Page 12 - Analog Circuit Design Art, Science, and Personalities

Preface

This is a weird book. When I was asked to write it I refused, because I didn’t
believe anybody could, or should, try to explain how to do analog design. Later,
I decided the book might be possible, but only if it was written by many authors,
each with their own style, topic, and opinions. There should be an absolute mini-
mum of editing, no subject or style requirements, no planned page count, no
outline, no nothing! I wanted the book’s construction to reflect its subject. What
I asked for was essentially a mandate for chaos. To my utter astonishment the
publisher agreed and we lurched hopefully forward.
A meeting at my home in February 1989 was well-attended by potential par-
ticipants. What we concluded went something like this: everyone would go off
and write about anything that could remotely be construed as relevant to analog
design. Additionally, no author would tell any other author what they were
writing about. The hope was that the reader would see many different styles and
approaches to analog design, along with some commonalities. Hopefully, this
would lend courage to someone seeking to do analog work. There are many very
different ways to proceed, and every designer has to find a way that feels right.
This evolution of a style, of getting to know oneself, is critical to doing good
design. The single greatest asset a designer has is self-knowledge. Knowing
when your thinking feels right, and when you’re trying to fool yourself. Recog-
nizing when the design is where you want it to be, and when you’re pretending
it is because you’re only human. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses,
prowesses and prejudices. Learning to recognize when to ask questions and
when to believe your answers.
Formal training can augment all this, but cannot replace it or obviate its
necessity. I think that factor is responsible for some of the mystique associated
with analog design. Further, I think that someone approaching the field needs
to see that there are lots of ways to do this stuff. They should be made to feel
comfortable experimenting and evolving their own methods.
The risk in this book, that it will come across as an exercise in discord, is also
its promise. As it went together, I began to feel less nervous. People wrote about
all kinds of things in all kinds of ways. They had some very different views of
the world. But also detectable were commonalities many found essential. It is
our hope that readers will see this somewhat discordant book as a reflection of
the analog design process. Take what you like, cook it any way you want to, and
leave the rest.
Things wouldn’t be complete without a special thanks to Carol Lewis and
Harry Helms at HighText Publications, and John Martindale at Butterworth-
Heineniann Publishers. They took on a book with an amorphous charter and no
rudder and made it work. A midstream change of publishers didn’t bother Carol
and Harry, and John didn’t seem to get nervous over a pretty risky approach to
book writing.
I hope this book is as interesting and fun to read as it was to put together.
Have a good time.

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