Baigrie presents a concise and systematic overview of ideas and discoveries that led to our present understanding of electricity and magnetism. Historical drawings and experimental schematics assist the reader throughout. He gives fair treatment of conflicting ideas, a critical undertaking for anyone attempting to understand the process of scientific discovery and the ideas that develop from these discoveries.For anyone wanting to learn how these two fundamental aspects of modern life were developed, Baigrie's book is a great place to start. Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates; two-year technical program students. * Choice *
Editor's Choice Baigrie delivers a fascinating and detailed treatise on the history of magnetism and electricity.This book is perfect reading for advanced high school students and beyond, with no upper limit to who would learn and enjoy the new information found in its pages. * SB&F *
Using his classroom lectures, Baigrie provides a text that is accessible to students and general readers, as well as specialists, and traces the development of the science of electricity and magnetism from the early modern period to the first decade of the twentieth century. He focuses on concept formation and novel device production, while technological applications are only mentioned in passing and included in postscripts on power and communication technologies. Individuals are emphasized over institutions. Taking a broad perspective, he also does not explore the details of mathematical technicalities. Chapters cover early investigations and the emergence of systematic theory to charged particles of matter and the atom and the new physics of the twentieth century. * SciTech Book News *
