Having read both of them (well, I had the dragon book as a compiler course textbook, couldn't really read it all, donno who can) I think that's not a fair comparison.
AoE is extremely practical. I think the debate here is what exactly are "fundamentals" for electronics. I read AoE with high school physics and some hands on tinkering (mostly with exposure to software in embedded systems) as my background. At that point in my life I found it readable and enjoyable. It will help you get to the next level. Probably skipped some sections that weren't of interest though. I probably built my first electronic circuit in elementary school (some lights, switches, battery, etc.). If you just have no clue of anything electronics then yes, this is not the book for you. But it still is "electronics fundamentals" despite that.
I already knew something by the time I read it so that must have helped. I guess you do need a certain maturity level (in the subject) to get started but once you have it (maybe from somewhere else) I think it's great.
It reminds me of my first time trying to learn assembly language when I was in my early teens. I just could not make any sense of it. I knew a little bit of PASCAL and BASIC at the time and that was just alien territory. When I came back a few years later after some exposure then it all came together.
