learning basic electronics

Can any recommend some really good book for learn some basic electronic
skills. I'm especially interested in diagnostics and troubleshooting.

I have some very rudimentary skills. My dad was an electrician, and I've
used a soldering iron many times (minor things, like fixing broken solder
points). When I was a kid he use to get me those Radio Shack kits. I could
wire up the projects but never understood why it worked and could never
design my own circuits. In college (C.S.) I took courses in digital
electronics, which were easy enough. Digital I understand. I remember for
a project in one class, when other students made simple counters out of
flip-flops and such, I made a circuit to multiple two 8-bit numbers. I know
what transistors, resistors, capacitors, and diodes are, and what they do,
but never understood how they went together to form a working circuit.

My skills have always been on the software side. I've been programming for
about 20+ years, half of that professionally (who was it that said, "All I
ever needed to know about computers I learned from my TRS-80"?). I work
mostly in the embedded world, and have written my share of device drivers.
So I work close to the hardware level. Lately, I've been interested
learning more in that area. Mainly, I have all these old computers and have
become concerned about one breaking down and not being able to fix it. I've
built many a PC, but they're so modular these days that it's no harder than
changing a light bulb.

I've perused some books over the years, but they never seem to talk about
WHY a particular circuit works. They would explain the components
(transistors, et. al.) and go into a plethora of circuits (this is an AM
radio, this will flash a light bulb, etc.). Never how; never why.

REH


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