I want a couple of good books that cover the topic of logical design, creating computer circuits. There seem to be a lot of expensive books on logical design, but it's not clear which ones are good.
IMO, Bebop to Boolean Boogie is not bad - as you can guess from the name, its tone is much easier and more readable than most. However, it covers the topic well. Although this is specific to Verilog, Thomas, and Moorby , Verilog's hardware description language is classic. This is much more businesslike than the BBB, but still very clearly written. Being dedicated to a particular language, this is far from a lot of flaws given Verilog's market share - unless, of course, you are one of the (admittedly significant) minorities that VHDL or something else will use.
The digital design and computer organization of Harris and Harris is a good book, one of the best I've looked at.
It has a sample VHDL and Verilog code for the processor and RAM, as well as good explanations.
Remember that this is a book with a lower division — it is not a higher unit, not a graduate, or a practitioner's book.
That's pretty good: Computer organization design: a hardware / software interface , and it aims to create a full working processor, starting with a simple one (without many features, like an old processor like the Z80), adding various things that are needed during the chapters.
It uses MIPS as a reference architecture, but the concepts should be fully adapted also to the CISC architecture (I mean that they are different, but basically they do the same job).
This is more like how you build a d-latch or how alu is structured than how to arrange components on a circuit board.
It may be more advanced than what you are looking for, but here is a short video review of a few recommended books on FPGA design.
For starters, I recommend Dr. Charles Roth, The Basics of Logical Design . This is what we use as a curriculum here at the University of Texas in an independent course.
Content:
Once you overcome this, you will need to learn Verilog and get some FPGA design tools. ^ _ ^
If you've never done this before, you might need to start with The Elements of Computing Systems . It is extremely affordable without negotiating with the reader.