>Electronics for Magicians by Jon Thompson
At The Amazing Meeting Seven this year there was a fascinating presentation by Steve Bauer who talked about winding up the estate of Jerry Andrus and in particular the incredible and eccentric inventions and gizmos found in the Andrus house, called the Castle of Chaos. I like to think Jon Thompson has a similar gaff, filled with electronic bits and bobs, and the air heavy with the smell of melting solder. That’s how an inventor’s place should be like.
Now I haven’t played with electronics for many years. In fact my soldering iron is gathering dust on the shelf and my bags of resistors, transistors and capacitors are lost in the Narnian depths at the back of a wardrobe somewhere. However, after reading Electronics for Magicians I’m going to dig all my old kit out.
This ebook is excellent for people new to electronics and people who know the pain that a burn from soldering iron can give. It provides perhaps the clearest introduction to the world of electronics I have read for a long time (So clear that I am considering buying a couple more copies and ‘censoring’ the magic out them and giving them to a couple of technical theatre students of mine.)
Components, circuits and the possibilities for magicians are explained in good depth and plenty of ideas are given as to how to use them in practice. A couple of projects are given, but as Chapter Seven suggests the key here is your creativity in using the electronics to your own ends. I’m certainly inspired to make, create and invent.
http://stores.lulu.com/booksbytomo
Recommended.
