The Art of Electronics

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The Art of Electronics, by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, is a popular textbook dealing with analog and digital electronics. It is sometimes referred to as the "electronics bible", and remains a popular text, although its most recent (2nd) edition was released in 1989.

The text is information-dense, but uses a light, informal tone which makes it more accessible. At over 1000 pages, it covers virtually all areas of electronics design, from basic DC voltage, current, and resistance, to active filters and oscillators, to digital electronics, including microprocessors and digital bus interfacing. It also includes discussions of such often-neglected areas as high-frequency, high-speed design techniques and low-power applications.

The book is particularly useful because of its many example circuits. In addition to having examples of good circuits, it also has examples of bad ideas, with excellent discussions of what makes the good designs good and the bad ones bad. It is a cross between a textbook and reference manual, though without the chapter-end questions and exercises which are often found in textbooks.

There is also a complementary text, "The Student Manual for 'The Art of Electronics" by Thomas C. Hayes and Paul Horowitz. The Student Manual, while referencing the main text extensively, is designed specifically to help people learn electronics. It contains material such as lab exercises and explanatory text supplements aimed at the student. In contrast, The Art of Electronics contains tables, equations, diagrams, and other material practitioners use for reference.

[edit] Third Edition

The 2nd edition is in many respects out of date, referencing obsolete electrical parts and omitting technologies developed since it was written. Because of this, the third edition is widely anticipated, leading to perennial rumors of its impending release. In 2006 the third edition appeared in some online databases with ISBN 0521809266, prompting further speculation. However, Winfield Hill wrote at that time (August 2006) in the Usenet newsgroup sci.electronics.design: "I’m sorry, it’s not coming out for at least a year and maybe longer."^[1] The publication date in online listings was delayed several times; the authors now anticipate publication in 2009.