There are no electrons
by Kenn Amdahl · first published 1991
70% recommend30% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A light, silly-story framing that still explains electricity and electronics surprisingly well. It serves as an introductory text for newcomers to the basics of electricity.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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If you find yourself struggling to understand the basic concepts of electricity, I can warmly recommend the book "There are no electrons" by Kenn Amdahl. It's a very silly book, which attempts to explain electricity through allegory and humour
on “Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)” ↗I enjoyed "There are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings" by Kenn Amdahl. It's a light hearted take in the form of a silly story, but it explains things surprisingly well. Guess I should add that it covers the basics of electricity…
on “Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?” ↗You forgot "There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings", my favorite introductory text: https://www.amazon.com/There-Are-Electrons-Electronics-Earth...
on “The Secret Life of Circuits is now in stock everywhere” ↗There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings by Kenn Amdahl
on “Ask HN: Can you recommend a book to learn basic electrical concepts/engineering?” ↗“There are no electrons”
on “Ask HN: Best Layman's Book on Electricity” ↗THERE ARE NO ELECTRONS is incredibly excellent. Another is Darren Ashby's "Electrical Engineering 101: Everything You Should Have Learned in School...but Probably Didn't" ALSO SEE: Are we teaching electricity the wrong way…
on “Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)” ↗…this correction or just keep my ignorant/old-fashioned way of thinking about electrons and electrons holes switching places btw my favorite, most illuminating source of electrical knowledge is the book “There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings”
on “How Wrong Is Veritasium? A Lamp and Power Line Story [video]” ↗There's a fun little book called "There Are No Electrons" the premise of which is that most early education on electricity is full of bullshit analogies, but that those are also misleading and confusing, so it basically sets out to present a different set of…
on “CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon” ↗Also, there are no electrons. (https://www.amazon.com/There-Are-Electrons-Electronics-Earth...)
on “Math Goblins” ↗On a whim, I bought a book called There Are No Electrons at a used book store, some years ago. The idea of the book is that we spend lots of time teaching students various incorrect and inconsistent models for how electricity works, that also don’t optimally…
on “But good sir, what is electricity?” ↗I once read a book called "There Are No Electrons". I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but its approach was interesting: the author reasons that unless you're in grad school studying physics (and perhaps even then), everything you've been taught about electricity…
on “Why we don’t understand heavier-than-air flight” ↗I learned from the book "There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings" that all the renaissance science around magnetism and static electricity started out as parlor tricks -- dazzling each other with strange feats of attraction and repulsion.
on “Quantum Tunnels Show How Particles Can Break the Speed of Light” ↗