Optics 5th Edition

Great condition.

Hecht's book is a pedagogical presentation of an old topic, optics, that continues to be updated. I like the clarity, approach, and level of his writing. It includes many areas that have been left out of earlier books. Thus, I consider the book to be an excellent addition to my library. Though the topic of the book is clearly unsatisfactory, which reflects nothing toward Hecht. Light and optics as part of the nature and interaction of energy and matter are poorly understood and continue to be confusing for everyone. Perhaps it is under emphasized that field theory is macroscopic aggregate behavior based on coincidental empirical inference. It does not answer many of the questions of what, why, how, when, or where. Mathematical models compound rather than alleviate the problem. Though the model is continuous and very exact, the phenomena is not! Hecht's book reflects some of the problem in being contradictory. It does not clearly lead to a coherent understanding of optics. Though being a survey text, it still may help. And again, it compares well with any other text on the subject.

Great standalone text. Updated and relevant. I bought this for a graduate level introductory optics course despite already having the 4th edition from an undergraduate course. I struggled with the necessity of buying the new edition at first but have no regrets now. The 4th edition had hardly any example problems throughout the entire text. The author remedied this in the 5th edition. There are multiple example problems that are well discussed in each chapter on the main topics. Also, the text was reorganized a bit and of course the page numbers and homework problems are a little different than the 4th edition. When the teacher references a certain page during class or says work homework problem X, the last thing I want to do is look around and try to figure out if I am looking at the right thing.

It's a good textbook on Optics but you really have to analyze every sentence of every page of the book (which means looking up definitions of words, equations, formulas, etc.) just to really grasp what's going on. If you have the time to spend it's worth it due to the amount of knowledge this book presents but it's definitely not an easy or quick read you've got to put in the work to truly understand it.

This book is highly technical (which I need) and also easy to understand and read.

The book is very descriptive but the style of writing isn't super easy to follow or engaging. However, what makes the book really good, in my opinion, are the figures and diagrams provided every couple of pages which are great for visual learners like me. Also, this book is packed with information and covers more than one optics class could teach. The book is not something you can casually peruse; you have to sit down and really focus to fully understand it. However, it covers practically everything you need to know on electromagnetic waves for a senior physics student. It's also worth keeping after graduating since it makes a really good reference tool.

This is an okay book but it is a little overpriced for what it is. You can get much larger works like Fundamentals of Photonics (Saleh and Teich, 2 vols and more than double the page count) for a much lower price.

Excellent condition. Exactly as described when ordering. Good shipping.