An Interesting Book on the History of Electronics

I came across a book well worth reading for anyone with an interest in
electronics. The title is "Much Ado About Almost Nothing" and it is a
history of electricity and electronics, following the path of the electron
(which is the "almost nothing" in the title).

The book is full of light-hearted portraits of inventors and discoverers. I
always wondered who Ohm was, or Henry, or any of the people whose names we
use. I was particularly intrigued to find out what a strange character Tesla
was.

I was also impressed how the author makes the principles easy to understand.
This book could be given to a high-school student and, after reading it, he
or she would know how a transistor or a relay works.

The name of the author is Hans Camenzind and the book is sold through Barnes
& Noble and Amazon on the internet. There is a web-site which describes it:
<http://www.historyofelectronics.com/>.

Dr. Marcel Brodmann

 

For those who aren't aware of it, Hans Camenzind is the designer of the 555
timer/astable IC that was sold by the millions... and is still popular today
in many applications. (The folks over at sci.electrnoics.design like to argue
about whether or not "real designers" use 555s...)