Bebop to the Boolean Boogie: An Unconventional Guide to Electronics is a comprehensive, easily understood volume about electronics as well as many interesting facts not normally covered within the subject. Lest you think I am the only person with this opinion, ponder how we arrived at this third edition without a vast many others in agreement.

Who says that British are stuffy? Look how happy and comical they are: Monty Python, Benny Hill, Douglas Adams and best of all Clive Maxfield (AKA Max the Magnificent). So grab a copy of this book, set your infinite improbability drive on maximum and enjoy reading about electronics and other interesting facts. Honestly, I didn't know that Greenland Eskimos had a base 20 counting system, using their toes in addition to their fingers. I would have thought they would be more likely to have a base 4 system being all bundled up in mittens to stay warm.

Max writes with a British accent but he still spells everything correctly (color instead of their colour etc.). That's part of the charm, you can learn whilst being entertained (did you see how I slipped that in there?).

So why do you want this book? Well, I wish I could have gotten it when I was in college instead of spending hundreds of dollars each semester on books. This one book could easily replace most of my EE texts since the coverage is so broad, in fact there are many useful subjects that were never covered in my courses like board layout and future technologies. It contains everything you NEED in an easy to understand format instead of superfluous Ph.D. technobabble. It even contains the kitchen sink, well, almost; one of the many Appendixes has his recipe for a spicy Seafood Gumbo. There is also a detailed Glossary.

You say you're done with college and you know all this material. Maybe, but a refresher is always good and I'm sure everyone will learn something from this volume. For instance, although the color gray can also be spelled grey and be correct, counters are definitively Gray after the inventor. Plus, now you don't have to have a shelf of all your old text books, get rid of them and replace them with this one book so you have more room for new ones on your shelf. Or better yet, give it to a loved one to read so their eyes won't gloss over with a reply of "Yes, dear." or "Isn't that nice." when you start to talk to them about work. In fact, it would make a good follow-on to There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings. So why not get them both and enjoy your electronics education?

Many of you may be familiar with Max's style from his magazine articles and blogs. If you enjoy his amusing and wide ranging tangents then you'll be right at home with this book. You may even learn about him and from whence he came (there you go, another British word).