No-Nonsense Electrodynamics: A Student Friendly Introduction

 BS: This is meant to be a student-friendly introduction, without the fluff. Apparently "fluff" means "applications" and "student-friendly" means you probably should already have taken an EM course. The author stated he doesn't think bottom-up is a good way to learn EM, so he wanted to write a top-down book. This he did. He starts with tensors first (right there in the first pages of the first chapter), and then works his way back down to integrals and vectors before coming back up to tensors again. This is not student-friendly. This is obfuscation. Give this one a pass. Stick with Griffiths, and get a copy of A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations for something that really is student-friendly.

I decided to learn some physics this summer. I didn't want to read more popular science, but to go deeper. But I'm not a physicist. I want the highlights. This series seemed perfect. I did pretty well with the Mechanics volume. Then I tackled this one. For the first time I felt like I had a sense of Maxwell's equations, how they can be derived, and what those weird symbols mean.

I have a math background, but fifty years old. I never really understood multivariable calculus. But I followed the author's advice, read the first couple of chapters, then went to the 90-page appendix and learned about div, grads, and curls. I skimmed electrostatics, as I'm not really that interested. The chapter on eltromagnetic waves was excellent.

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But the chapters on EMT as a gauge theory were frustrating. I felt like I almost got the point, but not quite. I almost understood the author's clever financial model, but felt that steps were skipped at crucial points. I read a few times, but feel that I don't quite get it. It was very frustrating as I felt a number of times that just a bit more detail would have gone a long, long way toward helping me. In the end, I felt that if the author had added somewhere between 5-20 pages, everything would have been clear. I was rather frustrated. I hope a new edition will expand a bit. I just don't feel I understand with the author's distinction between local and global gauge theories and why the distinction matters,

I'm not starting the Quantum Mechanics volume and hope the same thing doesn't happen. My goal, optimistic as it may be, is to get through the Quantum Field Theory volume with a basic understanding. My difficulty with the gauge theory sections in this value (and the Mechanics volume, for that matter) makes me nervous. Is their something fundamental that I'm just not getting?

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In any case, I'm excited to for the first time have some understanding of Maxwell's equations, what they mean, how one calculates with them, and why they lead to such conclusions as the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant. Thus I understand why Michaelson-Morley needed ether as a wave medium to handle the contradiction that Einstein finally resolved. So, very good. But, with just a bit more, could be great.

Hidden technology leaks from NASA

Do you think NASA knows everything when it comes to new technology?

Well, think again…

A brilliant engineer from Lexington, Kentucky revealed a secret project that will change the electricity history forever.

✔ The Real Nature of Tesla AC Generator

Generates Energy-On-Demand: Easy Power Plan Will Change Our World Forever

✔ Combination of induction motor and alternator

✔ Combination between generators

✔ Or maybe called Overunity for the system. Mother Nature doesn't care about people calling or naming phenomena. Overunity or Free Energy, or Zero Point Energy (ZPE) are just a few different words

Rumors say it’s the most efficient new source of energy.

NASA engineers don’t see how they missed it and are trying to figure out the technology behind it.

I think you deserve to find everything out.