Customer Reviews

Classical Electromagnetism (with DOS Software Package)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not a bad text to learn the basics of E&M out of but there are better texts out there. Jackson is way too hard to study as a first book on the subject but Good I think is a little on the too easy side. Not that it should be hard to read and work through a book if you are somewhat intelligent, but Good could get a little more advanced toward the end of each chapter than he does and add some advanced problems at the end of each chapter.

It's really not a bad first text to read but I wouldn't recommend an undergrad institution use it for their E&M courses because there is a LARGE gap between Good and Jackson.

If this was a Dover book that was cheaper, softcover, and not meant to be an undergrad text I might rate it higher but since it is meant to be an undergrad text I think it comes up a little short.

This is a solid, no-frills textbook for an upper-level undergraduate Electricity and magnetism course. It covers pretty much all of the standard Electromagnetic theory, and provides the reader with some of the most basic results. The worked examples are strewn throughout the textbook, and they help the reader absorb the material. The exercises at the ends of the chapters are also an integral part of the text, and as in any other Physics textbook they are the essential part of learning the subject matter. However, neither the examples in the chapters nor the exercises at the ends, with very few exceptions, are all that advanced. The modern understanding of electromagnetism is squarely founded on Maxwell's Equations. These are first order, coupled, vector partial differential equations in three-dimensional space, in addition to the time dependence. They very complicated equations, and their solutions are hard to find except in some very special circumstances. By reading this book you would not get this impression. Most of the problems don't take more than a line or two of calculation. Students may like this, but a course based on this textbook is definitely not preparing them will in terms of fully appreciating the complexities of the Electromagnetic theory. A far better textbook, and the one that is most admired, is David Griffiths' Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd Edition). That book is THE standard electromagnetic textbook, and considering the price a much better deal as well. If you have any sway with the instructor of the Electrodynamics course that you are going to take, and he or she is considering using this textbook, I would recommend that you try to dissuade him/her from it. You will do yourself a great favor.

This book, Classical Electromagnetism lies mid-way, or perhaps two-thirds, of the distance between those chpaters
in E&M found in a good undergraduate physics textbook using the calculus, ex. Giancolli, and the FAMOUS Jackson book on
electromagnetism. It does use vectors and integrals, but we are spared, for now at least, the cylinderical and
spherical integrals that many of us have difficulty in manipulating. If you, like me, could not quite make the
jump from Physics II , basically, electromagnetism, optics, some modern physics to the famous JACKSON book on E & M, then
this is for you! Thank-you Prof. Good, for preparing me for the Jackson book on E&M. If you CAN make the jump, then this book is of no use to you!

This text accomplishes what it sets out to do - to provide an interesting, informative, and complete intro to E&M. It manages to convey not only the substance of E&M, but also it's elegance and versatility, giving many creative applications of the subject matter. This provides the student with solid physical intuition and inspires ingenuity. A good choice for a first book or a second book after the APs.

Good's book is an excellent reference for a first course in classical electromagnetism. It covers all the basics, and hits Maxwell's equations rather early, which is a nice touch. The sections on relativity are especially useful. My only complaint is that this book shys away from the hard examples. I would have found it much more helpfull if the book could have covered at least one advanced example per chapter. All in all a Good book. In fact my professor makes so many references to the "Good" book, that sometimes it feels like I'm at sunday mass.