Notice

We are currently ecperiencing computer (hardware) and financial poblems at the moment, so we will noy be posting as frequently as prviously until the ptoblem is resolved.

Pluto and Charon - Latest Pics

Our far traveler New Horizons is rather awesome.

Here's the latest pic and article of what's going on at Pluto and Charon from National Geiographic.

Jimmy Page and Steven Tyler agree, here. And as an added bonus, listening to the Immigrant Song takes the mind off Susskind's endless promotion of his "Multiverse." Astronomy.

A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations

This is the clearest explanation of Electromagnetism I've seen yet. Daniel Fleish has done a terrific job. Readers at Amazon seem to think so, and I include  the first review there beneath the graphic.

UPDATE: The book even has a dedicated website with many solved problems which you can access here.

By 

R. Markham "roninsf" (CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations (Paperback)

This is the best overview of Maxwell's equations I have ever come across. I cannot praise it enough for it's brilliant clarity. 

If you have taken or are taking an electromagnetism or vector calculus course, you may have run into the classic problem of not being able to see the forest through the trees. These courses can be very dense, and anything that can help give a sense of perspective can be very helpful. Daniel Fleisch's book is just such a tool. It provides a thorough overview of Maxwell's equations with stunning clarity. Each equation is broken down into it's component parts, and the physical significance of each part is thoroughly explained. In this way, not only are the core concepts of Maxwell's equations made clear, but many concepts from vector calculus are also brought out in crystal clarity, (I got much more out of this book than I did the often recommended "Div, Grad, Curl"). It will help you see the "forest through the trees". 

Also of note are the problem sets at the end of each chapter. The problems work very well to reinforce the concepts from each chapter. They are not overly difficult or too simplistic. They are geared specifically at reinforcing concepts. The author has also posted on his web site a set of solutions for every problem, and each of the problems is thoroughly worked out with clear explanations. This is a HUGE plus for anyone picking up this book for self-study. 

In my mind this book is a perfect compliment to an electromagnetism or a vector calculus class (or as a review after having taken such a class). Although the writing is clear enough that one could probably get a lot even without having had a vector calculus class, ideally one would have had at least some minimal exposure to vector calculus. It's not that you need to be an expert in vector calculus; all the concepts are explained very well in the book and the actual calculus you need for solving the problems is minimal, but in my mind the book will work best for those with some exposure to vector calculus. 

My only suggestion to the author would be to include a table summarizing Maxwell's equations, (and perhaps a table of some basic constants). Other than that, this is a perfect book. It is THE standard by which other self-study books ought to be compared. 

Update: When I wrote the above review I was half way through chapter 4 (of five chapters). Having completed the book, I do want to point out that the beginning of chapter 5 ('From Maxwell's Equations to the Wave Equation) does include a summary of Maxwell's equations. It would have been nice to have such a table at the front or back of the book for quick reference, but the summary is there, contrary to what I had originally thought. Chapter five also has a nice summary of the del operator and its use in finding the gradient, divergence, and curl. And finally, chapter five provides a very good physical description of the Divergence Theorem and Stokes' Theorem. So all in all, there is really little one can fault in this book. It's the book to get if you want to see the forest through the trees. 

Molly's Soliloquy - from James Joyce's "Ulysses"

Let's take a break, shall we? I'm indebted to American astrophysicist Bram Boroson for turning me on to the excellent piece of prose you are about to read. I now consider it my second favorite piece after the paragraph with which J.R.R., Tolkien ends The Silmarillion. It speaks of a young woman's love for her beau. I've not read any finer.

For background and why you see a picture of Marilyn Monroe, click here, which will also lead you to a spoken version.

"God of heaven theres nothing like nature the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with the fields of oats and wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going about that would do your heart good to see rivers and lakes and flowers all sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the ditches primroses and violets nature it is as for them saying theres no God I wouldnt give a snap of my two fingers for all their learning why dont they go and create something I often asked him atheists or whatever they call themselves go and wash the cobbles off themselves first then they go howling for the priest and they dying and why why because theyre afraid of hell on account of their bad conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was anybody that made it all who ah that they dont know neither do I so there you are they might as well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him to propose to me yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth and it was leapyear like now yes 16 years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath yes he said I was a flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers all a womans body yes that was one true thing he said in his life and the sun shines for you today yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I knew I could always get round him and I gave him all the pleasure I could leading him on till he asked me to say yes and I wouldnt answer first only looked out over the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the Jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharons and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls and the old castle thousands of years old yes and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you to sit down in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas 2 glancing eyes a lattice hid for her lover to kiss the iron and the wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night we missed the boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and the pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes"

The Lightness of Being .... Frank Wilczek

The Lightness of Being by Frank Wilczek is my latest read and a wonderful introduction to the field of QCD, that is to say Quantum Chromodynamics, which explains the internal structure of protons and neutrons .... that to say that of which all of us are made.

It's a delightful book and I recommend it. Frank was one of the founders of the field as a grad student in Princeton, and once this theory was developed The Standard Model of particle physics was developed soon after.

So if you like quarks and gluons but can't seem to "get it", Wilczek's wonderful elucidation and amusing sense of humor will get you far closer than you've ever been. I'm glad I bought it.