Understanding Special Relativity and Maxwell's Equations: With Implications for a Unified Field Theory

I have only read the preface of the book and already know the extent this book will cover. This book , I believe, was inspired by Miles V Hayes book " A unified field theory", a very rare book with only 400 copies printed. This morning, luckily, I successfully placed an order on Amazon for that book, hope this book will come to me.

Kudos to Dr. Haskell for the math; the derivations are done in excellent detail.However, the book deals primarily in the speculation that if Dr. Einstein had lived 100 years earlier, he could have derived Maxwell's equations for electromagnetic fields, starting from Coulomb's Law and applying the ideas from the Special Theory of Relativity. And then Dr. Haskell shows how the derivation works.Of course, that didn't happen. The point of Dr. Einstein's 1905 paper was to update Maxwell's equations so that the same laws of electrodynamics and optics would apply to all inertial frames of reference; and, in so doing, re-establish the idea that a state of absolute rest does not exist for inertial frames of reference.If you are looking for an explanation of Dr. Einstein's modifications of Maxwell's equations, this is not the book for you.The rest of the books deals with speculation that an alternate theory of gravitation can be derived, starting from Newton's law's of motion, and applying the ideas from the Special Theory of Relativity. This gravito-electromagnetic theory of gravity is not part of mainstream physics.Dr. Haskell also covers a quaternion-based unified field theory by Dr. Miles Hayes. This theory also is not part of mainstream physics.

There are three books by Richard E. Haskell that can be used to enhance one's skills in the mathematics required in physics. If one has some background in multivariable calculus, basic algebra, and trigonometry this is an excellent book for learning about Special Relativity and Maxwell's Equations. There are no exercises in the book!If one is not comfortable with multivariable calculus, it would be a good idea to consider Richard E. Haskell's book, Vectors And Tensors By Example. This book gives one an excellent background in multivariable calculus and has MatLab exercises scattered throughout. It also has End of Chapter Problems that can be solved using MatLab.Finally, If one is still not certain, consider Haskell's book, Introduction To Vectors And Cartesian Tensors. This is a Programmed Instruction Book with excellent figures and problems. The solutions to all problems are provided. However, this book may be difficult to obtain. This book was Haskell's first book in what could be correctly called a series. Be advised that it is necessary to be comfortable with multivariable calculus, especially Dot Products, Cross Products, Divergence, Curl, and the symbolic notations for these quantities. It is understood that one is familiar with Maxwell's Equations.I am not a physicist. My evaluation of this book is based on my familiarity with the first two books in the series. Anyone who has a solid foundation in multivariable calculus and the symbolic representations of operations in multivariable calculus, will find this book very helpful. In other words, it will assist one in modifying one's way of looking at phenomena that is not necessarily obvious. As a layman, I give the book four stars.