The study of Maxwell's equations is an essential step towards understanding electromagnetism. They are generally introduced after the student has become familiar with electric and magnetic quantities. This new book emphasizes the unity of electromagnetism by approaching Maxwell's equations through Coulomb's law and the transformations of special relativity. It therefore reverses the historical approach, since the theory of special relativity was hewn by Einstein from optics and electromagnetism.
Chapter 1 presents a useful survey of special relativity. It is followed by calculations of the force between moving charges, showing that the weak magnetic interaction can be interpreted as a second-order relativistic effect. The electric and magnetic fields near a moving charge are used in Chapter 4 to develop Maxwell's equations for systems of point charges moving with uniform velocities; accelerating charges are considered in an Appendix. The scalar and vector potentials are treated in Chapter 5 and relativistic electromagnetism in the final Chapter. Problems are included in most Chapters.
The book has been extremely carefully written and is easy to follow. The author is a thoughtful and helpful guide, but the quick student may find the style too slow and repetitive. The book is recommended to those who have some knowledge of electromagnetic theory --it should help to clarify their understanding of this important subject. The MKSA system of units (S.I.) has been used.