From Amps to Apps: How Computers Work takes an informal approach to topics often reserved for textbooks. Each chapter covers one foundational aspect of computing. Exercises and hands-on activities throughout are designed to help the reader learn. Exercises mostly involve mental problem solving, while hands-on activities require the reader to actually try various aspects of computing: building a circuit, writing software, and so forth.

Readers will learn about electrical circuits, learn how to read a circuit diagram, and build a working circuit. They'll learn how computer hardware like processors, memory, and input/output work and fit together; how low-level machine code runs on a processor, and how to examine the machine code of software running on a computer. They'll gain an understanding of the differences between programming languages like C and Python; examine operating systems; use tools to explore their local network and the Internet, and build a simple web page. The book's primary goal is to give the reader a broad understanding of how computers work; to offer a big picture view of computing and the foundational information needed to dig deeper into topics that interest them.