Electric Machinery Fundamentals (McGraw-Hill Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering) [Hardcover]

Stephen Chapman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072465239 | ISBN-13: 978-0072465235 | Publication Date: October 3, 2003 | Edition: 4

Electric Machinery Fundamentals continues to be a best-selling machinery text due to its accessible, student-friendly coverage of the important topics in the field. Chapman's clear writing persists in being one of the top features of the book.

Although not a book on MATLAB, the use of MATLAB has been enhanced in the fourth edition. Chapman has also added some new applications, as well as many new problems have been added.

Electric Machinery Fundamentals is also accompanied by a website the provides solutions for instructors, as well as source code, MATLAB tools, and links to important sites for students.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 744 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math; 4 edition (October 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072465239
• ISBN-13: 978-0072465235
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sets an Excellent Standard, October 4, 2005

By 

B. C. Chan "Electrical Engineer" (Australia and Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Electric Machinery Fundamentals (McGraw-Hill Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering) (Hardcover)

I have three standard textbooks on electric machines, and the best one by far is Stephen Chapman's Electric Machinery Fundamentals (fourth edition). Chapman has the rare ability to strike a golden balance between theory and practice, and between rigour and informality, such that the theoretical actually illuminates the practical. His discussion on power transformers is the best I have seen anywhere, and he maintains that same high quality throughout the book. Along the way, he has even managed to correct a subtle misconception that I had held for several years concerning Lenz's law. The print quality is superb and the diagrams are sharp and clear. I would like to answer a comment that another reviewer had against this book, namely, that this book uses log or semilog scales. I think we should be grateful that Mr. Chapman had the good judgment to use log or semilog scales, or else we are going to have a book that is hundreds of miles long and wide!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment, September 5, 2008

By 

ME & EE student (Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Electric Machinery Fundamentals (McGraw-Hill Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering) (Hardcover)

This book (4/ed) seems like a first draft that has since been expanded (copy&paste) and reorganized but never actually finalized. For instance, the order of presention of DC and AC machinery has been reversed since the 1st ed., but regrettably the AC material now placed first uses concepts introduced much later. The first two or three chapter are decent, but then the book falls apart, becoming more of a flawed summary of various machineries.

There are numerous errors throughout; while these on their own do not significantly degrade the quality, they do reflect that little effort has been made since the first edition. The text feels superfical; it leaves very few traces of either true commitment to teaching or of genuine interest in fundamental concepts from the author. (Had the author cut down on the amount of material covered, he'd be in a better position to improve his presentation of the fundamentals in future editions.)

Fitzgerald's classic Electric Machinery (6/ed) eloquently presents fundamental concepts and is better in all aspects, including the narrative.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre for class, not bad for a reference, February 15, 2009

By 

Rod M. Holland "rodholland" (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Electric Machinery Fundamentals (McGraw-Hill Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering) (Hardcover)

I actually taught a junior level class from this book. I didn't like it for teaching. It felt like I was doing Electric Machinery Details, not Fundamentals. Curiously, my copy of this book has been floating around work for awhile now, and gets used quite often...mostly because it does have lots of details. Between this book and the Shaum's outline for electric power systems, it seems to get almost everything done.

In short, if you could pick this book up for cheap (say below $40-$50), then I'd consider it. Otherwise I think you can collect a few other books out there out of the used sections and get the same job done.

Just as a matter of record, I think more than $100 for any book is just plain outrageous (and I won't pay it). So you can use that as a gauge for how much this book is worth to you.