4 comments about Applied Electromagnetism (Pws Engineering Foundation).

1. This was not a good book. I found it very difficult tounderstand and learn from. It is the required text for a class I'min. I am currently looking around Amazon.com for a text to replace it. Save money. Buy something else.



2. I just completed a junior-level course which made use of this text. Although the topics are arranged differently than in similar textbooks, I found the explainations of EM concepts quite good. The main strength is getting right to Maxwell's equations in chapter two (--after all, that's what EM is all about, right?). Maxwell's equations are explained well and at an introductory level so that the reader is not overwhelmed. The main weakness is the very underdeveloped first chapter, "Complex Vectors" which is too brief and oversimplified for the subject matter at hand. The book also presents very informative and even entertaining asides on applications, such as "anti-glare headlights" (polarization), "tails of comets" (radiation pressure) and "microwave ovens" (penetration depth). Overall, a very good first EM book.



3. I'm currently in an electromagnetics course that uses this book and this book is awful. The author cannot explain the concepts in a clear manner. The author skips parts of the explaination leaving me confused as to what he did. Also the examples in the book are not very good, an answer is given with little or no work. The book needs more examples and needs to explain the concepts much better. If you're in a course that uses this book get another book, such as Schaum's Outline of Electromagnetics. From a student point of view, this is a horrible book.



4. Pros: Relate EM into real life examples, which makes the book interesting to read. Simple but powerful examples and equations which made my life a lot easier.
   Cons: Lack of example and pratice problems.
   Overall: Very nice book to read for understanding of the materials, but you'll need to pratice problems on your own.

No comments about RF and Microwave Power Amplifier Design (McGraw-Hill Professional Engineering).

1 comments about Electromagnetic Fields (IEEE Press Series on Electromagnetic Wave Theory).

1. I specialize in Electromagnetic Theory and have read many texts on this subject matter. There are many very good texts out there but nothing even compares with this one. I thought this would be a copy from various other excellent books by Collin, Jackson, Felsen, etc. but I was wrong. Prof. Bladel has written everything of his own originality. There is a spark of his originality in everything ranging from the quality of explanations, the choice of subject matter, the extreme mathematical depth involved and the choice of unsolved problems. In every way, this book alone can replace five to six other ordinary books.
   
   In elecromagnetics, the biggest problem lies in understanding. The more you learn, the lesser you understand and the mathematics can be demoralizing. And also a vast portion of the literature is scattered throughout so many books. But Dr.Bladel has beautifully brought all that together under one roof and has presented the subject in a very theoretically fine manner doing complete justice to the mathematical intricacies.
   
   This book is a MUST if you want to call yourself a specialist in electromagnetics. It is a tome and the epitome of all good EM books !!!!!!!!! It is the "Stratton" of the 21st century !!!!!!!

3 comments about Ferromagnetism.

1. This book gives a huge amount of magnetic properties data (saturation field density, permeability, magnetisation etc) for metals such as Iron and nickel, but more importantly, a vast magnetic data for a wide range of Fe-Ni alloys and Fe-Co-Ni. Also it shows the effect of heat treatment and mechanical work on these properties.

   If I recall right, this book first published in 1951.




2. This book gives one all the information one needs to get a good handle on magnetic properties of materials and how the latter vary as a function of almost any parameter one can think of.
   The only problem is its age, which makes the chapters dealing with magnetic theory and measurement techniques a bit outdated (this explains the 4 stars). However, these last two subjects are treated extensively in other more recent books.
   Nevertheless, this a very useful book to have which covers all the aspects of ferromagnetism in a clear and concise manner.



3. Bozarth's book is very, very thorough - for the technology of 1951. It is well-written and packed with both practical and theoretical information. For example, magnetically soft materials are discussed in exceptional detail, including their chemistry, manufacturing methods, and performance data. In contrast, coverage of magnetically hard material is inadequate. Alnico permanent magnets are the most current types it addresses. PM technology has come a long, long way since 1951. So too have a few other technologies I can think of. Although Bozorth's book remains worthwhile, the immutable consequences of passing time takes a toll that is discernable. Certainly the book is not worth the $140.00 retail price suggested by Wiley - which leads to my next point.
   
   Wiley's 1993 edition of "Ferromagnetism" appears to be an exact reprint of the original version first published in 1951. I base this conclusion on a close review of the downloadable excerpts available on the Wiley-IEEE website. The table of contents are IDENTICAL in every respect, right down to the page numbers. The preface and first chapters are also the same, word-for-word. This is the fifth or sixth case I have come across, wherein an outdated technical book has been "repackaged" with a more recent publication date. In my view, this practice is designed to intentionally mislead consumers of technology-related material, which changes quickly. My rating of four stars relates to the book itself, in the year 2007. As for Wiley, a proper thrashing in the woodshed seems in order.

1 comments about Industrial Electricity.

1. In 1945 I attended a public technical school in Toronto,Ontario,Canada. The earlier additions of this book were the basis of our four year course at that school. The book is a self teacher and can really teach and inprove the knowledge of anyone involved in the industrial electrical world. I became a chief electrical engineer for a major company through the school of hard knocks.This book always had a place on my desk. Each time I went to construction sites and someone would ask about certain technical details of the electrical industry I would always end the conversation with a recomendation to purchace this book. I am sure sorry to understand that the author is no longer with us ,but can understand this as I am 69 years old. Just in case this bit of history would get lost here is where the book started. Naydon worked for esthe ford motor company with another engineer called Gillman and both their names appeared on early edditions of the book. It was used as a training book for electricians who joined the Ford Motor Company. The book coveres a wide range of subjects which every electrician should know if he wants to get ahead. Sure hope this helps electricians and industrial engineers who might consider the purchace of this book

1 comments about Electromagnetic Vibrations, Waves, and Radiation.

1. This is a excellent text for undergraduates in physics or EE to understand the fundamental electromagnetic properties of vibrations, waves and radiation. It supplements Purcell's very well. Having studied it, you are equipped with solid understanding and can go on into Optics.

No comments about Electrodynamics of Metamaterials.

1 comments about Laser Cooling and Trapping (Graduate Texts in Contemporary Physics).

1. Laser cooling and trapping techniques have given researchers new tools to explore the atom's dynamics and control. The book gives a good introduction to the forces that arise when an atom interacts with a light (laser) field, and puts a lot of emphasis on giving the reader an excellent idea of what's going on when atoms and photons interact.

   Rather than giving all the details of the mathematical and quantum mechanics background that is needed to understand the subject the authors concentrate on giving a clearer picture of the real physics involved.

   The book starts with a review of the quantum mechanics principles used to understand laser cooling and trapping, which serves as a good remainder for a person who already has a basic grasp of it.

   Although all the mathematical analysis that shows how the formulas and mathematical expressions are derived is not done in the book, the presentation is sufficient to guide the readers interested in it do the work by themselves.

   The book also has an excellent reference guide that an interested person can use to get all the mathematical and experimental details on the field.

5 comments about Inductance Calculations (Dover Phoenix Editions).

1. This is the best source of inductance formulas available, but it does require some work to use. Good for correcting mistakes in other publications. Or, figuring out what their formulas mean; probably, the formula were copied from Grover. Planar spiral coils are handled, on page 105, as "disk" coils. By the way, this book is not out of print, despite the Amazon website, having been republished in 2004 by Dover as one of their Dover Phoenix Editions.



2. I first ran across this book at my campus library (I mean the originally published 1946 copy). Fell in love with it. This is the only resource I could find that dealt with a specific type of coil I sometimes use. Just about every piece of published literature that deals with inductance calculations cites this text.
   
   I read some of the other reviews on the book and found that some of them were complaining about having to use look-up tables and how the coil configurations were strange. First, this book addresses numerous configurations, many of which ARE quite common. Second, this book is meant to provide the user with very accurate approximation techniques and simple formulas for calculating self- and mutual inductance. It is not meant to provide analytical solutions for inductance. It provides methods that are definitely better than trying to use Neumann's integral, which usually involve elliptic integrals and power series (which may not even converge). My opinion is that if you need to use it that often, just code up the formulas and tables in MatLab or some other programming language.
   
   One last point, if you work with spiral disc coils (sometimes called pancake coils) buy this book. Huge time saver and accurate. I ran calculations on an inductor and came within 1.5% of the inductance value I measured using a precision LCR meter (which isn't bad considering that it was a handmade coil whose dimensions I had to approximate from hand measurements).



3. This book, virtually unavailable for many years and now reprinted, contains the most complete collection of classical methods and analytical formulas for the calculation of self and mutual inductances for many geometries.
   The approach is analytical rather than numerical and it reflects the date of first publication of the book (1946). Unfortunately factors comparing on several formulas are given in form of tables rather that in explicit way (e.g. series expansion) so it's rather tricky to program them on a spreadsheet.
   Steve Moshier has programmed formulas for the most common geometries on a DOS calculator that I've found very useful. ([...])
   
   O. Dormicchi (magnet engineer)



4. Extremely good, a valuable reference for anyone designing inductors and coils that need to know the self and mutual inductance coupling.



5. A comprehensive compendium of methods of calculating self & mutual inductance of a wide range of loop configurations. Though the original book was written in the 1940s and gave methods suitable for calculations using tables and slide rules, the fundamental equations from which the tables are derived are also given. This allows the reader to produce algorithms for computer programs and spreadsheets as used in the modern era. All in all an extremely useful text for practitioners in this field.

4 comments about Modern Magnetic Materials: Principles and Applications.

1. This is the book which contains all about the magnetism practically in use. From the basic theory of magnetism to the practical use, e.g., magnetic recording materials, surface and thin films. This is the best book treating magnetism practically. But this deos not contain the rigorous thoery using second quantization, e.g., Hubbard Hamiltonian and Anderson Impurity. That is, this book is the introduction for graduate students majoring in experimental condensed matter physicis - materials and materials science for practical use.



2. This book will take you from basic academic knowledge about magnetism to a proficient understanding of the most recent advances in magnetic materials and devices. This book is well very organized and written in a concise manner. Dr. O'Handley has earned our congratulations on both scope and quality for this book. Graduate students, researchers, engineers, theorists, experimenters and other newcomers to the field will find this book an excellent entry to the field as well as a handy reference. The book is one of the best text in the area of applied magnetism.
   This invaluable book should certainly be present in the library of any department or institute carrying out magnetism R&D work. In other words, it deserves to be on the shelves of any lab or research institute library. I strongly recommend this book to every student and teacher who intends studying or teaching magnetism.



3. This is an immensely important compilation of the state-of-
   the-art quantum electronic interpretation of the physics of magnetism. Doctor O'Handley has masterfully organized his lecture notes and has produced a magnum opus.
   I had the extraordinary good fortune of attending his lecture series at the University of Florida in 1994. The class was primarily for materials engineering graduate students, but I was allowed to take the class because I was doing research in magnetic devices for electrical engineering. Even though the physics involved was at a higher level than I was used to, Dr. O'Handley was able to communicate the necessary concepts in a lucid manner.
   His intelligible explanations in the lecture hall are repeated and expanded in this well-crafted volume.
   If you are interested in the science of magnetism from an electrical engineering, or material science, perspective, I wholeheartedly recommend purchasing this book.



4. This book has been used for several years in the graduate materials program at Carnegie Mellon University. It is very popular with the students. It has also found a following with the undrgraduates who have done research or advanced reading in magnetic materials. The book offeres clear physical insights and a discussion of contemporary magnetics applications. Highly recommended.