Want to know how to use an electronic component? This first book of a three-volume set includes key information on electronics parts for your projects--complete with photographs, schematics, and diagrams. You'll learn what each one does, how it works, why it's useful, and what variants exist. No matter how much you know about electronics, you'll find fascinating details you've never come across before.

Convenient, concise, well-organized, and precise

Perfect for teachers, hobbyists, engineers, and students of all ages, this reference puts reliable, fact-checked information right at your fingertips--whether you're refreshing your memory or exploring a component for the first time. Beginners will quickly grasp important concepts, and more experienced users will find the specific details their projects require.

• Unique: the first and only encyclopedia set on electronic components, distilled into three separate volumes
• Incredibly detailed: includes information distilled from hundreds of sources
• Easy to browse: parts are clearly organized by component type
• Authoritative: fact-checked by expert advisors to ensure that the information is both current and accurate
• Reliable: a more consistent source of information than online sources, product datasheets, and manufacturer's tutorials
• Instructive: each component description provides details about substitutions, common problems, and workarounds
• Comprehensive: Volume 1 covers power, electromagnetism, and discrete semi-conductors; Volume 2 includes integrated circuits, and light and sound sources; Volume 3 covers a range of sensing devices.

Charles Platt is a Contributing Editor and regular columnist for Make magazine, where he writes about electronics. He is the author of the highly successful introductory hands-on book, Make: Electronics, and is writing a sequel to that book in addition to volumes 2 and 3 of the Encyclopedia of Electronic Components.

Platt was a Senior Writer for Wired magazine, and has written various computer books. As a prototype designer, he created semi-automated rapid cooling devices with medical applications, and air-deployable equipment for first responders. He was the sole author of four mathematical-graphics software packages, and has been fascinated by electronics since he put together a telephone answering machine from a tape recorder and military-surplus relays at age 15. He lives in a Northern Arizona wilderness area, where he has his own workshop for prototype fabrication and projects that he writes about for Make magazine.