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Make: Electronics: Learning by Discovery: A hands-on primer for the new electronics enthusiast

Description:

The first edition of Make: Electronics established a new benchmark for introductory texts. The second edition enhanced that experience, and now this third edition includes all-new diagrams throughout, new photographs, and completely rewritten text.

Learning by Discovery is a system developed by Charles Platt to enable an experience that is fascinating, fun, and memorable. You learn by building your own circuits--and by making your own mistakes.

In fact, mistakes are an important part of the experience. The book encourages you to "burn things out and mess things up" to find out for yourself the limits of electronic components. You'll blow a fuse and watch an overloaded LED, and you can cut open a relay to see how it works inside.

Affordable
Component Kits are available from independent suppliers (on Amazon), or the book explains how to shop online yourself.

Illustrations are in
full color throughout, so you'll see exactly what you need and how to use it.

While
Make: Electronics minimizes the amount of theory that you need, it does show you how to figure out Ohm's Law and do the simple math to calculate the time constant of a capacitor.

A buying guide shows basic tools ranging from pliers to a low cost multimeter. A simple "finger test" demonstrates how transistors switch or amplify current. You can solder wires, if you wish, to build a permanent circuit, although soldering is not necessary to build all the circuits in the book.

You'll see how to use integrated circuit chips to create a simple circuit that tests the speed of your reflexes. Other circuits include a combination lock for a computer, or a game in which players compete to be the first to press a button. 

All the basic concepts are demonstrated quickly and simply with affordable components. You'll discover resistance, capacitance, voltage, amperage, inductance, and the relationship between electricity and magnetism.

Ideal for Beginners

This book assumes that you have no prior knowledge. It explains each concept in meticulous detail, and is friendly, patient, and fun. Positive reader feedback has been received from people ranging in age from 8 to 84. If you only buy one book about electronics, this should be the one.


Editorial Reviews

Review

Exceptional praise for previous editions:

"This is teaching at its best!" --Hans Camenzind, inventor of the 555 timer (the world's most successful integrated circuit).

"A fabulous book: well written, well paced, fun, and informative. I also love the sense of humor. It's very good at disarming the fear. And it's gorgeous. I'll be recommending this book highly." --Tom Igoe, author of Physical Computing and Making Things Talk.

A
"magnificent and rewarding book. ... Every step of this structured instruction is expertly illustrated with photos and crisp diagrams. . . . This really is the best way to learn." --Kevin Kelly, in Cool Tools.

You may not see many Amazon Customer Reviews yet for the Third Edition. But there are more than a thousand here for the Second Edition:

amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Learning-Through-Discovery/dp/1680450263/ref=sr_1_5

From the Author

When I was a teenager, I wanted to build circuits but didn't know how. I had to spend hours reading technical texts which were not written for hobbyists and were difficult to understand. Make Electronics is the book that I wish I'd been able to read, back then.

Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Beginners Who Know Nothing About Electronics

M. · October 20, 2025

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } I'm new to hobby electronics and this book is great for beginners. Very easy to understand. Each chapter explains how each electronic component works and then has an experiment to actually see how it works. It shows you how to build each circuit using an easy to understand wiring illustration along with a schematic so you learn how to read and understand schematics. The book also has a list of what you need for each experiment along with a list of suppliers to purchase your components from. This book reminds me of a text book you may see in a basic electronics lab course in school.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book - but exp 17 feels half-baked

J. · July 31, 2025

Excellent book. I took electronics in high school but wanted a refresher - and overall wish I'd listened better. :-)Platt's approach and writing style are excellent. There are a couple mistakes in the book so it is worthwhile to check out the Errata on the O'Reilly web page for the book.My only criticism is that Experiment 17 (Intrusion Alarm), while good practice and theory, is actually quite a lot of effort for a very underwhelming result. It's left to the reader to integrate a tone circuit - on a separate breadboard. You can use something like the single 555 tone in experiment 16 or a transistor version such as experiment 11. The information is all in the book to do this, but there's a bit of a handwave on this in experiment 17. ("Add audio output here")And even having done that, you are totally on your own for sensors or stand-ins for the sensors. The kits for the book don't include any reed sensors. And if you purchased the parts kits, you only have one 555 beyond the three needed for exp 17 and just a single breadboard.Additionally, to see this project all the way through, you need at least a stripboard style perf board - again, not included in the kits. (I realize the author doesn't create the kits, but he mentions that these optional parts won't be included so it wasn't an unknown.)I mean, you don't HAVE to solder it. And you can use push buttons to stand in for sensors, and you can figure out the audio alarm part, possibly using the lower part of the perf board...but this project stands out as sort of the least complete and ready to go end-to-end project in the book.To be honest, even if he'd said "I'm leaving out a few details that you should be able to figure out at this point" (which is true) would make it "fit" more in the spirit of the book.To be fair to this project, I do appreciate the sort of conversational "working it out" process that we see, as if we are just in the room with Platt as he works through it. That's great stuff.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Clarity, Illustrations & Teaching By Charles Platt - This is the Starting Book you want!

M.R. · February 11, 2024

For many years I have been interested in learning electronics, and I have purchased what feels like over a dozen different books, kits or online courses. The material in nearly all of them were written by engineers and it felt like for engineers. Just could not get into them. Additionally, many of the other kits and courses force your to learn Arduios, which I am not against at a future date, but for right now, I want to understand the basics of schematics and working with breadboards. I want to learn the components, what they do and how to plan to use them. I want instruction using a basic multi-meter. Happy to learn about Arduino's later. Just not what I am still wrapping my mind around the basics.Determined, I decided to just start buying all of the beginner books out there until I found an instructor whose style resonated with me. THIS IS THE BOOK! Just WOW! Such clarity and simplicity to understand. Charles Platt clearly understands how to take a complex subject matter and make it palpable for a beginner like me. That is also not to say his understanding is surface level, he has a very DEEP understanding of electronics and has many additional books on the subject.Suffice it to say, I study his book EVERY MORNING now and am LOVING it. There are some things I need to re-read, but I definitely am having much more success with Make:Electronics 3rd Edition. (Always get the latest editions!)Also, there is an electronics component kit that comes with this book. I highly, HIGHLY recommend getting this kit as well, so you can physically create the breadboards and learn hands on as you go. You will be at a huge learning disadvantage if you do not do these experiments.Thank you Charles Platt! As a teacher myself, I appreciate the effort you have taken to make this difficult subject matter so accessible- I appreciate you!

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, Hands-on, Intro to Electronics!

P.L. · August 19, 2025

This book is absolutely OUTSTANDING for learning basic electronics. Clear theory, dozens of experiments to put theory into practice, and the author is a legend! GET THIS BOOK! You will never go back.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good resource book on electronics

C. · August 30, 2025

Excellent book easy to read and learn great photos and examples well documented and written look forward to his next book

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for beginning electronic students

D.M. · August 11, 2025

Perfect book for beginners and experience electronic enthusiasts. It is very easy to read and understand. The illustrations. and diagrams are very easy to understand.I would recommend this for beginners who want to learn and understand electronics.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro/tutorial book.

J.R. · September 30, 2025

A great tutorial to get the novice started creating little electronics projects. Explains electricity basics and recommends tools to include in your kit. Highly recommended!

easy to read

K.C. · February 13, 2023

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } being a person with little knowledge of electricity and components .The way that Charlse Platt has written so that a person like me begins to have an understanding of how electricity and electrolytic components work.

Everything is good

I. · January 8, 2025

I haven't start to read yet. Quality of the book is good

Burn Thinfs Out , Mess Things Up ; That's How You Learn

D.C. · October 23, 2023

Good Book, Learn a lot in just a few days of reading through. The best way to learn is with a component and test it together while reading the book. Instructions and components needed are clearly stated. Auture left out the math so that you could do research and figure it out yourself.

Simples sem ser inútil.

J.M. · October 6, 2024

Bem sequenciado, bem diagramado, fácil de entender.

Excellent book

L. · November 13, 2024

The author is easy to read, explains things clearly and answers all the questions that would naturally come to mind as you read. You can feel the author's passion for the topic, which makes it a joy to go along for the ride.I have some experience in electronics but it's been 15 years since I touched a resistor or capacitor. I worried that this book might be too 'novice' for me, but because it is written and presented so well, that hasn't been an issue. With any topic, going back to basics with someone more knowledgeable than you will always teach you things you had forgotten or never knew, and that is exactly what this book delivers for me.

Make: Electronics: Learning by Discovery: A hands-on primer for the new electronics enthusiast

Product ID: U1680456873
Condition: New

4.8

AED14834

Price includes VAT & Import Duties
Type: Paperback
Availability: In Stock

Quantity:

|

Order today to get by 7-14 business days

Delivery fee of AED 20. Free for orders above AED 200.

Returns & Warranty policies

Imported From: United States

At BOLO, we work hard to ensure the products you receive are new, genuine, and sourced from reputable suppliers.

BOLO is not an authorized or official retailer for most brands, nor are we affiliated with manufacturers unless specifically stated on a product page. Instead, we source verified sellers, authorized distributors or directly from the manufacturer.

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If you ever have concerns regarding the authenticity of a product purchased from us, please contact Bolo Support. We will review your inquiry promptly and, if necessary, provide documentation verifying authenticity or offer a suitable resolution.

Your trust is our top priority, and we are committed to maintaining transparency and integrity in every transaction.

All product information, images, descriptions, and reviews originate from the manufacturer or from trusted sellers overseas. BOLO is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an authorized retailer for most brands listed on our website unless stated otherwise.

While we strive to display accurate information, variations in packaging, labeling, instructions, or formulation may occasionally occur due to regional differences or supplier updates. For detailed or manufacturer-specific information, please contact the brand directly or reach out to BOLO Support for assistance.

Unless otherwise stated, all prices displayed on the product page include applicable taxes and import duties.

BOLO operates in accordance with the laws and regulations of United Arab Emirates. Any items found to be restricted or prohibited for sale within the UAE will be cancelled prior to shipment. We take proactive measures to ensure that only products permitted for sale in United Arab Emirates are listed on our website.

All items are shipped by air, and any products classified as “Dangerous Goods (DG)” under IATA regulations will be removed from the order and cancelled.

All orders are processed manually, and we make every effort to process them promptly once confirmed. Products cancelled due to the above reasons will be permanently removed from listings across the website.

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Make: Electronics: Learning by Discovery: A hands-on primer for the new electronics enthusiast

Product ID: U1680456873
Condition: New

4.8

Make: Electronics: Learning by Discovery: A hands-on primer for the new electronics enthusiast-0
Type: Paperback

AED14834

Price includes VAT & Import Duties
Availability: In Stock

Quantity:

|

Order today to get by 7-14 business days

Delivery fee of AED 20. Free for orders above AED 200.

Returns & Warranty policies

Imported From: United States

At BOLO, we work hard to ensure the products you receive are new, genuine, and sourced from reputable suppliers.

BOLO is not an authorized or official retailer for most brands, nor are we affiliated with manufacturers unless specifically stated on a product page. Instead, we source verified sellers, authorized distributors or directly from the manufacturer.

Each product undergoes thorough inspection and verification at our consolidation and fulfilment centers to ensure it meets our strict authenticity and quality standards before being shipped and delivered to you.

If you ever have concerns regarding the authenticity of a product purchased from us, please contact Bolo Support. We will review your inquiry promptly and, if necessary, provide documentation verifying authenticity or offer a suitable resolution.

Your trust is our top priority, and we are committed to maintaining transparency and integrity in every transaction.

All product information, images, descriptions, and reviews originate from the manufacturer or from trusted sellers overseas. BOLO is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an authorized retailer for most brands listed on our website unless stated otherwise.

While we strive to display accurate information, variations in packaging, labeling, instructions, or formulation may occasionally occur due to regional differences or supplier updates. For detailed or manufacturer-specific information, please contact the brand directly or reach out to BOLO Support for assistance.

Unless otherwise stated, all prices displayed on the product page include applicable taxes and import duties.

BOLO operates in accordance with the laws and regulations of United Arab Emirates. Any items found to be restricted or prohibited for sale within the UAE will be cancelled prior to shipment. We take proactive measures to ensure that only products permitted for sale in United Arab Emirates are listed on our website.

All items are shipped by air, and any products classified as “Dangerous Goods (DG)” under IATA regulations will be removed from the order and cancelled.

All orders are processed manually, and we make every effort to process them promptly once confirmed. Products cancelled due to the above reasons will be permanently removed from listings across the website.

Description:

The first edition of Make: Electronics established a new benchmark for introductory texts. The second edition enhanced that experience, and now this third edition includes all-new diagrams throughout, new photographs, and completely rewritten text.

Learning by Discovery is a system developed by Charles Platt to enable an experience that is fascinating, fun, and memorable. You learn by building your own circuits--and by making your own mistakes.

In fact, mistakes are an important part of the experience. The book encourages you to "burn things out and mess things up" to find out for yourself the limits of electronic components. You'll blow a fuse and watch an overloaded LED, and you can cut open a relay to see how it works inside.

Affordable
Component Kits are available from independent suppliers (on Amazon), or the book explains how to shop online yourself.

Illustrations are in
full color throughout, so you'll see exactly what you need and how to use it.

While
Make: Electronics minimizes the amount of theory that you need, it does show you how to figure out Ohm's Law and do the simple math to calculate the time constant of a capacitor.

A buying guide shows basic tools ranging from pliers to a low cost multimeter. A simple "finger test" demonstrates how transistors switch or amplify current. You can solder wires, if you wish, to build a permanent circuit, although soldering is not necessary to build all the circuits in the book.

You'll see how to use integrated circuit chips to create a simple circuit that tests the speed of your reflexes. Other circuits include a combination lock for a computer, or a game in which players compete to be the first to press a button. 

All the basic concepts are demonstrated quickly and simply with affordable components. You'll discover resistance, capacitance, voltage, amperage, inductance, and the relationship between electricity and magnetism.

Ideal for Beginners

This book assumes that you have no prior knowledge. It explains each concept in meticulous detail, and is friendly, patient, and fun. Positive reader feedback has been received from people ranging in age from 8 to 84. If you only buy one book about electronics, this should be the one.


Editorial Reviews

Review

Exceptional praise for previous editions:

"This is teaching at its best!" --Hans Camenzind, inventor of the 555 timer (the world's most successful integrated circuit).

"A fabulous book: well written, well paced, fun, and informative. I also love the sense of humor. It's very good at disarming the fear. And it's gorgeous. I'll be recommending this book highly." --Tom Igoe, author of Physical Computing and Making Things Talk.

A
"magnificent and rewarding book. ... Every step of this structured instruction is expertly illustrated with photos and crisp diagrams. . . . This really is the best way to learn." --Kevin Kelly, in Cool Tools.

You may not see many Amazon Customer Reviews yet for the Third Edition. But there are more than a thousand here for the Second Edition:

amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Learning-Through-Discovery/dp/1680450263/ref=sr_1_5

From the Author

When I was a teenager, I wanted to build circuits but didn't know how. I had to spend hours reading technical texts which were not written for hobbyists and were difficult to understand. Make Electronics is the book that I wish I'd been able to read, back then.

Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Beginners Who Know Nothing About Electronics

M. · October 20, 2025

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } I'm new to hobby electronics and this book is great for beginners. Very easy to understand. Each chapter explains how each electronic component works and then has an experiment to actually see how it works. It shows you how to build each circuit using an easy to understand wiring illustration along with a schematic so you learn how to read and understand schematics. The book also has a list of what you need for each experiment along with a list of suppliers to purchase your components from. This book reminds me of a text book you may see in a basic electronics lab course in school.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book - but exp 17 feels half-baked

J. · July 31, 2025

Excellent book. I took electronics in high school but wanted a refresher - and overall wish I'd listened better. :-)Platt's approach and writing style are excellent. There are a couple mistakes in the book so it is worthwhile to check out the Errata on the O'Reilly web page for the book.My only criticism is that Experiment 17 (Intrusion Alarm), while good practice and theory, is actually quite a lot of effort for a very underwhelming result. It's left to the reader to integrate a tone circuit - on a separate breadboard. You can use something like the single 555 tone in experiment 16 or a transistor version such as experiment 11. The information is all in the book to do this, but there's a bit of a handwave on this in experiment 17. ("Add audio output here")And even having done that, you are totally on your own for sensors or stand-ins for the sensors. The kits for the book don't include any reed sensors. And if you purchased the parts kits, you only have one 555 beyond the three needed for exp 17 and just a single breadboard.Additionally, to see this project all the way through, you need at least a stripboard style perf board - again, not included in the kits. (I realize the author doesn't create the kits, but he mentions that these optional parts won't be included so it wasn't an unknown.)I mean, you don't HAVE to solder it. And you can use push buttons to stand in for sensors, and you can figure out the audio alarm part, possibly using the lower part of the perf board...but this project stands out as sort of the least complete and ready to go end-to-end project in the book.To be honest, even if he'd said "I'm leaving out a few details that you should be able to figure out at this point" (which is true) would make it "fit" more in the spirit of the book.To be fair to this project, I do appreciate the sort of conversational "working it out" process that we see, as if we are just in the room with Platt as he works through it. That's great stuff.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Clarity, Illustrations & Teaching By Charles Platt - This is the Starting Book you want!

M.R. · February 11, 2024

For many years I have been interested in learning electronics, and I have purchased what feels like over a dozen different books, kits or online courses. The material in nearly all of them were written by engineers and it felt like for engineers. Just could not get into them. Additionally, many of the other kits and courses force your to learn Arduios, which I am not against at a future date, but for right now, I want to understand the basics of schematics and working with breadboards. I want to learn the components, what they do and how to plan to use them. I want instruction using a basic multi-meter. Happy to learn about Arduino's later. Just not what I am still wrapping my mind around the basics.Determined, I decided to just start buying all of the beginner books out there until I found an instructor whose style resonated with me. THIS IS THE BOOK! Just WOW! Such clarity and simplicity to understand. Charles Platt clearly understands how to take a complex subject matter and make it palpable for a beginner like me. That is also not to say his understanding is surface level, he has a very DEEP understanding of electronics and has many additional books on the subject.Suffice it to say, I study his book EVERY MORNING now and am LOVING it. There are some things I need to re-read, but I definitely am having much more success with Make:Electronics 3rd Edition. (Always get the latest editions!)Also, there is an electronics component kit that comes with this book. I highly, HIGHLY recommend getting this kit as well, so you can physically create the breadboards and learn hands on as you go. You will be at a huge learning disadvantage if you do not do these experiments.Thank you Charles Platt! As a teacher myself, I appreciate the effort you have taken to make this difficult subject matter so accessible- I appreciate you!

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, Hands-on, Intro to Electronics!

P.L. · August 19, 2025

This book is absolutely OUTSTANDING for learning basic electronics. Clear theory, dozens of experiments to put theory into practice, and the author is a legend! GET THIS BOOK! You will never go back.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good resource book on electronics

C. · August 30, 2025

Excellent book easy to read and learn great photos and examples well documented and written look forward to his next book

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for beginning electronic students

D.M. · August 11, 2025

Perfect book for beginners and experience electronic enthusiasts. It is very easy to read and understand. The illustrations. and diagrams are very easy to understand.I would recommend this for beginners who want to learn and understand electronics.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro/tutorial book.

J.R. · September 30, 2025

A great tutorial to get the novice started creating little electronics projects. Explains electricity basics and recommends tools to include in your kit. Highly recommended!

easy to read

K.C. · February 13, 2023

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } being a person with little knowledge of electricity and components .The way that Charlse Platt has written so that a person like me begins to have an understanding of how electricity and electrolytic components work.

Everything is good

I. · January 8, 2025

I haven't start to read yet. Quality of the book is good

Burn Thinfs Out , Mess Things Up ; That's How You Learn

D.C. · October 23, 2023

Good Book, Learn a lot in just a few days of reading through. The best way to learn is with a component and test it together while reading the book. Instructions and components needed are clearly stated. Auture left out the math so that you could do research and figure it out yourself.

Simples sem ser inútil.

J.M. · October 6, 2024

Bem sequenciado, bem diagramado, fácil de entender.

Excellent book

L. · November 13, 2024

The author is easy to read, explains things clearly and answers all the questions that would naturally come to mind as you read. You can feel the author's passion for the topic, which makes it a joy to go along for the ride.I have some experience in electronics but it's been 15 years since I touched a resistor or capacitor. I worried that this book might be too 'novice' for me, but because it is written and presented so well, that hasn't been an issue. With any topic, going back to basics with someone more knowledgeable than you will always teach you things you had forgotten or never knew, and that is exactly what this book delivers for me.

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More from this brand

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