Every component in your parts drawer is a piece of engineering you have never actually seen. A resistor is a spiral of carbon film cut to length. A capacitor is a rolled sandwich of foil and paper. Open Circuits cuts more than a hundred of them open, polishes the faces, and photographs them in extreme close-up.
Electrical and electronics students who want to see the thing behind the schematic symbol. Working engineers who have specified a part a thousand times without ever looking inside one. Makers, repair people, and anyone who likes their technical books worth leaving out.
Authors: Eric Schlaepfer and Windell H. Oskay
Despite having a background in electronics development, both academic and professional, "Open Circuits" introduced me to a new world of electronic components - their inner workings. On over 300 pages, the book combines high quality photographs exposing what's inside resistors, cables, microchips etc with a few words of additional infos. It's not to be seen as a technical reference but as a work of art, revealing the hidden beauty slumbering inside everything carrying electrons around you. Until now, every friend of mine has been fascinated about it, regardless of technical background. I loved it so much, I couldn't resist gifting a second one to my former teacher to present his students in class :) This book is pure gold!
“I really like the Description and Pictures in the book…”
Basic information presented in a very nice and interesting way. Easy to read and appreciate
“You will never look at the humble USB or HDMI cable the same again :)”
“It actually shows you what the circuits and the individual components look like inside.”
“This book is a treasure trove for any techie minded person…”
“If you are interested in electronics… this book is absolutely fascinating.”
Resistors, capacitors, inductors, transformers. Diodes, LEDs, transistors, integrated circuits. Switches, relays, stepper motors, speakers. USB cables, headphone jacks, coax and ribbon. Nixie tubes and core memory. Each one opened up and accounted for.
Resistors, capacitors, inductors, transformers. Diodes, LEDs, transistors, integrated circuits. Switches, relays, stepper motors, speakers. USB cables, headphone jacks, coax and ribbon. Nixie tubes and core memory. Each one opened up and accounted for.
It moves from the simplest two-terminal parts through to whole assemblies, so it reads straight through as well as it works as a shelf reference.
This is built as a photography book, which is the point — the images carry the argument, so the printing and the paper matter. Good on a workbench, better on a table.