Open Circuits
by Windell Oskay, Eric Schlaepfer · first published 2022
16mentions
12recommended by
16HN commenters
2022–2026first – last mentioned
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Cross-sectional photographs of electronic components, sliced open and explained, showing the internal construction of everyday parts; valued for its visual beauty and for explaining how the components work.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Pairs nicely with this great book about all kinds of electronic components -- https://nostarch.com/open-circuits
on “CT scans of batteries” ↗I found this book to be quite beautiful. It even says how they did some of the shots at the end. https://nostarch.com/open-circuits
on “Casio-F-91W die-shot” ↗…a wire you can barely see. This "coffee-table" book of pictures is well worth the price, if only to see the absolute beauty of our amazing level of technology. Eric Schlaepfer and Windell H. Oskay "Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components" No Starch Press ISBN 978-1-7185-0234-5 (and, no, I am in no way related to the authors, the book, or publishers)
on “Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components” ↗Not exactly "History" of technology, but there are sometimes various generations of components. Also the book is just amazing https://nostarch.com/open-circuits
on “Ask HN: Good Books on the History of Technology?” ↗There are descriptions. See the product page: https://nostarch.com/open-circuits Or better yet, chapter 1: https://nostarch.com/download/OpenCircuits_Chapter1.pdf It's an absolutely brilliant book, and if it were the year 2000, I would no doubt buy a copy. Being 2024: 1) I don't…
on “Open Circuits Book” ↗You didn't mention that he also co-authored the book "Open Circuits" that shows cross sectional images of a wide variety of electrical and electronic components. The pictures are beautiful. His "secret" is basically sanding. Lots and lots of sanding. https://www.amazon.com/Open-Circuits-Beauty-Electronic-Compo...
on “Beavis Ultrasound PnP ISA Sound Card Replica” ↗Open Circuits is a beautiful book that also explains how things work. One picture I really enjoyed was the cutaway of a barrel jack power plug. The author explained how plugging in a power cable would physically change…
on “The Inner Beauty of Basic Electronics” ↗…everything from railroad tracks, antenna towers, highway overpasses, power lines, grain elevators, oil refineries, steel mills, and more… Lots of great pictures and detailed explanations. And I also bought "Open Circuits" and find it to be both beautiful and illuminating.
on “Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components” ↗This is especially common with a fresh USB port. I learned why recently from the book Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components. There is a mechanical component that is more stiff before being used, which can lead one to think that they simply had the USB connector the wrong way around.…
on “I designed a cube that balances itself on a corner” ↗To see literally what's inside electronics, the book "Open Circuits" is enlightening. Many pictures of electronics carefully sliced open with explanations of the internals: https://www.opencircuitsbook.com/
on “Repairing a buggy board arcade machine” ↗Different take, but you might like Open Circuits too: https://www.opencircuitsbook.com/ The author does corss sections of a lot of electronic components and the more delicate ones were cast is resin first. Th "making of" is as cool as the end result!
on “Mechanical Watch: Exploded View” ↗…way that someone would put this into practice without an accompanying practice/lab book. Otherwise, it reads like trivia that showcases how much the author knows. Great, I guess? Speaking of covers, Open Circuits: Inner Beauty of Electronics has a much more honest yet intelligent cover to it. Each page is both informational and extremely well done. Someone who has no knowledge of electronics or electricity can…
on “The Secret Life of Circuits is now in stock everywhere” ↗…version of the cover? I can imagine the cover changing sometime in the process before the book is actually released, and perhaps Amazon got some placeholder/preview data. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Open-Circuits-Beauty-Electronic-Compo... [2]: https://nostarch.com/open-circuits
on “Book Review: Open Circuits” ↗A 50 page chapter, the book is 304 pages this link is just chapter 1: https://nostarch.com/open-circuits - also contains a link to this same PDF.
on “Open Circuits – No Starch Press [pdf]” ↗This is just chapter one [a preview] of the forthcoming book. Retitle? https://nostarch.com/open-circuits
on “Open Circuits – No Starch Press [pdf]” ↗