Most Popular Books by Charles Platt

Whether you’re interested in becoming a handyman or developing artisanal woodworking skills, the place to begin is by learning the fundamentals of using basic workshop tools correctly. The place to find out how is right here. Make: Tools is shop class in a book. Consumer-level 3D printers and CNC machines are opening up new possibilities for makers. But there will always be a need for traditional workshop skills and tools. Charles Platt''s Make: Tools applies the same approach to its subject matter as his bestselling Make: Electronics -- in-depth explanations and hands-on projects that gradually increase in level of challenge. Illustrated in full color with hundreds of photographs and line drawings, the book serves as a perfect introduction to workshop tools and materials for young adults and adults alike. Platt focuses on basic hands tools and assumes no prior experience or knowledge on the part of the reader. The projects all result in fun games, toys, and puzzles. The book serves as both a hands-on tutorial a reference that will be returned to again and again.

"This is teaching at its best!" --Hans Camenzind, inventor of the 555 timer (the world''s most successful integrated circuit), and author of Much Ado About Almost Nothing: Man''s Encounter with the Electron (Booklocker.com) "A fabulous book: well written, well paced, fun, and informative. I also love the sense of humor. It''s very good at disarming the fear. And it''s gorgeous. I''ll be recommending this book highly." --Tom Igoe, author of Physical Computing and Making Things Talk A "magnificent and rewarding book. ... Every step of this structured instruction is expertly illustrated with photos and crisp diagrams. . . . This really is the best way to learn." --Kevin Kelly, in Cool Tools The first edition of Make: Electronics established a new benchmark for introductory texts. This second edition enhances that learning experience. Here you will find unique, photographically precise diagrams of breadboarded components, to help you build circuits with speed and precision. A new shopping guide and a simplified range of components, will minimize your investment in parts for the projects. A completely new section on the Arduino shows you how to write properly structured programs instead of just downloading other people''s code. Projects have been reworked to provide additional features, and the book has been restructured to offer a step-by-step learning process that is as clear and visually pleasing on handheld devices as it is on paper. Full color is used throughout. As before, Make: Electronics begins with the basics. You''ll see for yourself how components work--and what happens when they don''t. You''ll short out a battery and overheat an LED. You''ll also open up a potentiometer and a relay to see what''s inside. No other book gives you such an opportunity to learn from real-life experiences. Ultimately, you will build gadgets that have lasting value, and you''ll have a complete understanding of how they work. From capacitors to transistors to microcontrollers--it''s all here. Hans Camenzind, inventor of the 555 Timer (the world''s most successful integrated circuit chip), said that "This is teaching at its best!" when he reviewed the first edition. Now the second edition offers even more!

Provides information about components, including batteries, capacitors, diodes, and switches.

Want to learn even more about electronics in a fun, hands-on way? If you finished the projects in Make: Electronics, or if you''re already familiar with the material in that book, you''re ready for Make: More Electronics. Right away, you''ll start working on real projects, and you''ll explore all the key components and essential principles through the book''s collection of experiments. You''ll build the circuits first, then learn the theory behind them! This book picks up where Make: Electronics left off: you''ll work with components like comparators, light sensors, higher-level logic chips, multiplexers, shift registers, encoders, decoders, and magnetic sensors. You''ll also learn about topics like audio amplification, randomicity, as well as positive and negative feedback. With step-by-step instructions, and hundreds of color photographs and illustrations, this book will help you use -- and understand -- intermediate to advanced electronics concepts and techniques.

This is the simplest, quickest, least technical, most affordable introduction to basic electronics. No tools are necessary--not even a screwdriver. Easy Electronics should satisfy anyone who has felt frustrated by entry-level books that are not as clear and simple as they are supposed to be. Brilliantly clear graphics will take you step by step through 12 basic projects, none of which should take more than half an hour. Using alligator clips to connect components, you see and hear immediateresults. The hands-on approach is fun and intriguing, especially for family members exploring the projects together. The 12 experiments will introduce you to switches, resistors, capacitors, transistors, phototransistors, LEDs, audio transducers, and a silicon chip. You''ll even learn how to read schematics by comparing them with the circuits that you build. No prior knowledge is required, and no math is involved. You learn by seeing, hearing, and touching. By the end of Experiment 12, you may be eager to move on to a more detailed book. Easy Electronics will function perfectly as a prequel to the same author''s bestseller, Make: Electronics. All the components listed in the book are inexpensive and readily available from online sellers. A very affordable kit has been developed in conjunction with the book to eliminate the chore of shopping for separate parts. A QR code inside the book will take you to the vendor''s web site. Concepts include: Transistor as a switch or an amplifier Phototransistor to function as an alarm Capacitor to store and release electricity Transducer to create sounds from a timer Resistor codes A miniature light bulb to display voltage The inner workings of a switch Using batteries and resistors in series and parallel Creating sounds by the pressure of your finger Making a matchbox that beeps when you touch it And more. Grab your copy and start experimenting!

When Charles Platt set out to answer the question, "Who writes science fiction?" he interviewed almost all the writers who molded the field during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The profiles that Platt wrote have become a definitive source of information about the lives and careers of Isaac Asimov, Jerry Pournelle, Frank Herbert, Frederik Pohl, and dozens more. Originally published in two volumes, the profiles collected here have been specially updated with afterwords written in 2017. "There has never been a better book about science fiction; it is doubtful that there has ever veen a better book about writing of any kind." -The Cleveland Press. "A book of sharp, insightful, beautifully written essays . . . . This is quite probably the finest book of its type yet to appear." -Publishers Weekly. "A magnificent achievement, exemplary in its insights, its structure, its editorial restraint and perspective . . . a monumental book." -Robert Silverberg. "Platt held me spellbound for hours. . . . These are some of the best [interviews] I''ve ever seen." -Analog magazine. "A superb piece of work . . . full of color and warm empathy, it makes for charming reading." -Alfred Bester.

Perfect for teachers, hobbyists, engineers, and students of all ages, this reference puts reliable, fact-checked information right at your fingertipswhether you''re refreshing your memory or exploring a component for the first time. Beginners will quickly grasp important concepts, and more experienced users will find the specific details their projects require.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING ADVENTURE ON THE WEIRDEST PLANET IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION FROM THE HUGO, LOCUS, CAMPBELL & PROMETHEUS AWARD NOMINEE AUTHOR The radical, disturbing classic that helped usher in the age of ecological science fiction. "The story is good entertainment... quite amusing." SF Commentary Kopra is The garbage dump of the United Asteroid-Belt Pleasure Worlds Federation, who citizens can''t stand the sight of the waste products they produce. A small asteroid, miles deep in unimaginable filth and debris of all shapes and sizes., Kopra''s sole function is to receive waste materials its sister asteroids send. Its inhabitants are a dirty lot, long accustomed to working in the waste materials of the solar system. They disdain bathing and wear soiled rags like a medal. They are considered subhuman wretches by the citizens of the Pleasure Worlds. But the Koprans see it differently, they keep the system running by doing the work no one else can do. They are everything the Asteroid-Belters Pleasure Worlds are not - and proud of it. Avoided by Off-worlders for centuries (the stench alone is enough to repel any sentient being) Kopra suddenly becomes an object of extraordinary interest to Federation government officials. So, send assign the Oliver Roach, qualified Federation Observer and Recorder, to visit the asteroid. and report back on conditions, physical, psychological, and political. From the moment the fastidious Oliver cautiously sets foot on the asteroid, he is plunged into an adventure as bizarre as it is exciting-filled with danger and plenty of surprises. And a quite unexpected denouement. ...The Federation had believed an asteroid as big as Kopra solved their waste disposal problems forever. But can any civilization really do that? Read the explosive climax and find out. The Incendiary Book That Announced The Arrival Of The Most Scathing SF Satirist Since Jonathan Swift! "What an interesting concept and study on human nature. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It is a fast, easy read, just right for a rainy summer day. I really liked it." Beverly, Goodreads "A fastidious spacer lands on an asteroid used as a galactic dumping ground that is inhabited by dirty trash-collecting hoarders. Humorous, light-hearted sci-fi adventure." SMCA, Amazon "Garbage World was actually a sort of Freudian parable. In the novel, there is a near-perfect split between inhabitants of the asteroid who embrace garbage (metaphor for excrement) and sensuality versus everyone else, who are compulsively clean and inhibited. The protagonist succeeds in ditching his inhibitions by finding true love with an uninhibited, free-spirited young woman who seduces him in a pile of mulch, thereby proving that one can touch messy, dirty, taboo things and not only survive but enjoy it immensely. Once he recognizes and accepts the resulting changes in his outlook and his personality, he becomes a much healthier, much more well-adjusted person. In the cultural milieu in which it appeared, Garbage World was one distinctive voice among a deluge of others asking the day''s youth to question the assumptions of society and to shake off the shackles of convention to find one''s true, if messier, self. I liked it." -Gregory S., Amazon "I have students using this book for an environmental reading/writing project. So far the reviews from them have been great." Deb E., Amazon "This book is awesome because it''s proto-hippy science fiction about someone who learns to love living in filth with a society of scavengers. It''s got brilliant class politics and it''s entertaining as hell." Margaret K., Goodreads "Absurdly fun. From action to political intrigue to weird garbage-mud sex, it has everything you didn''t know you needed. It was amazing." Kevin M., GoodreadS