of such texts has been undertaken many times since the original discoveries cited above. These works are well known to all students of physics and electrical engineering.
What can a new author attempt to achieve in writing another text on electromagnetic theory beyond what has been created by the contemporaries, Stratton, Slater, Schelkunoff, Smythe, and others? He can of course take advantage of the rapid advances in new applications, using these as illustrative examples of principles and working these applications into practice problems. This sort of revision may add interest to what may otherwise be a somewhat dry subject, but it has little teaching value, since most electromagnetic principles are best explained in terms of very simple analogies. More appropriate for a new text in this field would be a shift in emphasis to embrace the technical fields of current importance. This approach was well illustrated when, at the wartime peak of interest in microwaves and radar, J. C. Slater undertook the writing of a small volume on electromagnetic theory, entitled Microwave Transmission. At this time similar opportunities exist for slanting any new text, and John Kraus' background in antenna work could have offered him the same opportunity for emphasis had he so chosen to narrow his field of coverage.
Contrary to the latter suggestion, Electromagnetics devotes the first six chapters to statics. Here the treatment is highly conventional as is the book as a whole. One is forced to conclude that this volume consists primarily of a collection of well developed teaching notes ; and, if an instructor is in need of a text for class work, John Kraus' book may serve that purpose with a little less strain on the students than would the writings of the other contemporary authors cited.
C.W. HARGENS