Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components

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While it will definitely be a ‘geek coffee table book’ for me, I would very much have appreciated it when I was 12 years old and first getting into electronics.” This ended up on my radar while I was looking for nonfiction with a good combination of visuals and info. I don't actually know much about electronic components, so I was somewhat reluctant to take the plunge and get this, but then I spotted it on sale and snatched it up, and I'm glad I did. This is the coolest book I've seen in years. Fascinating look inside hundreds of circuits, switches, and mechanical electronic devices that I've never seen before." Inductors typically consist of a coil of insulated wire wrapped around a core of magnetic material like iron or ferrite, a ceramic filled with iron oxide. Current flowing around the core produces a magnetic field that acts as a sort of flywheel for current, smoothing out changes in the current as it flows through the inductor. Inductors are fundamental electronic components that store energy in the form of a magnetic field. They’re used, for example, in some types of power supplies to convert between voltages by alternately storing and releasing energy. This energy-efficient design helps maximize the battery life of cellphones and other portable electronics.

What an awesome book! A rare breed of technical content that is appreciable by experts and novices alike.” This book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in electronics, computer technology, or circuits. Overall, highly recommended if anything about this book piques your interest even the slightest bit. The only downside to this book is the omission of mechanical keyboards, which is a missed opportunity for those (like me) who are interested in learning about the inner workings of these devices - specifically I would have loved to see a switch cross-section.This book is a work of art in its own right, offering readers a close-up look at the intricate details of various circuit boards and components, including a detailed cross-section of popular electronic components. As we have already mentioned we cannot see the Electrical circuits, but they are present in many elements and/or devices that depend on electricity to function. With these books of electrical circuits in PDF format you will have the opportunity to start the path of knowing extensively this subject that is studied in various careers and trades. Eric Schlaepfer was trying to fix a broken piece of test equipment when he came across the cause of the problem—a troubled tantalum capacitor. The component had somehow shorted out, and he wanted to know why. So he polished it down for a look inside. He never found the source of the short, but he and his collaborator, Windell H. Oskay, discovered something even better: a breathtaking hidden world inside electronics. What followed were hours and hours of polishing, cleaning, and photography that resulted in Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components (No Starch Press, 2022), an excerpt of which follows. As the authors write, everything about these components is deliberately designed to meet specific technical needs, but that design leads to “accidental beauty: the emergent aesthetics of things you were never expected to see.”

Stunningly beautiful . . . While the component images stand alone as works of art, authors Schlaepfer and Oskay pair the pictures with clear and informative text that adds to the reader's knowledge of the circuitry they are looking at. This book is sure to be a staple in many makers, educators, and engineers libraries." However, despite this oversight, I mark this book as highly recommended and a resource for anyone interested in the inner beauty of electronic components. Stunningly beautiful . . . While the component images stand alone as works of art, authors Schlaepfer and Oskay pair the pictures with clear and informative text that adds to the reader’s knowledge of the circuitry they are looking at. This book is sure to be a staple in many makers, educators, and engineers libraries.” This book made me fall in love with electronics all over again . . . Part history book, part coffee-table book, and part journey into the inner lives of the electronics, [ Open Circuits] is a fascinating journey through the history of electronics.” I've just finished the early-access PDF, but will try to follow up when the print edition arrives.)Electrical circuits are represented schematically and it is a very relevant step in the creation process, since it is the basis and must be well done. This representation is done on paper or by means of a computer program. What an awesome book! A rare breed of technical content that is appreciable by experts and novices alike."

The authors have done an outstanding job in etching and cleaning up the components, allowing readers to see the intricate details of each component in high-quality photos.This is a visually stunning and highly informative book on the inner workings of electronic components. Even without these risks, the photography itself posed a technical challenge. "One of the basic limitations that you can run into with macro photography is the limited depth of field – only a very narrow slice of the view is in focus at any given time," Windell explains. Our phones, computers, and appliances are made of hundreds of internal components, each precisely engineered to perform a certain function, but none intended to actually be seen. Through painstakingly executed, vividly detailed cross-section photography, Open Circuits reveals the surprising—and often accidental—beauty hiding inside the electronic components that drive our everyday devices.