There Are No Electrons: Electronic for Earthlings

by Kenn Amdahl

Book Overview

An off-beat introduction to the workings of electricity for people who wish Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut had teamed up to explain inductance and capacitance to them. Despite its title, it's not wild ranting pseudo-science to be dismissed by those with brains. Rather, Amdahl maintains that one need not understand quantum physics to grasp how electricity works in practical applications. To understand your toaster or your fax machine, it doesn't...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962781592
• ISBN13: 9780962781599
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Clearwater Publishing Company, Incorporated
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Amdahl deserves a teaching award.

I just recently finished reading this book. The motivation for reading this book was, ofcourse, to learn electronics, both analog and digital, and to ultimately be able to build out ideas that I have floating in my head for the last several years.The cover of this book caught my eye, and flipping through the pages, I could tell the book was definitely not dry. But was it good? I looked up some of the reviews and all of them were positive from some more reputable sources: National Public Radio/ Car Audio and Electronics / Science News / Radio Electronics Magazine. So I decided to purchase the book.This book introduces basic concepts of eletronics by use of analogies; imagery of little green men, chickens, and magicians to get his points across. Amdahl was impressed that his children could comprehend the entire Star Wars universe after watching the movie for 2 hours, and he figures he could do the same with electronics.Usually the format goes, introduce a theory with the usual electron jargon, translate the jargon into a story about Greenies who want to party. Repeat a few times, then review the last few sections with a story about Greenies and electron jargon.The concepts learned are pretty basic. It doesn't get into much detail, or formulas except for the two basic ones where a component is in series versus in parallel. Semi-conductors are covered.The stories themselves are somewhat entertaining. And they help you *some what* remember the concepts you learned. Amdahl has borrowed a concept used by mnemonics.However, the stories can be quite long. Some sections have five pages worth of stories to go through, and none of it has to do with electronics, or analogies. Just pure entertainment. I'd rather he just make analogies, and keep the narrative to the minimal. Remember, the more unusual, the better remembered, and to have a long narrative in a story helps make the bizarre imagery rational, thus losing it unusualness.The stories themselves with the electronics makes this book -for me- worth 3 stars. What makes this book worth five stars is the following.The book got me over my 'procrastination' hump and into learning electronics. I also liked the analogies and at times Amdahl pretty much comes out and says there are no really good analogies to electronics and everyday life. You'd be foolish to think that the dry textbooks know it all, and he gives some examples of how explanations in textbooks don't really make sense.That's a big thing, because having forgotten the electronics I learned in highschool, I do remember knowing the rules and how to apply them, but feeling quite anxious about not understanding. which I felt hindered my remembering the subject. Remember, whatever the textbooks or physicists come up with, it is only a model of reality, a mental construct, which just so happens to be the best at the time, but can change.I also liked the homemade gadgetry he introduces to people which I see lacking in many textbooks on the

Seeing electricity from the perspective of the electrons

Computers, in 2003, have combined many features of low-level electronics, radio, basic electricity, and electromagnetism. Understanding what's inside the box, and even many of the system components that come with a new computer, depends on having some sort of knowledge of things like transistors and capacitors. What's the difference between SRAM and SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM, and RDRAM? Until recently, I thought electricity "flowed" from positive to negative. When I learned it was the opposite, I wondered about everything else I'd learned. This book is one of the few outside of histories of Nikla Tesla that really speaks to the foundation of our knowledge of electricity. Using an ongoing model where electrons are "greenies," Amdahl creates a combination of science-fiction, and swords and sorcery to lead us into the microcosmic world of particle physics, magnetism, and how the two intertwine.I thought it was a great book, easy to read, and filled with humor. Sometimes the humor had so many twists and turns it became fairly insane; but how often does a science textbook ever really capture our imagination as "just a plain book to read?"There are lots of highly complicated books about electricity, but few of them define the fundamental concepts in such a way as to make them memorable. Amdahl's book reminds me of the "For Dummies" series of computer books, particularly the early ones. Many times he mentions technical jargon or certain formulas, but then goes on to tell us not to worry about learning them. Oddly enough, by the end of the book, you've learned them anyway.

So That's How It Works!

I'm a Professional Engineer with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and 15 years experience in the field. As a result, I was living under the delusional assumption that electronics had something to do with electrons. Fortunate for me, Ken came along and set me free of this silly idea. After all those years of math, physics, and chemistry, I've never been very comfortable with electric shock therapy, or electricity in general. Ken's book has changed my outlook entirely. Now I get up in the morning and can't wait to turn on all the electrical gadgets in my house. I recommend this book to anyone trying to understand electrical theory. Ken's book is entertaining and very memorable. He takes one of the most complex topics in modern science and reduces it down to a level that even an engineer like me can understand.... Now that's an accomplishment!

Dump your college text and read this first

I read this book after struggling through my first semester of Electricity and Magnetism as a college freshman. It provies an excellent conceptual primer that leaves the reader with an intuitive feel for how E & M works.

thank god for kenn amdahl.....

.....for without him i would still be wandering around in the dark, and probably hurt myself with my ignorance. I just finished reading this book (in the course of less than a day, I might add) and felt a desperate need to log on and tell the world what I've discovered. Here it is; are you Ready? there is an absolute genius named Kenn Amdahl who wrote this book that any sixth grader could understand with ease (heck, most fourth graders will probably get it too) but is chock full of info that very few people (of any age) will ever know. For Anyone who wants to know how electricity works and what all those little random bits of plastic inside your walkman are and how they preform their mysterious tricks, you have to have this book. I have never ever enjoyed learning something so much in my life. I couldn't put this book down! (I finally couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and had to get up in six hours for work; nothing else could stop me!) truly useful knowledge was never this much fun! you could read this book just for kicks even if you didn't care about electronics. If teachers learned how to communicate like this, kids would be Begging to go to school and not come home until six or seven at night. and while you're throughly enjoying yourself you will all of a sudden realize that you know, understand, and can even apply all that nonsense that you've been trying to grind out of hundred dollar textbooks. You have no idea at all what a deal this is! ) for anyone who wants to learn how it all works, or already knows but still doesn't get it, this book is hope. Amdahl coaxes the genie out of the bottle, ties him to a table makes him tell you how all the magic actually happens. I don't trust reviews any more than you do, and it usually take seeing five or six of them that all sound about the same, and all sound reasonably sane (to some degreee at least) before i'll start to believe the opinion of people i don't know. I hope this review is number five or six for you, because this book deserves to have songs written about it. Please, Please take the risk and get the book. I Promise you won't be dissapointed. (you'll be too busy laughing at silly metaphors and understanding complex and abstract concepts)