jasonRF said:
balanis goes through the math steps much more than any other "advanced" book, which is why his book is so HUGE and yet doesn't cover variational principles or other useful things. It also means it is a lousy reference once you know the material since it is painful to wade through it all.
Check the book reviews in the physics and engineering books sections, and you may find some more answers without hijacking this thread anymore.
I actually think Balanis is not that good. I am studying his Antenna theory, it is THE book for antenna, but it is so lack of derivation. That's the reason I am on the Calculus and Classical Physics so much in the last two months.
I have not gone through most of his advanced EM book, but I did studied the section in polarization. It is really bad. It talked a little about poyncare sphere but failed short of even make it meaningful. In fact, I have yet to find a book that really get into polarization of EM wave...Forget about Griffiths and all the undergrad books, they have nothing. Took me a month to gather the info from multiple books like Kraus and online articles to put together to even make sense out of it. Actually, after going through it over and over, it's very easy!
That's the problem with the advanced EM, you can't even find articles and you can't trust the articles. All the mistakes, typos and everything. It's a nightmare. The Antenna theory by Balanis is not that good, but you have no other choice. It's not like undergrad books that you have tons to pick with. I am stalled right now for over a month on a few statements Balanis made on just a simple loop antenna that require Helmholtz, Gauge theorem and Green Function. I have been patiently review all these in order to come back to only Chapter 5!
Oh! I sure know what the OP is complaining about, boy do I know it! It is frustrated to no end studying these advanced stuff. You can't get answer! You don't even know how many times I was about to throw in the towel and call it a quit! It's not as if my life depends on it. I am retired and living very comfortably. My wife called me S&M!
Sorry about the rant, it's been pent up for so long, It's like crying so loud and nobody responded. Even in here, I have to be so careful in chopping up to smaller pieces to ask a question or else I never even get a response...and Yes, I tried so many times with no response. And I have 3 other forums to ask and absolute no luck most of the time. Sorry for the ranting, I just cannot stop. And I have absolutely sympathy with the OP.
BTW, I had posted multiple articles of Balanis, I did not agree, neither were all the people here that read it. You really have to be careful with the post grad books. Did I catch mistakes on the Phase Lock Loop books on both Roland Best and William F Egan. Both actually responded to my complain. One offer to sent me a manuscript and the other gave me a website with the correction. You can't even trust what you read!
Unless you have three book giving you the EXACT equation, VERIFY. They are only human and they can be wrong.
