electricity

This book has "NEGETIVE VALUE"!!! As soon as you read the first chapter of the book, you will find tons of error. It is compeletly unclear and confusing. The publisher should stop selling the book and pay back each person the money because that is so ridiculus for a technical book.

This is a very good book to have. The author is an excellent professor that I learned a lot from his books. It is a very helpful book for all of the professional Electrical Engineers at all levels, I have been in the field for over ten years and I do believe this is the Power Engineering book that you are looking for to own.

While this book provides some good basic information, it has several serious errors. It covers good material and all the important topics for a beginning book. However, one of the most notable errors are a graph of current in an inductor on page 159, which does not match the circuit that is associated with it. Particularly, the current is shown decreasing gradually after the switch, which is in series with the inductor, is opened. Another problem is the statement that any two rectivier diodes can be paralleled and the current ratings will add, which is simply not true. These errors show a lack of careful writing and reviewing. I think this book is not worth the price and can be misleading.

I am an Electronics Instructor at the Community College level. I have used this book for a number of years as the text in my introduction course. The course is for those who may work a little with electricity/electronics but won't be an electronics technician. The book is laid out in a very readable style, with good examples and problems. I reccommend it as a beginning text for those with an interest in Electronics. I should warn potential readers that some of the "sample Projects" will need modification to work. I also recommend the matching Lab Book.

In the lack of a good books on Geometric algebra and calculus (in David Hestenes' style) for physicists, the book on electrodynamics by W. Baylis looks like a Necessary evil.

The publishers did thier best to make the book at least look good. Unfortunately, the author could do better.

The annoying 'americanisms' and often inappropriate 'pseudo-scientific jargon' did not help the book.

Poor understanding of physics (not saying the geometrica algebra and analysis) is very surprising and unfortunate for the university professor.

However, with some work on the part of the reader, the book could be somewhat useful. A lot of examples and exercises is also helpful.

Highly recommend to compare Mr. Baylis' style with clear and thoughtful style of David Hestenes (see his "New foundations for physics". Unfortunately the price for that is VERY high ~ $250 )

Again, the book could be much better, but in the said vacuum, is a Necessary evil. Buy it ! ( if you have some spare money and not afraid of the strangers with professor titles)

Maxwell's theory of Electrodynamics is considerably more complicated than Newton's Mechanics. The latter deals with concrete objects (particles, rigid bodies, etc.) while the former deals with intangible "fields" distributed in space, a concept that took many years to evolve and gain acceptance. It is therefore not surprising that Electrodynamics has motivated a variety of important scientific developments, designed either to simplify it conceptually or to make it consistent with Mechanics. In physics, fundamental contradictions between Electrodynamics and Mechanics spurred Einstein to develop Special Relativity. In mathematics, the most well-known development is vector analysis, introduced by Gibbs to simplify Maxwell's equations. Unfortunately, the even deeper simplifications introduced by Hamilton (based on quaternions) and Clifford (based on Clifford algebra) have not gained wide acceptance because they are somewhat more technically demanding. Thus almost all physics and engineering textbooks on electrodynamics use vector analysis, and very few students and researchers are even aware of the tremendous power offered by quaternionic and Clifford analysis.

In this regard, the book by Baylis is a real blessing. By choosing the simplest geometric algebra (complex quaternions, known in quantum mechanics as the Pauli algebra), Baylis manages to use the full power of Clifford algebra without giving up the familiar notation of vector analysis (gradient, curl, divergence). The only new ingredient is the associative product of two vectors, which unifies their inner product and their cross product and leads to tremendous new possibilities. Students and workers in the field will love the resulting beauty and simplicity, and especially the continuity of notation and concepts with the mainstream literature. Although the Pauli algebra is usually associated with nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, Baylis amply demonstrates that it is equally able to handle relativistic aspects (such as the unified electromagnetic field and Lorentz transformations) when the concept of three-dimensional vectors is replaced by four-dimensional (space-time) "paravectors." Well done!

The McGraw-Hill cover misrepresents this book. It may preach to the choir but makes no converts. Concepts are long, obscure or ignored. The print is tight and some tables are not legible in places. The reader will learn little. Pedagogy is not the authors' strength. Having learned the basics of electricity in school I hoped for some of what the publisher promises, but was very dissappointed and 60 bucks poorer. Avoid my mistake.

I work for a major electrical contractor, and the project I am working on is in the 500 million dollar catagory. This project is re-modeling a major government facility with multi-tennant and varied design projects within the whole project. This project is design build and fast track. This Handbook is extremely valuable especially when used in conjunction with the McGraw hill electrical code handbook. Anyone working on such a project should have this book,believe me it is excelent!

I bought this book hoping to get learn how to design a step up transformer ( a lower voltage to a higher one). The information in this book can be divided into two categories:

1) things you already know 2) things that you are not interested in

No attempt is made to present material in an intuitive format. Another weakness of the book is that several fromulas are presented with variables that are neither defined or explained. If you are interested in building you're own transformers don't waste your money on this book. The only value it has is as a reference for few formulas. There is little practical, useful information if you are looking to construct a specialty transformer for a design project.

This book is geared for those who have some fundamental background in magnetics design. There are probably better books for beginners (i.e. Transformer and Inductor Design Handbook or Delmar's Standard Guide to Transformers) but this book has invaluable discussions on design optimizations and applications such as rectifier transformers. Note that transformer design is not as straight forward as discussed in most "basic" electronics books. A thorough understanding of design principles (i.e. flux density, magnetizing force, current density, etc...) is of absolute importance. This book sufficiently covered those design principles.

Ms. Chambers, the author, was at Pennwell Publishing (natural gas & power industry publisher) at the time of this book's publication. By formal training, she's a journalist.

This book, as I read it, appeared to me to be a mosiac of just snippets and facts that may have been accreted over her publishing career, with perhaps, a most limited appreciation, true feel and understanding of the natural gas and power industry. Translation: not that there has to be a "passion" about this, or any industry, but if she does harbor one, as a genuine interest and concern, regrettably, it did not come across in this book.

My interpretation is as an engineer. But still, and even without such a degree of discerning scrutiny, the author could
have been provided much better checks to copy before it was published. The book's flow is somewhat checkered: It could have been assembled much better with both logic, how it all fits together, full comprehensive scope, and not least - data and charts given. When we look at graphs without telling us what the vertical axis is (no units, but dimensionless numbers of what?), what are we looking at?

For the non-techie, you may get something out of this book. For those that are really not that right-hemisphere and like specifics, keep away; you'll end up somewhat dizzy.

Shame, I expected lots more and it's still a very rich subject area/topic for the right work to pull it all together.

Chambers covers a lot of material in enough detail to promote an understanding of the broad issues involved in natural gas and its relation to an increasingly deregulated electric power market -- but not in so much detail that a reader new to the subject will be lost and confused. Certain topics are treated a bit too roughly, a good example being the discussion of deregulation, which skims the surface of the government's complicity in impeding the NG industry's progress and doesn't frame the issues as clearly as it could. The book's editing is not the best; there are spelling and grammar errors, and some of the graphics are unclear. Chambers' writing, however, is generally concise and lucid, and her topics are on target. The glossary is helpful. Altogether a book that does what it seems intended to do. Now, if Pennwell could just sharpen the editing and bring the price down a bit. . .

Smeloff is an avowed leftist from the SMUD board of directors. His main claim to fame is closing the commercial nuclear reactor pictured on his book cover. What nerve. After that he shepards in Freeman to run SMUD -- what a disaster. Ask ex-Governor Davis. California suffers from a lack of generation and Smeloff helped remove over 800MWe from the California grid in 1989. I would not spend five cents on this book.

Reinventing Electric Utilities provides an excellent summation of the evolution of the electric utility industry and an easy to understand overview of energy deregulation. The authors explain the legal and technical aspects of deregulation in a format both understandable to the novice and with technical savvy fitting any professional. This book helps anyone understand the effects of deregulation on the future of energy and how all of us can promote clean power generation and transportation.

Concise collection of texts treating all aspects of Renewable Energy in a grown up manner. Valuable as a starter's information source but also for experts.

Concise collection of texts treating all aspects of Renewable Energy in a grown up manner. Valuable as a starter's information source but also for experts. Covers all the aspects of renewable energy sources and many ways to transform one form of energy to another. Spans from biomass, biogas, solar collectors, solar cells to fuel cell cogeneration.

A class of 25, two tutors and myself agree: this book is horrible! Please do not try to teach a class with this book unless you are a very good lecturer. The book assumes too much and in problem examples jumps from place to place without explanation.

It is very clear explained.The topics covers all i need if i have enough money to buy a physics book i would like to buy this one.The problems and the figures of the book are wonderful.

This book will leave you wanting. Wanting to stay on the grid! ... It lacks a lot but most of all it lacks Pictures, Illustrations, something to help visualize how to do what the author is talking about. Pick up any "how to" mannuel. What is it filled with? Pictures, Illustrations. This book has 3 maybe 4. Besides that, it is poorly written.

The book is also, shall we say , "lacking in value". If you get my meaning. I have never done a review before but from the review guidelines, I assume amazon will not allow me to be any more blunt than that. Of course if you have money to burn you could use it for your wood store to fire your boiler to produce steam in your own personal turbine. Now there's a idea. Someone should write a book about it.

I liked this book! What a wonderful alternative to loud, noisy, smoking, gas eating, motor generators. Ritchie writes from his own experience, and leads you through the entire prosess of how he built his own solar system. What's also interesting, he built a system that is very cost effective.

If you 30 or 40 thousand dollars, you can get someone else to build your system for you, that will power your entire home. If that's what you want, don't buy this book.

You will have to look long and hard to find the kind of information that Ritchie from his own experienc has put into this book.

There are plenty of myths about solar electricty and someone needed to write do-it-yourself book showing how simple and inexpensive a solar electric system can be.

Five stars for this one.