I loaned out my electrical reference books and haven’t gotten them back. I am going to use this as an excuse to replace the circa 1970’s books with new ones.
Looking for book recommendations for residential wiring.
thanks,
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Replies
I'm not an expert of all the books out there, but as a novice, picking up a copy of Wiring a House : For Pros by Pros (Taunton Press) by Rex Cauldwell, has answered just about every question I have ever had and taught me about stuff I didn't even know I needed to know. I had purchased another book at a library book sale and it contained a lot of similar information, but was so poorly organized and written that it was useless.
The Rex Cauldwell book has tons of pictures and illustrations and little side boxes with tips etc. It's a really good book. You can see a few pages of it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1561585270/ref=sib_rdr_toc/102-2198238-1043331?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S007#reader-page
I see that he has written an earlier version, but the one I like is the "For Pros by pros" one.
I had purchased another book at a library book sale and it contained a lot of similar information, but was so poorly organized and written that it was useless.
Between poor organization and dated material, that's why I wasn't excited about not getting my electrical books back. One of them was pre-plastic boxes.
Buy.com also has the one you mentioned.
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=30991333&loc=106&sp=1
I've used Buy.com several times in the last couple years. Very good service. Now I just need another book or two to break the $25 threshold for free shipping.
jt8
The NEC has a residential wiring handbook. Not really a handbook in size, but is nicely illustrated. Might be able to pick one up at less than the list price, since the new NEC book will be published next year. It will still waaaaaay break the $25 threshold for free shipping.
Dave
ditto, what Glatt said!
John:I agree too with Glatt.I wired my whole house with the revised addition from Rex Caldwell.I would like to shake this guys hand if I ever met him for putting out such a great book.I cant say enough about it.The electrician who was wiring the meter sockets for me kept taking it home to read ,he too was impressed with it.I told him to get his own dam copy!
One of the things I like about it was when he would explain why he liked a particular item or If he didn't like it and why.
Take care Greg
I really like the one put out by the Creative Home group. They have them at the big boxes. Just the right combo of info and charts. For a more NECish approach, the residential home wiring by Mullins is pretty good. Sort of the Illustrated version of NEC. BTW, my NEC 2002 is still available in reader classified. Will likely be donated to the library next week or so if not sold.