Sell Classical Electrodynamics by Ingarden

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The discussion centers around the value and quality of the book "Purcell & Morin" in the context of higher-level electromagnetism. The original poster notes that the book is an ex-library edition printed in Poland, indicating lower quality paper, and questions why it is priced at $300 on Amazon, suggesting that it is not significantly better than modern texts. They express skepticism about its value, stating they would not generically recommend it, but purchased it to support a new Physics Forums initiative. The conversation also highlights that the book is unique for its mathematical approach, starting with tensors and discussing Maxwell's Equations from a spacetime perspective, before covering topics like potential theory and radiation. In contrast, the poster recommends "The First Three Minutes" by Steven Weinberg as a more accessible and valuable resource, available at a lower price.
Frabjous
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Book Title
Classical Electrodynamics
Book Author/s
Ingarden
Book Publication Date
1985
Book Price
$250
Book Condition
3.00 star(s)
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Just out of curiosity, what is it that makes Amazon think anyone will pay $300 for it? Hard to see how a 39 year old text is worth that much. Is it THAT much better than modern texts?
 
I wouldn’t describe it as better. In fact, I would not generically recommend it. I wanted to support this new PF effort, and a book that is hard to find seemed apropo.
 
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Wonderful book.
 
OOPS ... I was supposed to put that in it's own thread. Will do so now.
 
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phinds said:
Just out of curiosity, what is it that makes Amazon think anyone will pay $300 for it? Hard to see how a 39 year old text is worth that much. Is it THAT much better than modern texts?

Frabjous said:
I wouldn’t describe it as better. In fact, I would not generically recommend it. I wanted to support this new PF effort, and a book that is hard to find seemed apropo.

To me, it's not a typical textbook on electromagnetism.
It is a rather interesting book because it starts with mathematics: tensors and twisted differential forms,
and discusses Maxwell's Equations and relativistic electrodynamics from a spacetime viewpoint...

...and then moves on to potential theory and electrostatics, magnetostatics, .... radiation.
 
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