Reference Sources
234 Chapter 5
Books
Yes, you do need books. As you’re already reading this one, I won’t recommend
other beginners’ guides. Instead, in keeping with the orientation of this chap-
ter, I’ll suggest some titles that will take you farther in various directions, and
can be used for reference. I own all of these myself, and find them valuable:
Practical Electronics for Inventors, by Paul Scherz (McGraw-Hill, Second Edition,
2007)
This is a massive, comprehensive book, well worth the $40 cover price.
Despite its title, you won’t need to invent anything to find it useful. It’s my
primary reference source, covering a wide range of concepts, from the
basic properties of resistors and capacitors all the way to some fairly high-
end math. If you buy only one book (in addition to this one, of course!),
this would be my recommendation.
Getting Started with Arduino, by Massimo Banzi (Make: Books, 2009)
If you enjoy the simplicity and convenience of the PICAXE programmable
microcontroller that I describe later in this chapter, you’ll find that the
Arduino can do a lot more. Getting Started is the simplest introduction
around, and will help to familiarize you with the Processing language
used in Arduino (similar to the C language, not much like the version of
BASIC used by the PICAXE).
Making Things Talk, by Tom Igoe (Make: Books, 2007)
This ambitious and comprehensive volume shows how to make the most
of the Arduino’s ability to communicate with its environment, even get-
ting it to access sites on the Internet.
TTL Cookbook, by Don Lancaster (Howard W. Sams & Co, 1974)
The 1974 copyright date is not a misprint! You may be able to find some
later editions, but whichever one you buy, it will be secondhand and pos-
sibly expensive, as this title now has collectible value. Lancaster wrote his
guide before the 7400 series of chips was emulated on a pin-for-pin basis
by CMOS versions, but it’s still a good reference, because the concepts and
part numbers haven’t changed, and his writing is so accurate and concise.
CMOS Sourcebook, by Newton C. Braga (Sams Technical Publishing, 2001)
This book is entirely devoted to the 4000 series of CMOS chips, not the
74HC00 series that I’ve dealt with primarily here. The 4000 series is older
and must be handled more carefully, because it’s more vulnerable to stat-
ic electricity than the generations that came later. Still, the chips remain
widely available, and their great advantage is their willingness to tolerate
a wide voltage range, typically from 5 to 15 volts. This means you can set
up a 12-volt circuit that drives a 555 timer, and use output from the timer
to go straight into CMOS chips (for example). The book is well organized
in three sections: CMOS basics, functional diagrams (showing pinouts for
all the main chips), and simple circuits showing how to make the chips
perform basic functions.