Sounds to me like you want the knowledge of a Technician, and NOT the knowledge of an Engineer. For a technician's knowledge, pick up a robotics book for hobbyi

Sounds to me like you want the knowledge of a Technician, and NOT the knowledge of an Engineer. For a technician's knowledge, pick up a robotics book for hobbyists, and that will get you started. [Please note that I REALLY want to encourage you to follow an engineering path. The rewards will be amazing. See my list at the bottom on how to do that.] Also, you need to ask yourself what you'll be using the Arduino and RasPi for. In particular, what types of applications? Power electronics/motor drives? Communications electronics? Audio amplifiers? Active filters? You want to use op-amps? Are you doing analog signal processing? Digital signal processing? Feedback control systems? Are you interfacing to an FPGA or PLD? etc. The moral of the story is: Electronics is a HUGE area. If you really want to fully understand electronics, please take the following courses IN ORDER: 1. Differential Calculus 2. Integral Calculus 3. Multivariable Calculus 4. Differential Equations 5. Circuits I (1st and 2nd-order circuits, and higher) 6. Electromagnetics (from Physics II is enough) 7. Analog Electronics (Active filters, etc.) 8. Digital Electronics (VLSI, etc.) 9. Digital Logic (Boolean algebra, computer architecture, etc.) 10. Power Electronics (Rectifiers, inverters, etc.) Before you know it, you'll be an expert. Good luck!