Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory (4th Edition) [Hardcover]

John R. Reitz (Author), Frederick J. Milford (Author), Robert W. Christy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201526247 | ISBN-13: 978-0201526240 | Publication Date: November 10, 1992 | Edition: 4

This revision is an update of a classic text that has been the standard electricity and magnetism text for close to 40 years. The fourth edition contains more worked examples, a new design and new problems. Plus, the new edition provides increased emphasis on electromagnetic waves and the solution of numerical problems in electromagnetism by means of a personal computer.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John R. Reitz (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1949) was a member of the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory from 1949 to 1954, and a consultant to the Lab until 1964. He was a faculty member of Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University) from 1954 to 1965 and was appointed Professor of Physics in 1960. From 1965 to 1987 he was Manager of the physics department at Ford Motor Company. Currently he is a consultant in physics and educational software.

Dr. Reitz has written approximately 50 scientific papers in the fields of solid state physics, magnetohydrodynamics, energy conversion, and applications of electromagnetic theory. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 630 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley; 4 edition (November 10, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201526247
• ISBN-13: 978-0201526240
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,138,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Detailed, but not thorough, March 16, 2002

By 

Martin Miller "glires" (Dodge City, KS, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

This text covers several topics that other books tend to overlook, making it a frequent choice for undergraduate courses. However, the effectiveness of the book is dependent primarily on the quality of the counterpart teacher, as the book is quite difficult to understand on its own.
Many of the proofs in the book omit the most difficult and complicated steps, which are above the level of an undergraduate to be able to work on their own. Also, the book chooses to rigorously prove certain Electromagnetic properties while completely omitting other while still assuming that the reader has a full knowledge of both.
As a reference, this book also falls short in that, in the fourth edition at least, most of the important constants and equations are left scattered throughout the text and not included in the summaries. Also, many of the fundamental mathematical tools are not presented in their entirety and instead rely on the completion of the problems at the end of the chapters. While this is good in that it motivates the student to do the calculations themselves, it offers no recourse to a student who has made a mistake in any problem or who lacks a preexisting intuitive knowledge of the material.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not to be used as a reference or self study, October 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

I'm writing this review to bolster the review written by glires. I believe that glires's review is very accurate. This book assumes the reader already has a working knowledge of electromagnetism.

This is not a book for self-study. If you want a self study book (or a light reference), I would recommend using David J. Griffiths book or some other book for introductory EMAG. (The book I originally learned from is no longer in print so I can't really recommend it).

That being said, once you get into chapter 3, the book is excellent. This book also uses the paradigm that solving problems is how you learn the theory. So, as glires noted, much of the proofing is left for you to do in the problems at the end of each chapter.

Also as glires noted, this is not a useful reference. There is no single location where all constants and formulas are listed.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine and clear treatment of electrodynamics, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

RMC is a clear textbook about electrodynamics. You don't have to have much previos knowledge about the subject to follow the theory, but you should be familiar with the basics of vector analysis. There are quite many examples and the problems are reasonably difficult (answers are provided).As a whole this book covers the theory well and some of the applications too.