Starting with no more than a sound understanding of sixth form (high school) Mathematics and Physics, the authors proceed to underpin elementary concepts of electrostatics, simple circuits, and magnetism with the rigour and completeness demanded at University level. New mathematical ideas are introduced gently (so naturally, in fact, that the reader does not feel that (s)he is being asked to learn some new things!) and blended into the key Physical concepts.

The book accelerates through a whole lot of material and tacitly introduces the reader to Maxwell's Equations without calling them so. Only after all of the core physical concepts - Dielectrics, Steady Currents and Magnetic Fields, Ferromagnetism, Electromagnetism/Induction - have been covered, do the authors venture to integrate the mathematics into Maxwell's equations. This emphasis on the Physics (with the Mathematics working merely as a tool) works really well and is central to the readability of this book.

The latter chapters explore Transmission Lines, Electromagnetic Waves (which the mathematically inclined texts like to boast about as solutions of Maxwell's Equations), and the beginnings of Relativistic Electrodynamics.

All in all, an excellent, enjoyable book - highly recommended! Makes Physics fun!

Lastly, I might add that I was one of the "guinea pigs" at Manchester who benefited directly from the materials in this book and others in the Manchester Physics Series.

"If time is removed from the foundations of physics, we shall not all suddenly feel that the flow of time has ceased. On the contrary, new timeless principles will explain why we do feel that time flows. The pattern of the first great revolution will be repeated. Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler taught us that the Earth moves and rotates while the heavens stand still, but this did not change by one iota our direct perception that the heavens do move and that the Earth does not budge."

The many worlds hypothesis is also true and the worlds that derive from alternate possibility exi...
An excellent discussion on the very foundation of Physics, 2003-01-22
I am highly impressed with this book. Dr. Barbour certainly provides a totally new perspective to the very fundamental concepts in Physics, and I think this is absolutely necessary to stimulate the thought process.

I am sure a lot of leading researchers may not agree with some of the cocepts that he has introduced. But this is Science. No theory can survive unless its predictions are verified by observation. Dr. Barbour has provided lot of materials, which if found true will simply destroy his theory. It certainly is not a Philosophical discussion and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Physics and enjoys pondering over the very fundamental questions of why the universe is as we see.

The book raises throws down a tantalising challenge to all interested in the mysteries of quantum mechanics and theoretical physics. The excellent editor Wilber points out that, on the one hand, none of the 8 physicists felt quantum mechanics provided any proof, or EVIDENCE FOR, any mystical world view. On the other hand, all 8 physicists describe themselves as mystics! If this seeming paradox doesn't interest you, physics doesn't interest you.

The answer, it turns out, lies less in the nature of mysticism than in the nature of physics. Heisenberg, Bohr, Einstein et al have shattered my world view, and thanks to Wilber for bringing it to my attention.

This is a book that deserves to be widely read. Which is a shame in my case as, before I finished it, I left it on the train. I hope someone else picked it up and got soemthing from it, then...