A richly illustrated deep dive into how electricity and circuits really work - from the physics of charge and fields to the messy truth of real-world component behavior - by acclaimed security researcher and electronics obsessive Michal Zalewski.

Real circuits don't behave the way you might have been taught. The hydraulic analogy breaks down at transistors. Ideal component models ignore the parasitics that bite you in every other practical circuit. Most introductory books don't talk about noise, signal reflections, and other issues you will need to troubleshoot in your own designs.

The Secret Life of Circuits is a richly illustrated, physics-first guide to what's actually happening, from electron behavior in atomic shells through analog design, digital logic, and PCB fabrication. Michal Zalewski, a self-taught polymath who spent 11 years leading Google's product security program, builds working mental models rather than collections of memorized rules. Hundreds of original hand-drawn diagrams, photographed bench experiments, and step-by-step mathematical derivations show the real behavior of real components. Rigorous enough for working engineers closing foundational gaps. Readable enough for makers and self-taught hobbyists who are tired of following tutorials they don't fully understand.

It is also, simply, a beautiful book. Zalewski's illustrations are the work of someone who draws circuits the way other people take notes: obsessively, precisely, and with evident pleasure. Printed in full color, The Secret Life of Circuits belongs on a workbench and a coffee table in equal measure. It's the kind of book you hand to someone and watch them start reading on the spot.

Michal Zalewski is a computer security specialist and an avid tinkerer with more than three decades of experience in electronic circuit design. He runs a popular, in-depth electronics blog and has published a number of hardware projects featured on Hackaday and in other venues. He spent more than a decade at Google building its product security program and later served as VP of security and privacy engineering at Snap Inc. He is also the author of two classic information security books-The Tangled Web and Silence on the Wire-along with Practical Doomsday, a guide to level-headed emergency preparedness (all from No Starch Press).