In my opinion this is not a total beginners book, as it is a shortcut for those who already know the theory..However this book is perfect for the EE student or designer who thinks: "There must be an easier way to design this", If you are an engineering student, you must have wondered at some point if there is an easier way to design say a simple linear power supply without having to go through 12 different equations and 3 or 4 pages of solving algebra.Now, im not saying you shouldnt know the formulas or theory , im saying that this book will help you do things easier and quicker, based on doing what has been proven to work, it will show you a lot of tricks that will be very useful if you already know some theory. In my opinion this book is the authors way of saying "ok, you worked throught the math, you know the theory, now... lets do something with it". Its a short cut, and a shortcut only makes the most sense when you already know the long path.Im surprised by the bad reviews in this page by the physicists who complain that theres not much insight in this book, I dont know what kind of insight they expected from a book called "the ART of electronics", it would be like buying a book called "the Science of music" and complaining that theres too much theory and little on how to play a commercial pop song with your guitar.This is a book that should be used along other books, this book wont teach you everything you need to know about electronics (but then again, no single book teaches you that). This book will make an EE or electronics technician life easier, but it wont make a theory hungry physicist happy, if you want to read another great book which among other things has tons of formula that you probably wont ever use in a design, then look at Sedra/Smith's "Microelectronic Circuits", but be aware that some people complain that its too complex and lacks practicality, cant make everyone happy...