From someone who's read the 1st edition, what age would this be suitable for? From CP's description it didn't sound like it needed any advanced knowledge to read. I'm wondering if I could get my kids interested in it
I'm reading it to my nine year-old, a chapter at a time. He is likely technically capable of reading it himself but he doesn't have the focus to get through more than a page or two on his own. But he likes spending time with me no matter what we're doing and he is having no problem understanding the concepts in the first few chapters so far. He particularly loves (re-)inventing practical applications for the concepts being introduced, like the flashlight telegraph.
Some parts of this book could be read/shown to a 5-year-old. We're talking simple battery-to-switch-to-lightbulb wiring diagrams, colored in red when the wires/bulbs have power (quite a nice touch when showing this to those new to the subject). This methodology continues in the sections on logic gates so you can clearly tell what line has a logic one for instance, causing a bulb to light up. The book is awash in plentiful diagrams that range from very simple to fairly complex. The complexity seems to be hinged carefully on relevent predecessor diagrams, so nothing out-of-the-blue is thrown at the reader.