etc.
Next year im applying to study electrical engineering at uni but while i have the chance i'd like a good book that will take me from the start and give me all the foundation skills/knowledge i need to make the transition to uni more pleasant, i generally find practical exercises help better then pure theory so breadboarding and/or PCB constructing would suit me well.
I'm sure ive rambled on quite a lot here but I'd appreciate any suggestions anyone has to get me started, however I'm much prefer to read a hardcopy book then google the web so please only suggest books

Regards
Matt

[Ed.Kloonk]

I'd suggest the biggest book of all. The book of knowledge: google.com

 

Welcome to the forum Chopsticks. 

[Chopsticks]

haha yes google is great, but theres something about reading ink of paper in a book that i prefer over staring at a lcd screen trying to figure out where to begin, like i'm looking for a good book that takes a logical approach to building the foundation blocks of electronics in the right order

[Ed.Kloonk]

Sorry I'm no help what so ever.

[Chopsticks]

no thats quite alright, im sure someone will chime in at some stage with a good book to study

[Rerouter]

while i also wont be chiming in much, here is the explination for a transistor that finally stuck for me

"a transistor is a current amplifier, what ever current you feed into its base, multiply it by its hfe/beta, and that is the current it will allow to flow through, should external components limit the current flow possible to less than what the amplified flow would be, the transistor becomes known as saturated"

now this description isn't absolutly 100% correct, but it helps to understand the concept and how they are used in circuits,

personally i would probably reccomend one of the motorola power supply handbooks, as they went a far bit furthur into how to use transistors, mosfets and op amps in regulation and amplification loops than i expected,

[nick.sek]

Electronics Technology Fundamentals Conventional Flow Version by Paynter and Boydell

I refer to it as the bible for learning electronics.

Hopefully it helps

[Chopsticks]

thanks nick.sek i'll check out that book 

[Acad12]

Dear Chopsticks,
As you say you are intending to attend Uni next year it may well be helpful to contact them and ask about suitable books so that you will already be familiar with them when you arrive. It is not evident what your present level of knowledge is so it is rather difficult to guess what to recommend. Some commercial semiconductor companies publish online 'textbooks' that can be downloaded (try analog Devices at www.analog.com) and many international universities publish their lectures online (try MIT for example). My beginner days are 60 years ago so much has changed in practice and the books I have around are too advanced for you at this stage, but for rather later have a look at ISBN 978-0-521-68780-5 on Amazon, which is based around circuit simulation PSpice (and provides a student version CD. A working knowledge of this will help you considerably and allow you to try many circuits quickly and without having to worry about doing the wrong thing and blowing things up! It is also very easy to see all the currents and voltages in the circuit and easy to alter values to see the effects, and hence understand better what is going on. Good luck and regards Acad12

[StubbornGreek]

The Art of Electronics (1989) immediately comes to mind. There are, of course, some things that are dates in the book but overall, its a beautiful piece of educational literature.

Aside from that, goole (as others have said) and online course lectures (found on youtube - everyone always recommends the MIT classes) and if you're really ocd, the prerequisites to the courses are often mentioned in the lectures...

[qno]

I learned a lot from the books of Forrest Mims.
Little theory and a lot of practical circuits.

Check him out on google!

[terabyte]

Dude I'm in pretty much the same spot has you.  I am going through this book;
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337741766&sr=1-1

I really love that you do an experiment, sometimes you blow something up in the process, and THEN you learn about the why.
Check this site which goes through the entire book;
http://handsonelectronics.blogspot.com/

[os40la]

I still have my Forest M Mim's book (Getting-Started-Electronics) from the 80's. Great book....
Another good beginner book is "Teach Yourself Electricity And Electronics" by Stan Gibilisco

[CyberWalker]

Thank you all for your well-aimed suggestions! 

My first "motivational" series were the "Electronic Circuits for the evil Genius" by Dave Cutcher and the "MORE Electronic Gadgets for the evil genius" by Bob Iannini.

For anyone who likes Arduino projects there is another similar book called "30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius" by Simon Monk.

For more advanced and academic stuff there is the old-time classic "The Art of Electronics (2nd edition)" by Horowitz & Hill (1041 pages!)

Last but not least :
I recentrly stepped on some 'Justine's Pong' books which can help anyone with repairing household appliances or any other electrical devices. He has a collection of some free 'Electronics Repairing Collection Ebooks'. He also sells some of them but you don't have to go as far as buying the,

[drug123]

I'm really satisfied with my "Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Paul Scherz I bought as first book to start with electronics.

[robrenz]

I'm really satisfied with my "Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Paul Scherz I bought as first book to start with electronics.

It is my favorite also.  But you definitely need to download the errata http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/physics/ph235/errata.pdf
especially for a beginner, and check for and correct errors in whatever section you are reading.  There are a lot of blatant errors that are obvious typesetting problems etc.  I like his style enough to overlook the extreme amount of errors.

[MBP]

Make: Electronics is an excellent first choice, though The Art of Electronics is not the best first book, it's an excellent second one.

[TerminalJack505]

Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M. Mims III is a good book if you're an absolute noob and don't expect anything too technical.  It covers all of the basics.

Practical Electronics for Inventors is more technical and thorough.

[Chopsticks]

Thanks everyone for all you feedback and suggestions, they've been really helpful and Acad12 great idea about contacting uni!