Update: Reference Books for Device, Apparatus and Electronics Design.

Omission in Reference Books for Device, Apparatus and Electronics Design was pointed out. Was going to just update, but seemed worthy of new post.

Where the core is design Donald Norman's Design of Everyday Things should be considered. It is both a classic, and has a new edition in 2013. One forgets usability and affordance at one's peril.

Reference Books for Device, Apparatus and Electronics Design.

One wants to get started building a device - a mechanism, a gadget, or an apparatus. Where to start? One can learn from peers and mentors. One can read magazines like Make, Circuit Cellar and Elektor. But what are the best reference books?

Classics:
Horowitz and Hill - Art of Electronics - Long in 2nd edition. Long rumored 3rd edition.

Richardson and Smith - Experimental Techniques in Condensed Matter Physics. (okay so I have a bias *grin* knowing them)

Moore, Davis and Copeland - Building Scientific Apparatus - little bit tilted to chemistry, but excellent overall.

More modern: Pratt - Make: Electronics

More ancient: Brown - 507 Mechanical Movements (Dover)

Meet more modern peers and mentors at a Maker Festival? Or at a Hackerspace?

Or go back to the past like at the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments?