Customer Reviews

Electromagnetics Explained: A Handbook for Wireless/ RF, EMC, and High-Speed Electronics (EDN Series for Design Engineers)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Electromagnetics texts almost always get so bogged down in complicated mathematics right from the start, that the reader quickly loses all intuitive feel for the subject matter and any real understanding for what's going on.

This book is different!! Finally, somebody has written a book which explains electromagnets from electrostatics to antennas to waveguides in a way that almost anybody can understand. After all the graduate level electromagnetics courses I took learning about TM modes and sperical Bessel functions, I still couldn't claim that I understood much about electomagnetics - until I read this book. Suddenly all kinds of puzzle pieces are fitting together. I only wish I had been able to read it before I ever took any of those classes. I certainly would have had a much better understanding of and appreciation for what I was learning.

I would recommend this book for any electrical engineer or technician, as well as any non-electrical engineer who wants to understand the basics of electromagnetics. If I was an emags professor, I would definitely make this required reading before I ever put a piece of chalk to the board!

Bravo, Mr. Schmitt! Your matter-of-fact writing style and useful every-day analogies have given me a much better understanding of this otherwise enigmatic subject.

I'm a Systems Engineer for a major test and measurement equipment manufacturer and have an MS in Electrical Engineering. Since my job responsibilities have begun to move into the area of wireless, I have been looking for a "intro/refresher" on electromagnetics. One of the problems I've had is that books on this subject are either too math-intensive (filled with triple integrals, etc.), not technical enough, or pure theory (with no hints as to how I might actually USE this information)

This book, on the other hand, strikes a rare balance between these extremes. It's rigorous enough technically, but also does something very few books do -- it explains the WHY and the HOW as well. There is a lot of practical advice on how to apply the material in this book as well.

This book has been very useful to me both as background knowledge as well as in solving some very real problems (e.g. in antenna design/analysis).

I buy well over 50 technical books a year, and this is by far one of (if not the) best. Highly recommended.

This book helped me gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for electromagnetic (EM) theory. The book not only answered many of my questions on the subject, but also helped me sort out and solidify my existing knowledge on EM. I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially students like myself desiring a real grasp on the subject.

The book does a great job of explaining why high frequency circuits behave so differently than low frequency circuits. I now also have a much better conceptual understanding of magnetism, reactive components, parasitic effects, transmission lines, diffraction, and radiation. I was pleased the author included the Relativity and Quantum Physics chapter, since it helped refresh my memory on those subjects.

Many of my fellow classmates majoring in electrical engineering are totally clueless when it comes to understanding the theory behind EM. To many of them an inductor is nothing more than a little circuit symbol and equation. To many of them permittivity and permeability are just numbers. To many of them EM waves arise solely because of a fancy vector identity applied to Maxwell's Equations. I truly hope they find this book.

Initially, I only wanted to check out something from the EMC chapter of the book, particularly about high speed PCB design. Then I found that many of my questions not addressed in Stephen Hall's, Montrose's and both of Howard Johnson's texts are illustrated here with proper answers and cures. The author's judicious use of readable equations and insightful pictorial illustrations makes the text amazingly compact yet rich in practical information. If you're serious about quality of your designs, you will love this text.

I have been working with RF and Electromagnetics for a few years and still I think that this book was great reading for me. It is not for those who are satisfied if things are working and they already know the basics, rather it is for those who want to know WHY things happen. I bet most active RF designers would have hard time explaining why all the high frequency tricks are needed and at which frequency these should be used. This book answered many of my simple and 'stupid' questions.

This book covers a broad swath of E&M in a way that is easily accessible to a practicing engineer (and I suspect many others). No, it won't be a reference "bible" on your shelf, but it is the perfect introduction to the uninitiated and review for the experienced. This is the kind of book one wishes existed in every field.

Electromagnetics Explained is very well written and I'm really am enjoying it. I was educated in physics and have worked for many years as an development/process engineer in the manufacturing area (layed-off, of course!)and have lost touch with mathematical physics. Since I have always thought that my conceptual understanding of electromagnetism could be improved, I was happy to find this book. Because of the first sentence in the preface I knew that I had found the right book! The fundamental concepts are presented in a clear fashion and have given me useful insight.

I found this book to be an excellent primer to the topic. Finally, a book that will hold your hand through some of the "fundementals."

I would strongly recommend this book for any non eletrical engineer wanting to understand this material.

Say what you will, but even the EMC/EMI "guru type" person gets confused once in awhile on the complexities of electromagnetics. So that leaves us "little people" in need of a handy, precise and basic-to-advanced "explainer" to get us back on track. I'm fairly seasoned on EMC but I really like this book and carry it with me quite often on trips for handy reference. It certainly provides for the "big picture" while still adding significant depth. Especially for the beginner to intermediate this book is highly recommended. I have this suspicion the advanced persons don't have it far away either! Congratulations to the author. Perhaps he will follow up with an advanced version on select topics.

If you are not an expert in Electromagnetics and would like to get a broad perspective of the field without going into complex mathematics, this book is the right choice for you. All the explanation is clear and convincing. You will not feel like you are reading a book, but in stead listening to an expert in RF engineer speaking to you. In addition, you will find the references given in separate sub-topics very handy. They leads you directly to the right books when further knowledge in a specific area is required.

(Why 4 stars? Some topics can be given and discussed in more detail.)