Electromagnetism Books: Affordable 2nd Year Options

AI Thread Summary
Recommendations for a 2nd-year Electromagnetism textbook were sought due to the high cost of the prescribed book, D.J. Griffiths' "Introduction to Electrodynamics." Alternatives discussed included finding used copies or opting for the 2nd edition, which is considered sufficient. Some participants highlighted the availability of low-priced editions in certain regions, particularly in Southeast Asia, where books can be significantly cheaper due to local publishing partnerships. Concerns about the quality of second-hand books were noted, but experiences shared indicated that many have successfully purchased quality used texts. Overall, the community provided various strategies for acquiring affordable resources for the course.
qspeechc
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Could someone please recommend a book for 2nd year Electromagnetism? The topics to be covered are:
Code:
Vector calculus (div, grad, curl), electrostatics, special techniques for potentials, electric fields in matter, magnetostatics, Magnetic fields in matter, current, Ohm's law, circuits, electromagnetic induction, electrodynamics, Maxwell's equations.

at a 2nd year level.
See, the problem is, the prescribed book for the course is D.J.Griffiths Introduction to Electrodynamics 3rd Ed.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/013805326X/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Which is $123.00 + shipping! There's no way in hell I can afford that- I get less than that a year!
Any recommendations?
 
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http://cgi.ebay.com/GRIFFITHS-INTRODUCTION-TO-ELECTRODYNAMICS-3-E_W0QQitemZ280106725354QQihZ018QQcategoryZ2228QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem
 
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Problem with 2nd hand books ordered from the web could be the quality of the book. Actually I don't know- I've never ordered a 2nd hand book- but I guess that would be the case.

Thank-you very much guys, you've been a great help :D
 
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qspeechc said:
Problem with 2nd hand books ordered from the web could be the quality of the book. Actually I don't know- I've never ordered a 2nd hand book- but I guess that would be the case.

Thank-you very much guys, you've been a great help :D


I have got very good quality used books, and they are cheap :-)

Good luck with your course!
 
Thanks a lot malawi glenn.
 
i'm not sure which country you come from, but if you're in some south-east asian country, you get these books unbelievably cheap... costs you about 3-4 american dollars... actually, there is a tie-up between the actual publishing company and some local publishing companies, and these are referred to as "low price editions" or LPEs...
 
gc2004 said:
i'm not sure which country you come from, but if you're in some south-east asian country, you get these books unbelievably cheap... costs you about 3-4 american dollars... actually, there is a tie-up between the actual publishing company and some local publishing companies, and these are referred to as "low price editions" or LPEs...

He is from:

Location:
Cape Town, South Africa

:wink:
 
  • #10
gc2004 said:
i'm not sure which country you come from, but if you're in some south-east asian country, you get these books unbelievably cheap... costs you about 3-4 american dollars... actually, there is a tie-up between the actual publishing company and some local publishing companies, and these are referred to as "low price editions" or LPEs...

Sounds extraordinarily interesting. Can you tell me more? And yes, I am from South Africa :biggrin:
 
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  • #11
there's hardly anything more to it... these are called low price editions... for example, mc graw hill becomes tata mc graw hill... there are loads of books of wiley, pearson education, mc graw hill, elsevier... one gets griffiths, goldstein, arfken, reif, berkeley course, zemansky, gasiorowicz and almost every other book extraordinarily cheap, but these books are for sale only in the indian subcontinent and in indonesia and countries like burma, vietnam... i don't think south africa is in the list... sorry!
 
  • #12
http://www.alibris.com/

this place sometimes have those book from India etc, but it maybe take some time to get them...
 
  • #13
Thanks a lot guys, you've been extremely helpful!:smile:
 

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