Post #4094805

2026-07-25 18:32 UTC

@lcamtuf@infosec.exchange saw your book and wanted to ask you: would it be a good resource for someone that wants to learn to build electronics from *almost* scratch? i’ve built a handful of arduino projects but that was a long time ago and cannot recreate them, but i’ve been a programmer for a long while and started with processing, arduino and raspberry pi, so not a complete neophyte. also, if it is not, what would be a good place where to start? thanks.

Replies (1)

@lcamtuf@infosec.exchange 2026-07-25 18:56

@argonaut@mastodon.social Well, there's my book... it is meant for folks who are starting from scratch and requires just a basic high-school grasp of mathematics (trigonometric functions, exponentiation and logarithms) + physics (atoms, electrons, birds and bees). If you're looking for a more rudimentary intro, there's Forrest Mims' book - very approachable but somewhat dated: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282 There's also Practical Electronics for Inventors, although I'm not sure it's more accessible than my book - it contains a lot more trivia (1k+ pages), but some of it is not going to be relevant anymore: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541 Beyond that, I don't know. "The Art of Electronics" is excellent, but really requires you to know a lot of things beforehand. All About Circuits hosts a free e-book, and although it's comprehensive, it's in dire need of an editor - there's a lot of irrelevant detail before you even get to connecting an LED to a battery: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/ On a super basic Arduino level, No Starch has a bunch of books too - but they probably cover what you already know: https://nostarch.com/catalog/hardware-and-diy

Open ##4094804