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Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components
- brudgers 3y agosome comments here, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32630740 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32630740
- fanf2 3y agoI have a copy of this book. It is beautiful! There are few opportunities to see the precision and complexity of the basic components of modern electronics. If you like Ken Shirriff’s explanations of how discrete components are made on integrated circuits, this book shows how much bigger ones are made.
- Confiks 3y agoBought the book last week, it's beautiful! Would anyone have any recommendations for other books that can offer deep insight into technology but also just can be leafed and skimmed through, perhaps part of a small library collection? I bought (a Dutch version of) "The Way Things Work", as well as "A Cat's Guide To Internet Freedom" and "Grokking Algorithms".
- K7PJP 3y agoI'd recommend Infrastructure: A Guide to the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes http://industrial-landscape.com/ http://industrial-landscape.com/ It covers everything from railroad tracks, antenna towers, highway overpasses, power lines, grain elevators, oil refineries, steel mills, and more… Lots of great pictures and detailed explanations. And I also bought "Open Circuits" and find it to be both beautiful and illuminating.
- dcre 3y agoThanks! Ordered a copy.
- fanf2 3y agoCore Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers Typeset in the future https://typesetinthefuture.com/ https://typesetinthefuture.com/ The Rudiments of Wisdom by Tim Hunkin (cartoons not photographs) The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua (cartoons with epic footnotes and endnotes)
- intrasight 3y ago"State Of The Art Photographic history Of The Integrated Circuit" by Augarten. My older brother loaned it to me when I was 12
- ooterness 3y agoThere's "Engineering in Plain Sight" by Grady Hillhouse.
- fecal_henge 3y agoIf you mean "the way things work" by Macaulay then please look at his other books. I recommend "Unbuilding" massively.
- wlindley 3y agoThe most amazing thing is when you understand that circuit diagram elements like resistors, capacitors, diodes, and transistors are merely simplified versions of what those parts actually look like.
- kitanata 3y ago[flagged]
- londons_explore 3y agoChapter 1 is available for free download: https://nostarch.com/download/OpenCircuits_Chapter1.pdf https://nostarch.com/download/OpenCircuits_Chapter1.pdf $30 for the ebook. Free on the high seas for whose who don't have $30.
- csours 3y agoI own the book and highly recommend it for any curious adults, but especially for kids interested in electronics related fields. I really wish I had this book when I was growing up.
- bombledmonk 3y agoI think this should be part of required reading for EE101 type classes in college. The hardcover for $25 shipped on amazon, it's really something everyone in electronics should own.
- denton-scratch 3y ago> By reading this website, you agree[...] You saying that I agree doesn't mean that I actually agree. Also, putting that silly legalese at the top of the page is pretty annoying, for what turns out (after a dozen paragraphs) to be a chatty book review.
- mikewarot 3y agoIt would be interesting to show the innards of an electrolytic capacitor, but as they are liquid filled... that might be a challenge. I've grown to hate Tantalum capacitors, as they will often short themselves out for no apparent reason, and take things out of service.
- omgJustTest 3y agoIs there actually a use for tantalum caps these days? Is there some price nuance? A lot of ceramics appear to be similar ESR even vs frequency.
- exmadscientist 3y agoTantalum-manganese dioxide capacitors ("ordinary tantalums") still have the highest CV product (capacitance per unit volume) of the common types, making them extremely useful. Their ESR characteristics (not just summarized, but over frequency and over temperature) are also very nice. Yes, you can get the same ESR characteristics in other ways, but they're still nice parts to use. (Aside: their ESR is higher than ceramics, and this is a good thing. Many EEs think ESR is automatically a bad thing. Do not trust anything those people say about capacitors!) Ta-MnO₂ capacitors do have that one, minor, tiny, insignificant problem of starting on fire sometimes. This is not actually much of a problem anymore because people have learned how to build these things well (they're 100% screened at manufacturing), specify them (derate to 50-75% of nameplate voltage, modified by max temp), and protect them (surge/inrush current is mostly what actually ignites them, so let's not do that if we want them to live). The easiest way to use them well is to keep them inside designs (i.e., on internal signals and rails, don't let things off the board dump current through one) and they'll be fine. They're great, and every designer should use them when appropriate!
- makapuf 3y agoDon't also tantalum capacitors rely on problematic mining? Or are most sourcing issues solved by now?