Good 'Intro to electricity/magnetism basics' book

kirab

Hey all,

I'm currently self-studying some basic electricity and magnetism for my 2nd semester of EE next year which has a "Fundamentals of Electricity" course. Now I haven't done any electricity-related stuff since my senior year of HS and I am frankly a little bit weaker than I would like to be in this area.

I'm reading through some college physics book I found in someone's trash but it doesn't seem all that great to me. The concepts are skimmed over and not descriptive or in-depth; leading to a poor theoretical background which I know I am going to need. So I was wondering if someone had any books in mind? Specifically, the topics I'm looking into in my book are: electrostatics, DC/AC circuits and electromagnetism -- since this is all that this book offers in this area. I'd like to get some firm footing in electricity in general before I move onto circuits though (for which "The Art of Electronics" by H&H is supposedly great, but I'm not sure how much non-circuit stuff they cover).

The course description for my 2nd semester course looks like this: electricity/magnetism review, circuit analysis, resistive circuits, nodal and mesh analysis, network theorems. Natural & forced response of RL & RC circuits. Sinusoidal steady-state analysis, frequency response and power in AC circuits. Op-amp circuits.

Does anyone have any suggestions on books I should look into if I want to be ready for this course (a non-calculus treatment is preferred BTW)?

Thanks!

Poop-Loops

I have the Art of Electronics. Only circuits and stuff, no E&M. I also have E&M by Griffiths. NO circuit stuff, really.

The two topics are very related, but you don't need one for the other. Knowing EM won't really help you with circuits and vice-versa, in my experience at least.

nicksauce

I'm sure a freshman college text like Halladay or Serway/Jewett would suffice.

kirab

I think you guys are going to have to be more specific, even if I do find the book in question, since I'm not really all that familiar with them I won't know for sure :D

las3rjock

If you want to learn/review a 1st-year university physics course on electricity and magnetism, I would recommend Edward Purcell's Electricity and Magnetism (Berkeley Physics Course Volume II). In particular, this book is an excellent bridge between physics and introductory circuit theory.

From the syllabus you've provided, it sounds like the course you'll be taking is a standard first-course in electrical engineering. Typical textbooks for this course include Alexander & Sadiku's Fundamentals of Electric Circuits and Nilsson & Riedel's Electric Circuits. I would encourage you to read Horowitz & Hill's The Art of Electronics in conjunction with whatever textbook you use for the course, as the textbook will have better coverage of the theory, and Horowitz & Hill will tell you how to use the theory in practice.