I keep reading about this book. I don't have my college textbooks so I was tempted to buy this one, but I'm somewhat old school and sometimes like to use a book rather than a ebook. I can't decide if I should look for some old college textbooks. Actually found the old 8085 one we used.
There are so many books out there it is hard to recommend anything. In a lot of ways it depends on where you want to go. AoE seems to be very approachable but so far I haven't seen the rigor of a college text but it's early and I have a long way to go with the book. What it does have is a lot of practical circuits and comments about why things don't work. For a hands-on approach, AoE and LTAoE seem to be a great way to go. I need to spend more time with both of them.
"Electrical Engineering Principals and Applications" by Hambley is a lot more rigorous
http://www.roneducate.com/uploads/6/2/3/8/6238184/engr_1303_electrical_engineering_textbook_new.pdfPage 219 is interesting... as an example. Actually, it looks a lot uglier than it is!
Back in the dark ages, the math was a problem. Not only was it ugly, we didn't have tools to make it easier. I was one of the fortunate ones, I had access to an IBM 1130 with the IBM Electronic Circuit Analysis Program (Hollerith card based predecessor to LTspice) and a drum plotter. Bode' plots were kind of fun, actually! Still, there was a lot of drudgery. With the tools we have today, this stuff should be a cake walk. Spend less time slipping the stick and more time thinking about the deeper meaning.
Engineers draw pictures as Step 1. Drawing a graph is similarly important. It's great when the machine will compute the points and you can sit back and reflect on the importance.