Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28671 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 246 pages

IEE Review, February 2004
"..a sympathetic, eminently readable and interesting biography of one of the intellectual giants of the 19th century."

Good Book Guide, February 04
"..beautifully clear and accessible ... This is an entertaining and gripping read .."

Review
“This is a wonderful, short biography that gives a vivid account of James Clerk Maxwell’s life and work.” (Materials Today, June 2004)

“..an absorbing account of Maxwell′s life and work” (Sunday Telegraph Review, 19^{th September 2004)}

“…provides the reader with the opportunity to understand Maxwell’s contributions to modern science and technology.” (The Mathematical Gazette, March 2005)

“…a fascinating book about an inspiring man…” (Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, Vol.36, No.3, March 2005)

Customer Reviews

A very decent biography
Probably because he was a more boring person than ill tempered Newton and pacifist Einstein few people know James Clerk Maxwell, but still he completes the threesome of greatest scientists ever for his theory that unified electricity and magnetism into one series of laws, for his contributions to thermodynamics and a host of other things.

No juicy fights then, nor political confrontations, which should not discredit this book. It's just that its subject, however important, is not the most exciting man ever to roam the realm of science. This book matches Maxwell in decency and thoughtfulness.

Great book and even better subject
This is an excellent book, well-written, interesting and comprehensive. For many years I have wondered why Maxwell is not ranked along with Einstein and Newton and this book reinforced that opinion. I find historical biographies like this by far the best way to get a good understanding of where we are now and why - much better than the patronising popular science books attempting to convert maths into English. When you see, as this book shows you, the reasons why people like Maxwell were motivated, you can really begin to relate to significance of their work without needing to fully understand the detailed science behind it. Highly recommended.

The man who did nothing but physics
Maxwell didn't do anything of interest outside of physics. His personal life had no hint of scandal. He had no children, a happy marriage, and no outrageous relatives. He was bullied at school, but no more than most of us. He suffered no career hardships, moving from one UK university to another with ease, but also without fanfare.

Unlike Newton, he wasn't an intriguing recluse who ended up in high public office. Unlike Einstein, he never became a media star or leader of world opinion. Unlike Darwin, he avoided great voyages of discovery and arguments with the church. I can't imagine anyone with less "back story". I'm surprised a professional biographer would attempt a life of Maxwell. And, indeed, Mahon isn't a professional biographer. He's an engineer, and also ran the British census. In fact, reading this biography is like reading the census. A lot of names and basic details, but nothing much of interest.

What is interesting, of course, is Maxwell's work in statistical mechanics and electromagnetism. But Mahon contrives to make this boring as well. There is far too long a discussion of Maxwell's early work on the "spinning cell" model of electromagnetism. I bought the book hoping that this might provide more philosophical insight into what "the field" *actually* is. Instead, I soon realised that Maxwell and Mahon aren't much into philosophical insight. At least I gained insight into how the "spinning cell" model had fallen out of fashion and never recovered!

Mahon would have been better providing a longer explanation of the famous Maxwell equations. He quotes them, but provides an inadequate explanation of them. Instead we get stultifyingly long explanations of dead theories and far too many of Maxwell's stultifyingly boring poems. If you really want to understand Maxwell, then get hold of a good physics textbook. Feynman's lectures are recommended (not Feynmann's as Mahon recommends, in an example of the abysmal copy editing in this book.)