5+ Best Electrical Engineering Books in 2024

*Note: Since the field of computer engineering overlaps with electrical engineering, I will be including books that are closer to the computer engineering field as well 

What are the best Electrical Engineering Books?

Best Overall for Beginners and Experienced Engineers

The best overall Electrical Engineering book is Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk because of its huge breadth and depth of content, incredible diagrams, and very affordable price. It has 1027 pages. 

• Basic physics and mathematical theory (including equations) of electric current and voltage, resistors, capacitors, inductors, AC and DC voltages, Kirchhoff’s Laws, RLC circuits, impedance, two-port networks, power factor, complex numbers, and SPICE circuit simulation
• The many circuit components such as how different batteries work and their comparisons, and the different types of resistors, capacitors, inductors, transformers, fuses, oscillators, voltage regulators, and Switched-Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) used in real circuits
• Optoelectronics, such as Light Emitting Diodes (LED), photoresistors, solar cells, phototransistors, and fiber optics
• How to safely use electronic testing equipment such as multimeters and oscilloscopes, DC power supplies, and function generators
• The different types of operational amplifiers such as Negative Feedback and Comparators
• Passive and active low-pass, high-pass, bandpass and notch filters
• Digital Electronics, including simple logic gates, multiplexers, SR flip-flops, shift registers, analog to digital converters, Liquid-Crystal displays, and programmable read-only memory
• A little bit of Microcontrollers and programmable logic/FPGAs
• DC, servo, and stepper motors
• And much more

However, this book isn’t perfect because: 

• Practice problems are the cornerstone of mastering electrical engineering and any STEM area, and although Practical Electronics for Inventors does have practice problems, it doesn’t have nearly enough to substitute for a textbook
• There is little mention of the very important topics of Digital Signal Processing, Radio Frequency engineering, Computer Architecture/VLSI, Embedded Systems and FPGAs, Software Programming, and Control Systems
• There aren’t as many formal derivations of the needed mathematical and physics equations as in a traditional textbook, which may confuse beginners

Overall, this is the best electrical engineering book and is incredibly detailed and well-written for both people starting out their EE journey as well as seasoned veterans of the field. 

Best Electric Circuits Introduction

The best introduction to electric circuits book is Fundamentals of Electric Circuits by Charles K. Alexander and Matthew N.O. Sadiku because of its clear explanations, many practice problems, and review of practical applications. It has 903 pages.

I like this book because: 

• It goes over all the introductory circuit theory and mathematical derivations: Ohm’s Law, Kirchoff’s Law, node and mesh analysis, operational amplifiers, capacitors and inductors, RC, RL, and RLC circuits, AC circuits, AC power analysis, magnetically coupled circuits, passive and active filters, introduction and applications of the Fourier Transform, and two-port networks
• It goes over some historical text on how the circuits and theory came about from people such as Nikola Tesla and James Maxwell
• Perfect for use in university and high school classrooms as there are clear, step-by-step explanations and lots of graphics to understand these explanations
• Hundreds of practice problems
• I have personally used it in my second university electric circuits class, Circuit Theory, and I highly recommend it for beginner electrical engineers

*Note: Although I don’t have any problems with Fundamentals of Electric Circuits, you will need fundamental knowledge of Differential and Integral Calculus (Calculus 1) starting from Chapter 6 through the rest of the textbook.

Best Signal Processing for Beginners

The best signal-processing book for beginners and intermediates is Signals and Systems by Alan V. Oppenheim, Alan S. Willsky, and S. Hamid Nawab. It has 957 pages.

This book is good because: 

• It covers all the major theory topics such as Continuous-Time and Discrete-Time signals, convolution, Fourier Series and Fourier Transforms, time and frequency domain analysis of systems, sampling, filters, Amplitude Modulation (AM) and Demodulation used in radios, Laplace Transforms, analysis of Z-Transforms and Linear Feedback Systems
• Contains all the mathematical foundations for getting further into Digital Signal Processing and Communication Systems such as radar, sonar, MRIs, speech recognition, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Control Sytems
• It has hundreds of practice problems, so it suitable for a university classroom
• Called “The Holy Bible” equivalent of Signal Processing by my graduate teaching assistant (TA) while I took the equivalent undergraduate course (he did his undergrad at Cornell University)

This book does have flaws, however: 

• It is quite a dense book. I remember only getting through 20 pages after 3 hours of reading
• Unlike Fundamentals of Electric Circuits in this list, there are fewer listed practical applications and little to no historical context on how this subject came to be
• The book is colored solely in black and white, which might not captivate and appeal to younger, non-university-level readers
• Signals and Systems is not for people beginning their electrical engineering journey but is for current electrical engineering students starting to learn about Signal Processing

*Note: Knowledge of the Calculus topics of differentiation, integration, series and sequences as well as differential equations is needed before starting  

Best Computer Architecture and Software Introduction

The best introduction to the basics of Computer Architecture, assembly language, and how the C programming language works is Introduction to Computing Systems: From Bits and Gates to C and Beyond by Yale N. Patt and Sanjay J. Patel. It has 632 pages.

I like this book because: 

• It covers fundamental topics such as how transistors form logic gates, registers, instruction-set architectures (ISA), as well as assembly language, interrupts and interrupt-driven I/O, TRAP Routines, and Subroutines, and an introduction to the C programming language including functions, data structures, pointers and arrays, recursion and dynamic memory allocation
• It has hundreds of practice problems and is quite popular in college classrooms
• This book is ideal for beginners because it has a bottom-up approach. I read this book during my very first semester of college (when I knew absolutely nothing about computers other than how to use Google and PowerPoint). I finished my first semester of college with a solid understanding of how computers are designed and programmed

Here is one of the things I don’t like: 

• This book studies the LC-3 computer, which is a computer designed specifically by the authors to help college students understand the basics of computing. However, the LC-3 is not used commercially and although learning about the LC-3 will help you understand other architectures such as x86 and ARM, you will have to learn these separately

*Note: In order to get the full experience from this book, you will need to download the free LC-3 simulator to start programming in binary and assembly

Best Transistors and Analog Electronics Introduction

The best introduction to transistors and analog electronics design is Fundamentals of Microelectronics by Behzad Razavi. It has 903 pages.

This is a good book because: 

• It goes over topics such as the math and physics of semiconductors, PN, PNP and NPN junctions, diodes, bipolar transistors and amplifiers, MOS transistors and CMOS amplifiers, operational amplifiers, cascode stages, frequency response and transfer functions, feedback, oscillators, power amplifiers, analog filters and digital CMOS circuits
• Has hundreds of practice problems, as this is a typical college EE textbook
• Has lots of helpful diagrams and there are lots of practical applications
• I used this book for my intermediate-level electric circuit design class while in undergrad and learned a lot from it
• If you understand most of the material in this book and implement what you’ve learned in a project or two, you can definitely get a high-quality internship or job offer

Best Digital Design for Intermediates

The best Digital Design book for Intermediates is Digital System Design by Charles H. Roth Jr., Lizy Kurian John, and Byeong Kil Lee. It has 582 pages.

I like this book because: 

• It goes over topics such as Karnaugh Maps; designing combinational and sequential circuits in Verilog; design examples such as a Binary-Coded Decimal to 7-segment Display; implementation of state machine charts, implementing functions in FPGAs, implementing floating-point operations, and understanding a RISC architecture with the MIPS ISA
• This book goes great with using the Digilent Basys 3 FPGA board to practice Verilog
• This book is definitely less dense and easier to get through than the other books listed, which makes this book better for non-electrical engineers and beginners
• If you do a few projects involving the Basys 3 FPGA board and understand most of the topics in this book, you can definitely get a good internship or job offer

I don’t like some parts of this book because: 

• Some places, like understanding a shift-add multiplier, state-machine chart, and floating-point arithmetic, can be pretty dry/boring

Bonus!

Mathematics and physics are the foundation of electrical engineering. Most electrical engineering degrees require taking many math courses either with, or before, taking any electrical engineering courses. 

Best Calculus Introduction

The best introduction to calculus is Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart. It has 1182 pages. I cannot recommend this calculus book enough. 

I like this book because: 

• It goes over all the fundamental calculus topics such as derivatives, integrals, parametric equations, first and second-order differential equations, sequences and series, and vector calculus
• It has plenty of diagrams and graphs to get an in-depth intuition on calculus
• It contains lots of examples of exactly how calculus is used in the real world
• It has hundreds of practice problems to get you ready for future engineering classes

Best Physics – Electricity and Magnetism Introduction

The best introduction to the electricity and magnetism part of physics is Matter and Interactions Volume Two by Ruth W. Chabay and Bruce A. Sherwood. It has 992 pages. 

I like this book because: 

• It goes over the fundamental topics and physics of electrons and their properties, such as electric fields, distributed charges, electric potential and voltage, magnetic fields and magnetic force, basic electric circuits, and electromagnetic radiation
• It isn’t heavy on the math side like other electromagnetics books I’ve read, which makes this book definitely easier to understand for beginners
• It has hundreds of practice problems
• There is an entire video-lecture series that goes along with this book (as well as Volume One of this book series). Make sure to start on chapter 13.

Best Probability Introduction

The best probability introduction is Introduction to Probability by Dimitri P. Bertsekas and John N. Tsitsiklis. It has 5258 pages. 

I like this book because: 

• It covers the fundamental probability topics such as conditional probability and independence, probability mass and density functions, random variables, covariance and correlation, the Central Limit Theorem, Bernoulli and Poisson Processes, Markov Chains and Bayesian Inferencing
• Probability can be a very confusing subject, and this book gives step-by-step processes and intuition on how to use and understand probability effectively
• It has hundreds of practice problems
• There is an entire video-lecture series that goes along with this book
• You can find the full list of Lecture Notes, Tutorials, Assignments (and their solutions) on the MITOpenCourseWare Website

Summary

Here is the full list: 

• Best Overall: Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk
• Best Introduction to Electric Circuits: Fundamentals of Electric Circuits by Charles K. Alexander and Matthew N.O. Sadiku
• Best Signal Processing for Beginners: Signals and Systems by Alan V. Oppenheim, Alan S. Willsky, and S. Hamid Nawab
• Best Computer Architecture and Software Introduction: Introduction to Computing Systems: From Bits and Gates to C and Beyond by Yale N. Patt and Sanjay J. Patel
• Best Transistors and Analog Electronics Introduction: Fundamentals of Microelectronics by Behzad Razavi

Bonus: 

• Best Calculus Book: Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart
• Best Physics – Electricity and Magnetism Introduction: Matter and Interactions Volume Two by Ruth W. Chabay and Bruce A. Sherwood
• Best Probability Introduction: Introduction to Probability by Dimitri P. Bertsekas and John N. Tsitsiklis

*Note: I have personally read and gone through at least some of each of these books for my undergraduate courses in Calculus 1 and 2, Circuit Theory, Digital System Design, and Signals and Systems courses