The kid who wanted to blink a light

Once upon a time, there was a curious kid who really wanted to understand how to blink a light.

So he did the obvious and went to read books on electronics in the library.

But little did he know that the authors of those books had no intention of making it easy for beginners. After all, they had worked hard to get to where they were, so why should they make it any easier for other people?

By using words like "n-doped materials" and "two-terminal passive device", the books quickly discouraged the poor kid.

"I am not smart enough to understand this," he thought to himself.

​
Luckily, the kid had a father who knew better.

His father didn't know the words from the book either - but he was a practical man who knew how to build things.

And he didn't need fancy words to do it.

With a drawing on a sheet of paper - and using simple words - he showed the kid how to blink a light.

"Wow", the kid thought, "why wasn't this in the books??"

The kid was hooked and a seed was planted.

​
Years later, the kid himself would become a young man whom people sought out to learn electronics. But instead of making electronics hard like many teachers before him, he decided to make it easy.

"How dare you tell people that electronics is easy!?", the old electronics wizards yelled at the young man. "Have you been inhaling the magic smoke from the chips??"

But the young man didn't pay attention to them. The comments from his followers saying things like "now I FINALLY understand it" spoke so much louder.

So he lived happily ever after, spreading the good word of the transistor and its fellows.
​

Keep On Soldering!
Oyvind @ build-electronic-circuits.com

PS! Did my little fairytale resonate with you? Do you find electronics explanations to be hard and complicated? I prefer to teach electronics in simple ways. And if you want to learn with me, here are two options:

• If you're new to electronics and you're not sure if its for you, then I recommend getting the eBook Fun Circuit Experiments with Sound and Light where you'll learn basic electronics through experiments. If you enjoy that, then you're most likely going to learn electronics quickly once you commit to it.
  ​
• If you already know that electronics is for you, and you'd love to learn skills like soldering, circuit design, microcontrollers, and project-building - while also getting a proper understanding of the basics, then check out Ohmify.

Unsubscribe | Update your profile | Brugata 1, OSLO, Oslo 0186