Professor Dobbs provides an elegant and clear account of the subject, leading the student from electrostatics through to Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic waves, covering all the material needed by a student taking courses on electricity and magnetism and electromagnetic waves.

Electromagnetism is basic to our understanding of the properties of matter and yet is often regarded as a difficult part of an under graduate physics course. In this book answers are developed from first principles to such questions as: What is electricity? What is electromagnetism? Why are some materials magnetic and others non-magnetic? What is magnetism? Physics answers these questions in two related ways. On the one hand the classical explanation is in terms of classical concepts: electric charge q, electric and magnetic fields (E and B) and electric currents. On the other hand the microscopic (or 'atomic ') explanation is in terms of quantum concepts: electrons, nuclei, electron orbits in atoms, electron spin and photons. Microscopic explanations underlie classical ones, but do not deny them. The great triumphs of classical physics are mechanics, gravitation, thermodynamics, electromagnetism and relativity. Historically they began at the time of Newton (seventeenth century) and were completed by Maxwell (nineteenth century) and Einstein (early twentieth century). Microscopic explanations began with J J. Thomson's discovery of the electron in 1897. For most physical phenomena it is best to seek a classical explanation first, especially phenomena at room temperature, or low energy, when quantum effects are small. Although this text is primarily concerned with classical explanations in a logical, self-consistent sequence, they are related to microscopic (quantum) explanations at each stage."

One of the hottest topics in low temperature physics during the last two decades has been the revelation of the astonishing properties of crystals of the rare isotope of helium, helium three. This book provides the first complete account of these properties. In it, experimental measurements are described and the development of their interpretation is discussed. Beginning with the phase diagram and thermal properties of this uniquely quantum crystal, Professor Dobbs introduces current theories of solid helium and compares their predictions with measurements of the ground state, elastic and thermal properties, and phonon spectra. the extraordinary magnetic properties are described and discussed in chapters on the paramagnetism, antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism of the different phases of solid heliu. the text concludes with chapters on the growth of crystals, their defects and studies of monolayers, bilayers, and multilayers grown on a variety of substrates. This book provides an introduction to the extensive literature, particularly that published since 1980, for research staff and students in physics and physical chemistry with an interest in current developments in condensed matter.