Basic Electricity

We bought this for our adult daughter who is undertaking the rewiring of her car project. She really likes the book and has learned a lot from it. It has been very helpful to her.

My nephew loves it it helps him at work

I had not started to read this book until recently. I went back to school and one of my required course was an electronics course. The text book we used for class was horrible. It had a lot of basic math mistakes and typos. On top of that I had a bad teacher. I did find this book very helpful in the course. I think it explained things a lot better than my teacher and the text book we used in class did.

This book is PRECISELY what I was looking for. I am aspiring to get a bachelors in Computer Engineering, which is sometimes explained as a bridge between Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. I am taking this Engineering thing EXTREMELY seriously, so I am learning as much on my own before I start school for my Engineering pre-requisites. I've seen one too many books, where there is too much fluff, and not enough stuff. You'll read about useless anecdotes or jokes, and only get about 30% information. EVERYTHING in this book is actual information and does not suffer from that problem. I LOVE the black and white diagrams throughout the book as they illustrate whatever concept is being presented in a simple and precise manner. The ONLY thing I hate though, is that the accompanying text explaining what is going on in the diagram is almost always located on another page necessitating constant page turning, back and forth. Nothing deal breaking, still a great book, but it is an annoyance. And..that's pretty much the only negative about this book. Something about the teaching materials from back then were just more direct and useful. I don't know what's happened in present day, but if I can ever get a book on a subject from this era compared to present, I'm always going to go for the older one. No worries about this book being 'outdated'. Electrical principles have not changed, and all the theories presented here are still valid. Only thing I will mention is that you need all the math up to Calculus to be able to fully utilize this book. Trigonometry and vectors becomes necessary when you get past DC and move onto AC. This may be why some have complained about not understanding the book, and about the book not being basic. I would like counter with the fact that Electrical Engineering is one of the most rigorous engineering disciplines, and for a book to introduce all the important concepts of electricity that it does, there is NO way you can do so without involving some math unless the book is filled with the aforementioned useless jokes and anecodotes. This book is certainly 'basic' when we compare it to a university level textbook used in electrical engineering colleges. Anyways, if you can't tell already, I think this book is awesome. Get it and understand the 'magic' that drives the modern world!

Far more detail than a do-it-yourself homeowner needs. I want to rewire a lamp once every decade. This book tells me how to design an electromagnetic robot (well, not quite, but the detail herein is tremendous). Perfect for a would-be electrician; overkill for the home repairman. Example: I wanted to rewire a lamp, and needed to know the ramifications of wiring the live wire to the wrong set-screw. This book was mute on that point. Difficult to assign stars here: 5 stars for the serious electrician; 3 for the amateur repairman looking for simple guidelines and instruction. .

I assist with an electrical apprentice program. This is a great beginners book and affordable!

My grandson used it for studying and was able to pass his exam.

As expected

Good and easty to read, Thank you.

Although dated, and with a few errors/typos this book is still excellent for learning the subject matter. It may not be the only book that you need but still an invaluable starting point. Consider tracking down those great old Radio Shack books on AC and DC electricity too.

Perfect in all aspects

The 2 things - 1 - It looks like it was written at least 50 years ago, so nothing about semiconductors, transistors etc. 2 - It uses American units - (foot, pounds, and secs) - rather than S.I. units - (metre, kilogram,sec). It appears to be an unrevised reprint of a 1960 era U.S. Navy instructional manual. Apart from that, the explanation of basic theory is thorough, logically presented and superbly illustrated. A/C theory is illustrated by vector drawings (rather than using complex numbers), which I found helpful from a conceptual point of view. The last few chapters cover generators and motors, in detail. Wherever relevant, practical information and tips are provided. All in all, a very good basic primer, and should you have a 60 year old battleship to refurbish, this book could be really helpful.

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