Out in Front: December 21, 1995

If you read EDN, you’re no doubt familiar with Jim Williams. When he isn’t busy solving unusual analog-circuit problems for customers of his employer, Linear Technology, he’s sharing what he’s learned with readers of magazines such as EDN. Williams is a rare bird—an EE who loves electronics, design, and writing. He writes lucidly and in a way that evidences a passion for his subject. Now, Williams adds to that list of accomplishments the editing of another book in EDN’s Series for Design Engineers. The book, The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design, follows up the first book Williams edited, Analog Circuit Design -- Art, Science, and Personalities.

The new book shows that in electronics publishing, unlike in Hollywood, the sequel can be just as good as the original, and, in some ways, better. Like the first book, this book (ISBN: 0-7506-9595-6, $49.95) is not a text or a reference work, although several chapters do provide the kind of information on designing circuits that you might expect to find in a textbook. But, more often, this 398-pg book provides hours of real enjoyment as well as a look into the minds—and hearts—of some bright and capable engineers.

For example, Barry Harvey, a designer at Elantec, describes "how to grow strong, healthy engineers" in his chapter of the same name. The late Richard P Feynman, who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II, contributed another fascinating and funny chapter, entitled "Cargo Cult Science," covering topics as diverse as mysticism, Esalen’s hot springs, and rat-maze experiments.

Other chapters include "Signal Conditioning in Oscilloscopes and the Spirit of Invention," by Steve Roach, a designer at Hewlett-Packard; "Analog Breadboarding" by James Bryant, head of European applications at Analog Devices; and "Moore’s Law" by Eric Swanson, vice president of technology at Crystal Semiconductor. Williams himself offers three chapters, which previously appeared in EDN: "The Importance of Fixing," which illustrates that broken-but-well-designed equipment is a great teacher; "There’s No Place Like Home," which extols the virtues of a home lab; and "Tripping the Light Fantastic," which asks and answers the "what-is-a-good-circuit?" question.

That these authors share the analog-circuit-design calling may have something to do with their approach to problem solving. Analog designers live in a world more obviously constrained by the laws of physics than are the worlds of, say, digital designers or software engineers. Because of that reality, analog designers—good ones, anyhow—may develop more humility than do their counterparts in other areas of electronics. The same reality can also make analog designers more philosophical and emotional. At heart, though, the authors are EEs, not idle tinkerers, and their passion for tangible results shows in their writing. -- by Dan Strassberg

Butterworth-Heinemann, Newton, MA. (617) 928-2500.