Book First or Hands-On First? Yes.

Welcome to Solder & Signal, dedicated to the electronics and radio hobbyist in all of us.

Here, I plan to spin up an ongoing chain of electronics projects, infused with encouragement and driven by the conviction that anyone can enjoy building their own circuits, even in an age of consumer micro-electronics.

In the process, I'd also like to help you build your confidence and self-esteem by achieving things that may have seemed unlikely to you. And in the process, encourage you to connect with others of similar interests and form real friendships with people of like minds.

That page title? There’s a debate that never ends, especially in electronics: Should you read the book first? Or start soldering and figure it out later?

The truth is that you don’t learn until the two meet.

Books give you a map. They tell you what’s out there, what’s possible, how things are supposed to work.

Hands-on builds give you the terrain. The weird edge cases. The moment when your 555 timer buzzes like a wasp because you forgot a pull-down resistor — and now you never forget again.

What Nobody Tells You

The right time to read the book is when you’re already confused by what you just built. That’s when the page bites back with meaning. That’s when you read not to “learn,” but to understand.

And the right time to build is before you think you’re ready. Way before.

So build the thing. Burn the finger. Blow the fuse. Then read the book and go, “Oh. Ohhhh. That’s what that meant.”

That’s the loop. That’s how you learn for real. And with any luck, that's what we'll do here.