I'm not sure that it falls into either category... I bought it recently - it does start off assuming no prior knowledge, so from that point of view it's suitable for beginners. It does however get very "involved" quite early on... to me though this is a good thing, and I wouldn't hesistate in recommending the book to other beginners like myself as long as you're genuinely motiviated enough to want to learn - I had to re-read some sections several times before the mental light clicked on :-) The "eureka" moment in the bath when I finally understood how the NAND transistor circuit worked was too cool for words ;-) The writing style is very clear, they give "real world" examples, sample circuits (both good and bad, to illustrate common gotchas), and cover a huge range of topics. It's a MUST HAVE in my opinion. --al