electricity

For a topic as lovely (powerful and mystical) as this - the Northern Lights - its really sad how quickly the author reverts to sappy science drama writing. I was really disappointed by this book and am baffled by the other glowing reviews. All I can think is that this format - the Ken Burns approach to narrative drama in an actual historical event - has become so ubiquitous that people expect it in their science writing too.

This book is a very intriguing biography of one of the great minds of the early twentieth century. It tells the story of Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland and his obsession with the aurora borealis. The book starts off with his first expedition in Lappland, observing the Northern Lights from a mountaintop observatory over a winter season. Jago then takes us through the results of the expedition, and Birkeland's dreams for further research, and his inventive projects for funding his research. She follows Birkland through the rest of his life, including his role in starting Norskhydro, his trip to Egypt, and his death in Japan. What struck me about Birkeland's genius was how he turned design failures or accidents into new discoveries and further inventions- -how a high-voltage switch became a magnetic cannon, and how a magnetic cannon was transformed into a fertilizer furnace. Jago's descriptions of Birkeland's expeditions carry the details that are usually only found in travel narratives.

The narration by Michael Cumpsty is quite clear throughout, and I was especially impressed by his ease with pronouncing the Danish, Egyptian, and Japanese names. One of the challenges of listening to a book of this type is following the scientific explanations orally. Although I got a basic idea of Birkeland's theories, I think reading them on paper instead of listening to them on tape would have been a little easier. I also missed the footnotes and biography that must have surely been available in the print version. Nevertheless, the tape was quite enjoyable and very informative.

Dear Lucy Jago,
I really enjoyed this book! I read the complete title so I knew it was about the MAN who unlocked the secrets of the Aurora Borealis... not about the "powerful and mystical Northern Lights". What an amazing man he must have been. Thanks for showing us his human side, strengths and weaknesses. I'm still left wondering what else he might have been able to accomplish if he had lived longer (and had a more healthy life style!)
I thought this book had a good balance between the technical aspects and storytelling. I didn't want a physics book about Aurora, if I did, then I would have gotten one. I wanted a history of science book, I wanted to know the "story", I wanted to meet the people, I wanted to know the community reaction at the time. I got all that and more.
Thanks for your fine work, I had an enjoyable few hours reading it.

It's definitely for first year's students.But its title is very attractive and exagerrated. I have sent it back and taken my money.It's not worth a cent..
Especially I have hate the blue drawn circuit diagrams..like a cartoon magazine..

I am doing a course in Circuit Analysis so I bought this book to supplement my course notes(got this book for about 2 months now.). The book really helped me by giving me clear explainations of concepts and details that were not emphasized by my lecturers. The prose used in the book is very formal unlike my course notes(,which gives everything in point form). There are no jokes or small stories on the margin of the pages(it would be good if they had some...to make it more interesting). The book may bore you if you are reading for pleasure LoL!. The examples are great, by the way.

The book is superb. But I would love it if the authors made me feel more at home by including jokes, quotes or stories. Or included some real life situations. I intend to get another book to go with this.

I first learned about circuit analysis about 10 years ago though one course at college. This book was great for refreshing my memory and helping to finally see the simplicity in Op-Amps. I recommend this book for non-electrical engineers who have jobs that require some electrical engineering.

The best things about this book are also the worst things about this book. For starters, Glendinning uses a truly 19th century voice in the telling of this 19th century story, but relies on 20th century sensibilities at the same time.

The author wants us to empathize with Charlotte's dilemma of having to choose between conforming to the everyday, accepted practices and norms of 19th century womanhood (as best embodied in the depiction of Charlotte's mother) and rejecting the old world for a new world where women can be more than wives and mothers (as exemplified by Miss Pauline). The problem is that Charlotte is not nearly independent enough to make this choice on her own. She must rely on the men in her life to help her with this decision.

Unfortunately for Charlotte, the men in this novel and throughout her life never seem to be able to sway her in any one direction. Each of them is obsessed with his own endeavors, whether it be electricity, wealth or apples and is never much of a catalyst or inhibitor for Charlotte, leaving her aimless and with no direction.

Which brings me to the inherent flaw in this novel. While Glendinning wants us to think that she's written a coming of age tale about this 19th century heroine, what she's really done is given us a portrait of a dependent, weak and frail female who is solely motivated by the men who pass in and out of her life, like an electric current slithering through cables, at the yank of a chain.

This book is powerful, intelligent and ultimately leaves you hanging. It would be great for a book club.

This interesting novel contrasts strength and timidity, old and
new, happiness and pain, and of course darkness and light.

I was intrigued by Charlotte's strong, strange Aunt Susannah,
her creepy, reactive father, stoic, attractive Peter Fisher,
and the rich and appealing George Godwin.

Charlotte eagerly tastes life and love, and learns and is
taught all sorts of new, interesting ideas and considerations,
some quite ahead of their time.

The narration of this story is well-descibed and evocative,
and Charlotte was a believable character. Recommended.

I heartily concur with Piskorski's earlier review except I think he was a bit generous with the stars. It seems that this may be a problem with VERY POOR editing. I hope the publisher reads this. I gave a similar review of Greiner's Stat Mech book. I don't read German; so, I can't comment on the original books in this series, but the translations are extraordinarily sloppy.

There are numerous incorrect equation references. Typos in equations are abundant - often the incorrect symbol or letter appears. The grammar is sloppy - the translator should be ashamed. As far as references to other work, I didn't see any. A very serious omission in an academic text. However, there is a nice history of optics and E&M at the end of the book; maybe this compensates for the lack of references a bit.

The typos and mistakes make this book unacceptable for an undergraduate text. Instead I would highly recommend David Griffiths' "Introduction to Electrodynamics" - by far the class act for undergraduate E&M texts.

I do agree with the previous reviews that the book is of great didactic value. Indeed, the books which offer an indepth knowledge on electromagnetism are very often so complicated that they put the student off (e.g. Jackson). Other books strive for simplicity and offer a didactic approach at the expense of thoroughness.

Greiner's book combines the two aims. It is very detailed and at the same time even the undergraduate student is able to understand it.

There is, however, one BIG problem. The book is fraught with errors. Being a junior lecturer at a Polish university I had to prepare a course on electrodynamics so I read the whole book paying attention to the details.

The first problem is the language. As a native speaker of Polish I am not an expert, but you do not have to be one to notice grammar or spelling mistakes. Also, some indices seem to have their origin in the German terms instead of English ones (e.g. the index a - ausserhalb - outside).

The derivations and formulae are another problem. Very often reading a formula you will be confused because a wrong letter has been used or a symbol is in the wrong place.

Referring is also a problem of this edition of the book. Very often the number of a formula to which a specific problem refers is wrong. You will have to find the right formula yourself (this is especially visible in Chapter 14).

I am really sorry to say this, but for the above reasons I would NOT RECOMMEND buying this book in its present form. Wait for the second edition (corrected I hope) and in the meantime use the German version or borrow the book from the library.

This text is a real gem!The author strives for educational excellence and costantly achieves his aim.This text is an advanced course in electromagnetic theory,but the author does not requires from you ,you are Einstein or have mystic power of discerning as too often happens when you buy an advanced text,instead he introduces in an exceptionally clear way all the mathematics you need.I think this work belongs to the best German tradition of lucidity and completeness.I have learned a lot of new things about electromanetics,reinforced what i just knew and enjoyed a lot also the biographies of famous phycisists.I hope there will be soon a release in English of his two books of mechanics.

Basic Wiring was and is a major disappointment.
Much of the 128 pages are dedicated to pictorials of electrical components.
The photographs are of high quality, but who wants to know what the"face plate of a manual timer switch" looks like?
That took up half a page.
Too basic to help any one but the totally uninformed.

Its just OK...you'll need another book to feel comfortable enoug to do actual electrical work

This is easily the best basic introduction I've seen. Clear, well-illustrated, neither assuming prior experience nor treating the reader as a dummy, it can take you from Zero to rewiring branch circuits with confidence and safety.

I really can't recommend it highly enough! I already had experience, but picked up useful bits from it, and have loaned a copy to several friends.

The T/L Home Repair and Improvement series is good in general (more than I can say for most series), but especially this volume.

This oversized paperback is short on details and long on common knowledge. It's mostly just a few simple discriptions/reviews of stuff you can buy that's not dependant on household current, including solar battery chargers and 12 volt power inverters, which contradicts the title of the book. The best parts of the book was a short discription of how ancient structures in the middle east kept cool (many gravity fed buried masionary air tubes) and the "secret" to how certain native tribes dwellings remained confortable during winter and summer (mass/thick walls), but it gave little more info than that and you'd have to build a new house to do either. Very light reading.

Someday you will find yourself without electricty. Either you will be deprived of it, say, from a power outage, or you will be somewhere where elecricity is not. You need to know how to deal with it.This book is a positive step in making these lacks as painless as possible. Anita Evangelista tells us "how to" based on her own experience, having lived on a farm without elecricity for a number of years. You can either guide your destiny or you can be a victim of sociey or circumstance. Make the right choices. Buy a copy of this book. If you know someone living in the country, where power outages are a way of life, buy them a copy, too, right away. I recommend this book. I have used it.

I liked the book. I love the idea of cool air tubes from the ground cooling your house without electricity.

She also made good points about the economics of those of us on-grid attempting to save money by living without electricity...if you don't do it right, it'll cost a lot more!

This book's high marks comes from the chapter on circuit analysis techniques, and the chapter on op amps. The section on circuit analysis techniques like Mesh Currents, super position, and particularly the Node Voltage technique is will get you through a 1st semester Circuit Analysis course.

Op Amps were always slippery to me, however, this book made them a lot clearer.

I used it as a means of dusting off the cob webs that began building up a few years back. The Section on Thevenin's and Norton's Theorems cut to the chase and were effective.

There are some sections however, that are weak. Like on mutual inductance, and transformers. The author just fires these formulae at you, and draws conclusions at the end of the section. There's no derivation at all. I would've liked seeing a shorter and better explained derivation of whats in the text book. Something at least to qualify the formulas.

I don't know... looking through the book, it covers a lot of material i've long forgotten about like phasors, and locus diagrams, and reactance. yet somehow, I still seem not to be satisfied when i search for or read something in this book.
That's why 3 stars and a so-so rating.

This is book is a very good supplement for a class in introductory circuit analysis. The techniques are explained in a clear and concise manner. The examples and exercises provided are very appropriate and serve to provide a good understanding in the subject matter. My only complaints about the book are that some areas are not covered as thoroughly as I would have liked (for example, the section on Thevenin and Norton Equivalents) and that some techniques of circuit analysis were left out. However, many other things that were not clearly explained in textbooks were made comprehensible with the help of this book.

This book is a Schaum's series book. So we can assume that it is accessible and straightforward. This is a wonderful text especially for a quick round-up of the concepts before a test or an exam. The worked examples are quite representative and mastery of the text can be gained quite easily. An excellent read.

I used this as a supplement to 'Engineering Circuit Analysis' by Hayt & Kemmerly.

The Tiper physics textbook, while excellent for an engineering student, lacks much of the theoretical rigor desireable in a physics curriculum. A great many of the problems at the end of the chapter prove to be remarkably simple, and boil down to hunting through the book for the right constants and the right equation to plug into to find the answer. Actual problem solving skills are not developed for a physicist. The chapters on circuits, while excellent for electrical engineering majors, are almost a waste of time for a physics major. Even though the textbook is very thorough with what it teaches, it does not teach at a very high level nor does it prepare physics majors for more difficult future classes. Having used the Kleppner and Kolenkow Introduction to Mechanics textbook for Intro. to Classical Mechanics, shifting gears to something as trivial in difficulty as the Tippler for Electrostatics just leads to frustration over spending more time finding the right constant than actually solving the problem.

This is a calc-based physics text.

Quick Reference: the material in this volume covers electic fields, electric potential, electrostatics, current (DC and AC) and circuits, magnetic fields, inductors, Maxwell's Equations/EM Waves, properties of light, mirror/lense optics, and interference/diffraction.

Review: the chapter on Maxwell's Equations and Electromagnetic Waves was exceptionally bad. It should have tied Electricity and Magnetism together, but just leaves the reader confused. The rest of the text makes everything more complicated than it actually is; Tipler won't give the concepts of the reader, the reader has to discover them on her own. The examples are not a sufficient level for the problems in the book. This book is NOT FOR SELF-STUDY.

Value of Book and a Better Text: the value of this book is minimal. For the price that is being asked (for just a single-volume paperback) is absurd. In place of Tipler's book, I would refer anyone to "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Serway; this book is sufficient for self-study, which is a quality you really need in a physics text. This book offers the material of 3 volumes of Tipler's books (the 3rd volume of Tipler's series is modern physics) at half the price. One of my friends has actually completely turned over to Serway, despite that her assigned text is Tipler (she doesn't even open her Tipler text anymore), and is now doing better in her class.

This book is incredably clear and well-written. The illustrations are beautiful and the sample problems are illuminating. It's especially good for developing an intuitive understanding of the basic physics equations, without making the kind of committment the Feynman Lectures demand. I thought it was excellent preparation for the MCAT as well.

Don't know if Uncle Abdul make the mistakes or the typesetter or printer but there are mistakes in the book and someone could get hurt. Of course we can get hurt driving a car too. The biggest thing to remember, electric play is a high risk activity. From Electric Play Toys, Techniques, and Safety written in 1982:
There are three kinds of electricity: static electricity, high-frequency electricity, and electrical current. Current is what comes out of an electrical socket or a battery. There are two ways to measure electricity, voltage and amperage. "Voltage" is the oomph that gets electricity where it's going; "amperage" is the amount of electricity being moved. Amperage is what kills people.
If you want to play around with this see one of the few experts in the field for hands on training and not learn from a book or the Internet

This is not an easily read or easily understood book about erotic electrical play. Uncle Abdul expects you to follow along with his venture into science and technology but frankly it gets sort of boring and tedious. A much better introduction would have focused on basic guidelines and then examples of how it works -- expanding on section three of the book which highlights electrical play via some short fiction.

Everything you need to know, and then some, about electricity and the human body.

This Book is too Outdated.Buy this Book Instead "The Complete Guide To Home Wiring"This Book is 2oo Times Better Then Wiring Simplified.

I'm another repeat customer. My last copy was recently taken out by a plumbing leak and I don't want to be without a copy any longer than necessary. I personally like the book because, although it may not cover every subject (the only one I've noticed missing was also installing a subpanel), when it covers a subject it *really* covers the subject.

Unlike most of the other wiring books I've seen that a DYIer might buy, this book isn't just a bunch of high-gloss pictures with minimal text that only shows what happens on the "happy path" where everything works out just right. It discusses a lot of real world issues like voltage drop and working with old wiring systems that most of the other books I've seen don't even admit the existance of.

The book is quite often used as a textbook for beginning electricians with good reason. When I wear this copy out I'm sure I'll go looking for another.

I bought a copy of the 31st edition when it was new in 1976. My comments are based on that, since I don't have the new edition yet.

I use it all the time -- it's just as valid today as it was then. (I'm sure the code has changed, but the basics haven't.) If you need to do basic wiring and also want to understand the fundamentals of electricity and wiring, this book is not only sufficient; it will keep you out of trouble and danger. I'm not a pro, but a skilled do-it-yourselfer. I've never encountered a wiring situation for which the answer wasn't in this book -- and I've done some pretty fancy wiring.

I'm one person who LIKES the old-style writing used in this book. Tomorrow I'm going to do some outdoor, underground wiring and once again, the book tells me everything I need to know.

Granted, if you're doing sophisticated stuff, this may not be for you. But for the common guy doing straightforward wiring around the house, the shop or the farm, this book is just great. (The section on farm wiring is a lot of fun -- it includes basics that are explained simply and understandably. This is stuff you'll use whether you're on a farm or not.)

It occurred to me that I ought to get the current edition -- that's why I'm here.

Richter has served me well for over 25 years. By the way: I paid $1.39 for my old copy!