We now come to another book in the Science for Everyone series called Nature of Magnetism. The authors of the book M. I. Kaganov and V. M. Tsukernik say in the opening chapter of the book What is the subject of this book?
The title of the book represents fairly well the subject this book. We shall attempt to explain the Nature of Magnetism. One of the large branches of physics is the physics of electromagnetic phenomena. By the beginning of the 20th century it has seemed that the work of Faraday and Maxwell successfully completed this field of science: completed it in the sense that the main laws governing the behavior of electromagnetic fields were understood, that is, the necessary equations were written, and the task of subsequent generations of physicists was to search for more and more exotic solutions of these equations. But gradually it became clear that research in the field was far from complete. Owing to the injection of quantum ideas, the theory of electromagnetic phenomena has undergone essential changes, no less serious than those in mechanics. Nowadays we are much more careful in evaluating whether a part of physics has been completed or not. Any sufficiently developed science formulates not only its fundamental principles but also the boundaries beyond which these principles are not valid. Unless we go into the atomic structures, quantum mechanics and the theory of electromagnetism, that are basic for our upderstanding of the structure and properties of the surrounding world, can be successfully applied to study an enormously broad field of phenomena. There is no reason to doubt the validity of the laws at present: we are within the limits of their application.
And they continue
Readers are often scared away by mathematical complexities. We did take this factor into account but could not avoid using vectors and operations with them, the notions of function, and of its derivative and integral; however, we never go beyond this level. Some mathematical operations are intentionally shifted to Problems. A reader who solves the problems will understand the book much more profoundly than one who puts off solving them for some time in the future. But what worries us most about the reader’s response does not concern mathematical difficulties. We expect that the main obstacle for the reader will be many new physical concepts.
And it is so, if you are put off by glimpse of a mathematical equation, then the best way is to confront it, otherwise it will be always so. The back cover of the book says:
This popular science physics book, dealing with precisely what the title suggests, exposes the reader to a fascinating interplay of classical, statistical, and quantum approaches to matter.
The book describes microscopic sources of magnetic field and explains why not all macroscopic bodies produce magnetic fields. The question why different bodies behave differently in a response to applied magnetic field is considered, and ferro-magnetism and anti-ferro-magnetism are explained in detail. The study of magnetic structures and other interesting problems are also discussed.
The book was translated from the Russian by V. I. Kisin and was first published by Mir in 1985. I had a hard copy of the book, which I lost after I gave it to someone, the person never returned it (was it purposeful or not I do not know). This electronic copy is a sort of consolation now, thanks Anish.Dot for this book.
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Updated: 19 January 2019
Mir Books 