Internet Sources for Electronics Books,
Standards, Manuals, Journals, and Magazines

John R. Barnes KS4GL, PE, NCE, ESDC Eng, PSE, SM IEEE
September 27, 2007
jrbarnes@iglou.com

Between two companies and my personal library, I spend thousands of dollars per year on electronics books, standards, manuals, journals, and magazines. Many of the items I am looking for are out of print, making them very hard to find, and usually quite expensive when they are available. So I am always on the lookout for additional sources. This web page supplements Appendix P "Finding and Buying Standards" in my book Robust Electronic Design Reference Book, Volume 2. If you know of additional sources, please E-mail me the information at jrbarnes@iglou.com so that I can add it to this web page. Each list begins with my preferred Internet sources, with other sources listed alphabetically. If I have personally used a source, a comment shows the number of orders that I've placed with them since October 2000 and the range of delivery times that I've seen.

Companies Selling Electronics Books

Half.com 44 orders, with 3-54 days delivery time.

ABEbooks 5 orders, with 4-12 days delivery time.
AddAll (order from individual book sellers)
Alibris 6 orders, with 5-25 days delivery time.
Amazon 13 orders, with 2-23 days delivery time.
Barnes & Noble 6 orders, with 4-26 days delivery time.
BestBookBuys (order from individual book sellers)
Biblio (order from individual book sellers)
Bibliofind
BookFinder (order from individual book sellers)
BookFinder4u (order from individual book sellers)
Books A Million 7 orders, with 5-21 days delivery time.
ecampus.com 3 orders, with 5-9 days delivery time.
Edward R. Hamilton 4 orders, with 13 days delivery time. Shipping and handling is a fixed price, no matter how many books you order.
Fatbrain (merged with Barnes & Noble) 3 orders since 2002, with 2-14 days delivery time.
Half Price Books (I usually hit the book stores themselves).
Powell's 12 orders, with 6-13 days delivery time. This is a very dangerous web site, because I rarely go to it without spending at least $200 on books...
Zubal 3 orders, with 11-13 days delivery time.

#1 Engineering Books
A1books 1 order, 11 days delivery.
A1TechBooks
Adams & Adams 1 order, 4 days delivery.
AkaBook
AllBookStores
AllDirect
AllDiscountBooks.net
AllTimeBooks
Alphabet Street 1 order, 2-26 days delivery.
Amazon CA
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
Amazon.fr
American Book Center
Antiqbook 1 order, 3 days delivery.
Bargain Books 1 order, 6 days delivery.
Bequaert Old Books 1 order, 6 days delivery.
Bestprices.com
Biggerbooks.com
Blackwells (US)
Blake's Books
Book Eddy
Book Miser 1 order, 10 days delivery.
Bookbyte
BookCloseouts
BookDigger.com
Bookfellows 1 order, 10 days delivery.
BookHQ
Bookpool
Books 'N Stuff 1 order, 7 days delivery.
Books of India 2 orders, 20-25 days delivery.
Booksfree.com
BooksPrice.com
Bookworks 1 order, 8 days delivery.
Brand Bookshop 2 orders, 9 days delivery.
Bunches of Books 2 orders, 2-8 days delivery.
Buy.com
Camelot Books 1 order, 6 days delivery.
CampusI
Chambal.com
Chandler & Reed Rare Books 1 order, 14 days delivery.
Classbook 2 orders, 7-9 days delivery.
Compliance Club
Cornwall Discount Books
D A Information Services
DigitalGuru
Directtextbook
DiscountTextbooks.net
Ebay 1 order, 9 days delivery.
eBooks.com
Electrostatic.com
Engineer & Inventor
FetchBook.Info
gohastings.com
Half Price Computer Books 1 order, 7 days delivery.
International Product Safety Bookshop
J. Hood, Booksellers 1 order, 4 days delivery.
Johnson Technical Books 1 order, 17 days delivery.
KaSha
Kelly Boggs 1 order, 9 days delivery.
Largie,com
Lawrence's Books 1 order, 14 days delivery.
Martinton Book 1 order, 10 days delivery.
MBS OPOE 1 order, 9 days delivery.
Net Shopping Mall
No Garbage Books 1 order, 12 days delivery.
Opamp Technical Books
Page 1 Books
Pengwyn Books 1 order, 11 days delivery.
Perryman Books 1 order, 12 days delivery.
Postpaid Books 2 orders, 4-6 days delivery.
Real Groovy
Silicon Valley Fine Books 1 order, 1 day delivery.
Strandbooks.com 2 orders, 6-11 days delivery.
Superbookdeals
Terramedia Books 1 order, 13 days delivery.
TextbooksRus
TextbookX
Title Wave Books 1 order, 3 days delivery.
TomFolio
Totalcampus.com 1 order, 9 days delivery.
Used Book Central
Ventura Pacific 1 order, 4 days delivery.
Walmart
Warrior Books 1 order, 5 days delivery.
WebBooks 1 order, 9-14 days delivery.
WHSmith
Xerxes Books 1 order, 3 days delivery.

Reference Book has links to many book sellers and web sites on a wide variety of topics.

Publishers of Electronics Books

Academic Press
Addison Wesley
Allied Radio Shack
American Radio Relay League
Artech House
Artsci
Butterworth-Heinemann
CALCE 1 order, 4 days delivery.
Cambridge University Press
Chapman & Hall
CQ Communications
CRC Pressm 1 order, 3 days delivery.
Delmar Publishers
Electric Power Research Institute
Electro-Horizons Publications
Electrochemical Publications
Electronic Industries Association
emf-emi control
Elsevier
ERA Technology
ESD Association 2 orders, 8-16 days delivery.
Houghton Mifflin
Howard W. Sams & Co.
IEEE Press 2 orders, 3-6 days delivery.
Institution of Electrical Engineers
Interscience Publishers
John Wiley & Sons 1 order, 30 days delivery.
Kluwer 1 order, 14 days delivery (published my second and third books).
M.I.T. Press
Macmillan
Marcel Dekker 1 order, 10 days delivery.
McGraw-Hill 1 order.
MFJ Enterprises
MFJ Publishing
NARTE 1 order, 5 days delivery.
National Technical Information Service 1 order, 11 days delivery.
Newnes 1 order, 8 days delivery.
Nobel Publishing
Oxford University Press
Prentice Hall (published my first book).
Prompt Publications
Radio Shack
Radio Society of Great Britain
Research and Education Association
Research Studies Press
SciTech Publishing
Sequoia Publishing
SMT Plus 1 order, 8 days delivery.
Speeding Edge 1 order, 14 days delivery.
Springer
Springer-Verlag
TESLAco
Tiare Publications
UltraCAD Design 1 order, 6 days delivery.

A Brief Introduction to Electronics Standards

In the United States, the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of residential, commercial, and industrial products/ equipment fall under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Rules and Regulations. FCC Regulations are published under Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations (47 CFR). Most electronic products and electronic equipment fall under FCC Part 15 (47 CFR Part 15) for radio frequency devices. The September 21, 2004 version of FCC Part 15 may be downloaded as a .pdf file for free from the FCC web site. We sometimes also need to refer to FCC Part 1 (47 CFR Part 1), FCC Part 2 (47 CFR Part 2), or FCC Part 18 (47 CFR Part 18) in conjunction with FCC Part 15. We can download these for free from: Many United States safety standards are published by Underwriters Laboratories. Some of these are available from standards suppliers listed below. Other UL Standards are only available from Comm 2000. Some UL standards are bi-harmonized with the Canadian CSA Standards, so we may save money by buying the corresponding CSA Standards instead.

United States military standards (MIL-STD-xxx) are prepared by the Department of Defense. Many of these, along with military handbooks (MIL-HDBK-xxx) may be downloaded for free from DODSSP.

In Canada, EMC standards for residential, commercial, and industrial products/ equipment are published by Industry Canada. These standards may be downloaded for free from the Industry Canada web site.

Many Canadian safety standards are published by the Canadian Standards Association. Some of these may be available from the standards suppliers listed below, or they can be bought from ShopCSA.

Canadian military standards are prepared by the Department of National Defence. I am not aware of an Internet source for them.

In Europe, EMC, electromagnetic interference (EMI), electrostatic discharge (ESD) immunity, and safety of residential, commercial, and industrial products/ equipment all fall under the CE Mark. The easy way to prove that we can legally put the CE Mark on products or equipment is by self-certification, showing that the products/ equipment meets all of the applicable Harmonized Standards known as European Norms (EN's). If we design custom or low-volume products/ equipment, or our products/ equipment don't fall under any EN's in some area, we may need to submit a Technical Construction File to a Competent National Authority instead. EN's are harmonized under specific Directives adopted by the European Union. We may use an EN or its amendment once it has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) under a Directive. Once we reach the date of cessation of presumption of conformity of the superceded standard (DOCOPOCOSS, or date of withdrawal, DOW), we must use the EN or its amendment. When a new EN or amendment concerning our product/ equipment is published in the OJ, we may use either the current or the new EN/ amendment. After the DOCOPOCOSS, we must use the new EN/ amendment.

To find the Harmonized Standards under a Directive, search the OJ for the number of the Directive (see list below). Look for the most recent hit titled "Official Journal xxx" or something of that sort. Following that link, look in the table of contents for an item titled something like "Commission communication in the framework of the implementation of the Council directive <whatever>". Clicking on the page number will take us to a .pdf file with the list of Harmonized Standards under that Directive. Sometimes the EN's and their amendments are very hard to find. Look in the "Reference document" column. If it lists a CISPR, IEC, or other standard/ amendment, and doesn't say "(Modified)", then the EN standard/ amendment is identical to this other standard/ amendment, and we can use the reference document instead of the EN document. If the "Reference document" column says "(Modified)", there may be minor or major differences in the EN standard/ amendment. In this case only the EN document is legal for CE Marking.

Some Directives that apply to electronic products/ equipment for Europe are the:

European military standards may be prepared by individual nations or by NATO. For the United Kingdom (UK), miliary standards are created by the Ministry of Defence. Many of these standards may be downloaded for free from DSTAN.

In Australia and New Zealand, EMC and safety standards for residential, commercial, and industrial products/ equipment are published by Standards Australia. These standards are sold by SAI Global Limited.

In Japan, EMC for information technology equipment (ITE) falls under the voluntary VCCI standards published by the Voluntary Control Council for Interference by Information Technology Equipment. These standards may be downloaded for free from the VCCI web site.

Companies/Organizations Selling or Providing Electronics Standards

American National Standards Institute (ANSI) 43 standards ordered, 0 days delivery (electronic download, usually within 15 minutes of placing order).
British Standards Online
Comm 2000
Conformity.com
Danish Standards Association 1 standard ordered, 0 days delivery
Document Center 2 standards ordered, 6-8 days delivery.
Document Engineering (DECO) 1 standard ordered, 10 days delivery.
Europort 5 standards ordered, 8 days delivery.
IHS (was Global Engineering Documents) 3 standards ordered, 0-7 days delivery.
ILI 11 standards ordered, 0 days delivery
International Product Safety Bookshop
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)- United States Code of Federal Regulations
Pike & Fischer
SAI Global 2 orders, 0 days delivery (electronic download).
SEE Luxemburg
Swedish Standards Institute (SIS)
Tech Street 13 standards ordered, 0-11 days delivery (some standards are available for electronic download, the same day as placing the order), and 1 DIN standard took 175 days for delivery.

Publishers of Electronics Standards

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) 1 standard ordered, 14 days delivery.
Australian Communications Authority
British Standards Institution
Canadian Standards Association
Consumer Electronics Association
Department of Defense
Deutsches Institut fur Normung (DIN)
Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA)
ESD Association 14 standards ordered, 9-13 days delivery.
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) (download ETSI standards for free)
Federal Communications Commission
Industry Canada
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 2 standards ordered, 4-5 days delivery.
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 2 standards ordered, 0-3 days delivery (some standards are available for electronic download, the same day as placing the order).
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Regulations Panel (German)
SIS Forlag (Swedish)
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
Standards Australia 3 standards ordered, 0 day delivery (electronic download).
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
Underwriters Laboratory (UL) 1 standard ordered, 0 day delivery.
Voluntary Control Council for Interference (VCCI)

Companies Selling Equipment Manuals

A. G. Tannenbaum's Homepage
Boat Anchor Manual Archive
Consolidated Surplus Test Equipment & Manuals
Ebay auctions
Electronic Equipment, Manuals, Components, Etc.
Electronics - Home Page
Equipment Manuals
Equipment Manuals
Equipment Manuals
Ham Radio Manuals
Manual Merchant
Manuals
Manuals Plus
Military Equipment Manuals
Military/Info Publishing
Music Equipment Manuals and Documentation
Operating Manuals
Raymond Sarrio Company
Service / Maintenance and Operator's Manuals
Surplus Sales of Nebraska
Technician's Filing Cabinet
Test Equipment
Test Equipment Manuals
Used Electronic Test Equipment, Manuals, and New Electronic Components
W7FG Vintage Manuals

Finding Back Issues of Electronics Journals and Magazines

When looking for a back issue of a magazine or journal that isn't too old, our best bet is to contact the publisher directly. Some publishers and organizations make an entire year's issues available on CDROM or microfiche.

Back Issue Magazines and Newspapers
Kelly Books Limited
Linda Tresham's House of Magazines
Million Magazines
www.Pastpaper.com

For fairly-popular magazines and journals, book sales sponsored by public libraries and Friends of the Library organizations are a good possibility. Book Sale Finder lists many of these sales in the United States and Canada.

Hamfests are another possibility for amateur-radio-related magazines. The ARRL web site lets us search for ARRL-sanctioned hamfests that will be held in our area, or somewhere that we will be visiting.

Some used book stores also sell used magazines. Almost all of the Half Price Books stores that I have been to have a used magazine section, usually back near the clearance books. On business and pleasure trips I like to check out used book stores along the route and at our destination. The Used Booklover's Guide to ____ guides, by David and Susan Siegel, are a very valuable resource for us bibliophiles. Unfortunately, many used book stores go out of business between the time that the Siegels' guide for an area is published and when I can get there. So if I have the time, I like to check an Internet phonebook to make sure that the book store still exists--at least when the most recent phonebook was compiled--before going way off my planned route. An E-mail or phone call to verify the store location and its hours would be even better...

Ebay auctions are another possibility. Search for the title of the magazine, and look through the auctions. Since most auctions last a week, we might want to do this search every week or so.

Please send critiques, corrections, and/or additions to jrbarnes@iglou.com.


Robust Electronic Design, Inc. is the research arm of dBi Corporation, an A2LA-accredited EMC/EMI/ESD testing and consulting company based in Lexington, Kentucky. Our staff has been directly involved in putting over 115 major electronic products into mass production at Sycor, IBM, and Lexmark, as well as doing the EMC/ EMI/ ESD engineering tests and FCC/ CE-Mark approval tests for over 100 products and testers developed by clients--bringing them into compliance with both domestic and international laws and standards. Our staff has also served as expert witnesses in three lawsuits. We have over 34 years experience in the computer and electronics industries developing electronic products and electronic equipment that:
  1. Work.
  2. Are safe and reliable.
  3. Can be manufactured, tested, repaired, and serviced economically.
  4. May be sold and used worldwide.
  5. Can be easily adapted/enhanced to meet new and changing requirements.

Our President, John R. Barnes, is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the state of Kentucky, a NARTE-Certified Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineer (NCE), a NARTE-Certified Electromagnetic Compatibility Technician (NCT), a NARTE-Certified Electrostatic Discharge Control Engineer (ESDC Eng), a NARTE-Certified Electrostatic Discharge Control Technician (ESDC Tech), a NARTE-Certified Product Safety Engineer (PSE), a Senior Member of the IEEE (SM IEEE), and an Advanced-class amateur radio operator. He has written three books: Electronic System Design: Interference and Noise Control Techniques, which was published in English in 1987 and in Russian in 1990; and Robust Electronic Design Reference Book, Volumes 1 and 2, which came out in March 2004. John has also written articles on designing electronics for electrostatic discharge (ESD) immunity for Printed Circuit Design and Conformity magazines.

Robust Electronic Design, Inc. and dBi Corporation may be contacted by:

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Last revised September 27, 2007.