I have a MS in CSCI, PhD in cognitive psych, but know nothing at all about electronics. Is this a reasonable first book? I ask bc somebody compared it to TAOCP which I would not recommend to somebody with zero CSCI/programming skills. EDIT: thanks for the feedback, I'll look elsewhere to get my feet wet.
See my other comment on this thread for more details. But basically I took Physics 123 at Harvard, and AoE sprang from the professor's lecture notes. When I took the class in the late 90's, It was taught by Horowiz and Hayes, as Hill had left previously to do his own thing.
The class had many people from non-hard-science disciplines who didn't know anything about electronics. I specifically remember a couple of psych students. They all did great, see comment above on what we build at the ends of the analog and digital halves of a one-semester course.
The student lab manual written by Horowiz and Hayes, from which we did our class labs, also gives great context and a hands-on plan to learning the material.
I also knew a few artists in the Boston scene that used this book to build actual electronic items for performance art shows, including robo-mechanical drum machines and analog synths.