April 27, 2026
Electric Circuits 12th Edition
All About Circuits: Lessons in Electric Circuits (Original)
Jim Fiore’s Free Online Textbooks
Analog.com’s Educational Courses
Analog Devices Electronics I & II
6.002 Circuits and Electronics (First EE Class)
6.011 Signals, Systems and Inference
6.012 Microelectronic Devices and Circuits
MIT 8.02x Electricity and Magnetism
ECE 110 - Intro to Electronics
Engineers are bibliography consultant machines. You must have developed some understanding based on your basic uses but the key is to being able to Google and understand concepts that you don’t remember.
For your example, let’s say you don’t remember what a resistor is. You should be able to google it and remember easily, that is the most important ability.
Kind of agree, brains are for coming up with ideas not for storing them. Memory is pretty bad most of the time. The critical thinking aspect of engineering is more important than rote memorization. Its ok to need to look stuff up but you should have enough understanding that you know what you need to look up. #### On Resources
From Basics of EE:
I recommend community college professor Jim Fiore’s free textbooks linked at the top. The first one is where you would start - in DC circuits. It’s comparable to what I studied at four year EE. If you really want to learn the basics, you can’t skip past all the exercises. I particularly like his writing for Semiconductor devices: diodes and transistors. Up to you do to the lab work.
Mathematician is convenient. Lots of linear algebra about to come at you and 1st order diff equ at the end of DC.
DigiKey, Mouser, Newark (Element 14). I’ve ordered from all 3. I’d add Jameco. These are official distributors who only sell legit (not counterfeit or salvaged) parts. Jameco is the budget end. These are the main outlets that electronic professionals buy from. I’ve bought Adafruit products from DigiKey and Mouser versus use their store.
I’ve also ordered from Vetco Electronics and (edit, forgot) Addicore. They’re more hobbyist-friendly with smaller selections and have generic brands. I was able to add something I forgot the next day to my Vetco order and Addicore called me to ask how I wanted the speaker wire cut. My play around parts and chips come from them, plus the only place I found TO-220 heatsinks with screw and washer!
My EE department uses Electronix Express for student kits last I checked.
I haven’t ordered from LCSC but it’s a legit shop for Chinese brands you probably haven’t heard of that are decent.
Breadboards and jumpers I ordered and use: - 2390-point nice breadboard + jumper wire kit I ordered for $30 that costs less today. - 400-point breadboard + jumper wire kit I ordered for $10.95. - 200-point mini breadboard I think I ordered two from Vetco for $2.79 apiece. - 4 inch (10 cm) long jumpers thicker than the above breadboard jumpers in packs of 40 for $2.20 apiece. I hate cutting wire, I got better things to do.
AliExpress, Amazon, eBay…it gets dicey. I order passive adapters like USB-A to USB-C, 5.5x2.1mm power barrels, video game cables, BNC cables and adapters, LED variety pack, stuff that official distributors don’t mess with or I don’t need in quality form. Not logic gates, transistors, capacitors or chips.