It's been almost three years since my sign-off (below -- Jan 2011) of for Hands On - Make: Electronics! I cannot tell you how much that book did for my understanding of electronics. Over the last three years, I've soldered up a number of circuits of my own design, built some kits, and figured out a few repairs here and there... all because I have a better understanding of this topic.

And now I've received word that author Charles Platt is planning on releasing an update titled Make: More Electronics in early 2014. I don't have any more details, but you can click on the link and pre-order if you're really anxious to get your hands on it (like me).

My goal with this original blog was to work through all of the projects and document my thoughts, my observations, my mistakes... basically just sharing the experience with others. I've learned over the years that pairing a hands-on education with a careful documentation of my work helps cement what I've learned. I'm a tech writer -- I do articles, books, manuals... my job is to take complex ideas or tasks and to simplify them or at least reduce them to clear, concise statements that can be repeated by others. With this blog, my goal wasn't to rewrite the book -- I just wanted to fill in the gaps (BIG gaps) in my own understanding of electronics and maybe help a few others who might come after me to gather components, catch errors, and basically see someone else doing it first.

And now along comes the follow-up book.

So, the big question I've been pondering today is whether or not to tackle the new book and to blog about it.

I'm going to get the book no matter what. And I'm going to work through it. That much has been decided. But will I blog about it?

I must admit I did enjoy taking the photos and videos of my work and posting it for the world to see. And I must admit it was a lot of work. Time consuming. So I'm going to ponder this for a bit longer. I've got a few months or more before the book is to be released, so I don't have to decide today. But I REALLY want to do it.

So...

I have gone ahead and created a new blog as a holding spot. It will be called Hands On - Make: More Electronics and the URL is handsonmoreelectronics.blogspot.com. Yeah, it's a long URL. Sorry. Just trying to stay with the theme and format of the original. So... that's where any blogging for the new book will occur. (But I'll come back here and post my decision to blog or not.)

If you haven't discovered Make: Electronics -- grab a copy! I've read dozens of electronics books over the years and never found any other book that approaches this level of quality and ease-of-understanding. You'll amaze yourself when you finish the book and ponder where you started and how far you've come!

So, I'm signing off once more... and hopefully will be picking up over at the new blog when the book is released. Come join me!