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Book Summary

ROUGH DRAFT

Electricity, Magnetism and Light is designed as a freshman/sophomore level Introduction to Electromagnetism and Optics to be taught to third semester, or second year physics and engineering majors. There is a wealth of interesting and useful information, including

• the history of the science of electricity and magnetism
• connections with real world phenomena in science, engineering, and biology
• common sense advice and insight on the intuitive understanding of electrical and magnetic phenomena.

Enrichments include take-home experiments to bring home the key concepts. The book is heavy on relevance. Practical electrical examples, sections on motors and generators. The level is slightly more advanced than the standard freshman texts for calculus based engineering physics courses. The approach is intuitive and pedagogical. The focus is on using the mathematics (when needed) to better understand the physics, not just for the sake of doing mathematics. Almost all of the mathematics is worked out clearly and concisely. Clear and helpful diagrams accompany the mathematics at almost every stage. The emphasis is always on intuitive physics, graphical visualization, and mathematical implementation. Each chapter is accompanied by numerous short problems. The treatment of magnetic materials, magnetic field-current interactions, and magnetic field production by currents should, in my opinion, be reversed.

The material covered is appropriate for a sophomore level course for physics and engineering students, probably a one semester course, although there is enough material for a two quarter course. The style of writing is informal and invites the reader to stop and think about what has been said. The illustrations anticipate students' questions and add to the clarity of the text's explanations.

This book will stand out among many available textbooks on electromagnetism. Its format is modern and user-friendly. It emphasizes on physical concepts, analyzes the electromagnetic aspects of many everyday phenomena, and guides the readers carefully through mathematical derivations. Saslow’s book will be an welcome addition both as a text book and as a reference book in the area of electromagnetism.