Martin Foster
Electrical engineering explained from the ground up, starting with what electric charge actually is and ending with how a national grid balances supply and demand every second. No technical background needed to begin, and no memorized formulas you can’t apply at the end. The chapters are ordered so each idea rests on the one before it. Math appears only where it earns its place. Every chapter closes with review/discussion questions, and worked answers to many of them sit in the back so you can check your reasoning against the page. Ten chapters, built in sequence: - Charge, voltage, current, resistance, and Ohm’s law, plus the SI units and engineering notation that appear on every datasheet you will ever read - DC analysis: series and parallel networks, Kirchhoff’s laws, node-voltage and mesh-current methods, Thevenin and Norton equivalents, superposition - Alternating current, RMS values, phasors, and complex impedance, including why a factory gets billed for electricity it never really used - Electrostatic and magnetic fields, Faraday’s law of induction, and Maxwell’s equations - Semiconductor doping and PN junctions, diodes, bipolar transistors, MOSFETs, operational amplifiers, negative feedback, SPICE simulation, and board layout - Digital logic from Boolean algebra and Karnaugh maps through flip-flops, counters, finite state machines, memory architectures, and data conversion - Signals and systems: convolution, Fourier series, Laplace and Z-transforms, sampling and aliasing, the Nyquist criterion, and the fast Fourier transform - Feedback control with block diagram reduction, root locus, Bode and Nyquist stability, PID tuning, sensors, and noise rejection - Three-phase systems, transformers, induction motors, synchronous generators, converter topologies, protective relaying, arc flash hazards, and National Electrical Code grounding - Microcontrollers, embedded firmware, antennas and wireless links, solar generation, battery storage, and electric vehicle powertrains Written for: - Students in a first circuits course who want a second explanation that lands - Technicians and electricians who want the theory behind work their hands already know - Hobbyists building electronics projects on weekends who want the reasoning behind the parts - Anyone moving into an electrical role from a different job The back matter carries a historical timeline of the field, a glossary of key terms, worked responses to end-of-chapter questions, works cited, and recommended readings for going deeper on any chapter that grabs you. The core of this subject is old and stable. Ohm published his law in 1827, Maxwell wrote his equations in the 1860s, and the transistor arrived in 1947. Learn the rules underneath and you will follow the next battery announcement, grid upgrade, or faster chip on your own terms rather than taking someone’s word for it.
