The success of the first two editions of this book has shown the continuing interest in and need for a book that deals with the aims and methods of electronics without going into too much detail about practical circuitry, and with the minimum of simple mathematics. This third edition has been prepared with much more emphasis on digital electronics, now that virtually every device available to the consumer is partly or entirely digital. The information on microcomputers has been greatly expanded, with a separate chapter on software options.

There is an old precept that it is easier to teach digital electronics to anyone who knows about linear electronics than the other way round. This does not apply as much as it used to, but the analog (analogue in the UK) fundamentals are still important and they have not been dropped in this edition. For advanced information or for details of new devices the reader is urged to make full use of Internet search engines. For readers who are interested in electronics construction and circuitry, please take a look at Practical Electronics Handbook, currently in its sixth edition in the UK.

I hope that this third edition will be received as enthusiastically as were the first and second editions, and that it is equally successful in stimulating interest in this fascinating branch of engineering.