Principles of Electronic Instrumentation

I'm not sure why there are so many poor reviews of this book. I used the 2nd edition years ago and liked it - this 3rd edition continues to be very good. It's approach is simple, clear & direct. The math is mostly algebra & trigonometry based with a bit of calculus thrown in here and there. This makes it very approachable especially if you don't have much experience with electronics. It's much clearer than Brophy ever was and more detailed than Faissler's book (Introduction to Modern Electronics). I find many university level intro electronics books don't give enough motivation i.e. how you actually use the stuff. Electronics is, after all, an intensely PRACTICAL subject. This book throughout shows you where and how it relates to scientific applications. Chapter 7 on transducers and chapter 15 on noise are good intros to these areas in this regard. dislikes: 30% (170/577 pages) of book is devoted to datasheets. Why I don't know. In every intro electronics course I've seen datasheets are rarely used. And just how likely is it that you'll need the ones in this book? - usually you'll need sheets for some oddball component in the lab portion of a course. These pages are a waste and should have been devoted to something else. It should also have had end-of-chapter references for more advanced books. Glossary would have been nice too. ---------------------- if you want a more rigorous intro book use "Principles of Electronics: Analog and Digital" by Lloyd R. Fortney. If you want more info on transducers, practical building and noise reduction techniques look at 1) "Electronics and Instrumentation for Scientists" by Malmstadt/Enke/Crouch, 2) "Measurement and Instrumentation Principles" 3rd Edition by Alan S. Morris, 3) "Signal Recovery from Noise in Electronic Instrumentation" by T.H. Wilmshurst, 4) "Electronic Instrument Handbook" by Clyde F. Coombs and 5) "Building Scientific Apparatus" by Moore/Davis/Coplan

The text is exceptionally well organized, and does a marvelous job of covering a complex and rapidly changing field for the uninitiated. It is, however, sorely in need of a good proofreading by someone who knows the material. The difference between "R2/R1 + 2R2" and the correct "R2/(R1+2R2)" (P.227) could drive a student to drink. A table comparing octal and decimal numbers has the heading switched (P.253), reference is made to negative temperatures - in Kelvin! - and so forth. This really interferes with the learning process (I got an A, by the way).

Hey man, it's José. Brian is the author man; he's a genius. This book was one of the most comprehensive reviews of electronic instrumentation that I have ever read.The diagrams were beautiful, and the lectures informative. The solutions, while often inaccurate, provide for healthy classroom discussion. Holton definitely knew what he was doing when he did that. You couldn't fool me Brian! Anyway, I recommend this book to any teacher. ¡Cinco estrellas! ¡Olé!

I am a high-school level science teacher and I find this book exceptionally covers the topic at hand.

This book is an outstanding synopsis of the information needed to accurately research electronic instrumentation.