ELECTRONICS

Mr. Irving deals with difficult scientific concepts in the simplest, most concise manner possible. A general description of the meaning of electronics starts us off, followed by a quick review of electricity and magnetism. ""When electronic tubes are in a circuit, they work as part of a team"", and the next chapter is devoted to a description of each of the ""team members"", including resistors, capacitors and transformers. In a chapter on the three main types of electronic tubes and the uses of each, we are enlightened on the operation of radios and broadcasting as we are later on television, when we learn about the phototube. Electronics further refines and improves important inventions and discoveries, exemplified by the electronic microscope, the radar telescope and the accelerators which crack the smaller nuclei of atoms. Clean, uncluttered diagrams and clear, distinct typography match a brisk, forthright text authoritatively presented for the early teens.