This book is different!! Finally, somebody has written a book which explains electromagnets from electrostatics to antennas to waveguides in a way that almost anybody can understand. After all the graduate level electromagnetics courses I took learning about TM modes and sperical Bessel functions, I still couldn't claim that I understood much about electomagnetics - until I read this book. Suddenly all kinds of puzzle pieces are fitting together. I only wish I had been able to read it before I ever took any of those classes. I certainly would have had a much better understanding of and appreciation for what I was learning.

I would recommend this book for any electrical engineer or technician, as well as any non-electrical engineer who wants to understand the basics of electromagnetics. If I was an emags professor, I would definitely make this required reading before I ever put a piece of chalk to the board!

Bravo, Mr. Schmitt! Your matter-of-fact writing style and useful every-day analogies have given me a much better understanding of this otherwise enigmatic subject.


An accessible treatment of a challanging subject   August 10, 2002
22 out of 22 found this review helpful

I'm a Systems Engineer for a major test and measurement equipment manufacturer and have an MS in Electrical Engineering. Since my job responsibilities have begun to move into the area of wireless, I have been looking for a "intro/refresher" on electromagnetics. One of the problems I've had is that books on this subject are either too math-intensive (filled with triple integrals, etc.), not technical enough, or pure theory (with no hints as to how I might actually USE this information)

This book, on the other hand, strikes a rare balance between these extremes. It's rigorous enough technically, but also does something very few books do -- it explains the WHY and the HOW as well. There is a lot of practical advice on how to apply the material in this book as well.

This book has been very useful to me both as background knowledge as well as in solving some very real problems (e.g. in antenna design/analysis).

I buy well over 50 technical books a year, and this is by far one of (if not the) best. Highly recommended.


An excellent book for everyone   October 21, 2003
ojniemin (Finland)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I have been working with RF and Electromagnetics for a few years and still I think that this book was great reading for me. It is not for those who are satisfied if things are working and they already know the basics, rather it is for those who want to know WHY things happen. I bet most active RF designers would have hard time explaining why all the high frequency tricks are needed and at which frequency these should be used. This book answered many of my simple and 'stupid' questions.


One of the best practical references in the area of EM   November 24, 2003
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Initially, I only wanted to check out something from the EMC chapter of the book, particularly about high speed PCB design. Then I found that many of my questions not addressed in Stephen Hall's, Montrose's and both of Howard Johnson's texts are illustrated here with proper answers and cures. The author's judicious use of readable equations and insightful pictorial illustrations makes the text amazingly compact yet rich in practical information. If you're serious about quality of your designs, you will love this text.


I Highly Recommend ThisBook   February 11, 2003
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

This book helped me gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for electromagnetic (EM) theory. The book not only answered many of my questions on the subject, but also helped me sort out and solidify my existing knowledge on EM. I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially students like myself desiring a real grasp on the subject.

The book does a great job of explaining why high frequency circuits behave so differently than low frequency circuits. I now also have a much better conceptual understanding of magnetism, reactive components, parasitic effects, transmission lines, diffraction, and radiation. I was pleased the author included the Relativity and Quantum Physics chapter, since it helped refresh my memory on those subjects.

Many of my fellow classmates majoring in electrical engineering are totally clueless when it comes to understanding the theory behind EM. To many of them an inductor is nothing more than a little circuit symbol and equation. To many of them permittivity and permeability are just numbers. To many of them EM waves arise solely because of a fancy vector identity applied to Maxwell's Equations. I truly hope they find this book.