Guide to Faraday's Experimental Researches in Electricity

[this web page last updated 30 October 2010]

Faraday's
Experimental Researches in Electricity:
Guide to a First Reading

by Howard J. Fisher

7" x 10", xvi+619 pages, bibliography, index.
Publication date, March 2001.

In this guidebook to Faraday's Experimental Researches in Electricity, Howard Fisher guides the reader through Faraday's work, displaying Faraday's experimental virtuosity and keen theoretical insight. Fisher has a wonderful way of seeing the philosophical and literary aspects that make Faraday's Researches not cold science but a human work. Fisher's thoughtful selections and clear, helpful explanations of the instrumentation and electromagnetic phenomena make this fascinating text accessible to those who lack time to find their way through the labyrinths of the original.

Even those familiar with Faraday's work and knowledgeable about the technical aspects will be delighted by the dimensions of Faraday's vision which Fisher opens up through his introductions to each of Faraday's Series and through his running commentaries, a vision which unfolds intricately and thrillingly like a detective story and grips and holds the reader's attention.

For those who are new to Faraday, or who have only dipped into the enticing treasure trove of the Experimental Researches, Fisher's book is a sure and gentle hand to guide a first reading of the weighty classic. Fisher's thoughtful selections and clear, helpful explanations of the instrumentation and chemistry make this fascinating text accessible to those who lack time to find their way through the labyrinths of the original.

Faraday guide cover
illustration

"An excellent introduction to Faraday's work on electricity."
---L. Pearce Williams, Cornell University, author of Michael Faraday.

"Among creative scientific workers, Michael Faraday's writings are some of the most accessible. Yet there are terms, constructions, and theories in his work the meaning of which are not immediately transparent even to the informed reader. Fisher in this guide has provided a useful way through parts of Faraday's enormously influential Experimental Researches in Electricity."
---Frank A.J.L. James, The Royal Institution, editor of The Correspondence of Michael Faraday.

"Faraday is always a delight to read--he's lucid and carries the reader with him on his odyssey investigating physical phenomena. We are also privileged to witness each stage in the development of his ideas. In this edition of his Experimental Researches in Electricity our appreciation of Faraday's writings is further heightened by Howard Fisher acting as our trusty and perceptive guide."
---Geoffrey Cantor, University of Leeds, author of Michael Faraday, Sandemanian and Scientist.

"Howard Fisher has produced an invaluable guide for the reader new to Faraday's writings. With a keen sense of what readers might find confusing, Fisher provides clear explanations of the basic science, decriptions of unusual apparatus, helpful terminology notes, and new figures that enhance otherwise-puzzling aspects of one of the liveliest and most readable of all great scientific works. Used alone, or--even better--along with the recently republished complete series of Faraday's Experimental Researches in Electricity, Fisher's book is likely to be the standard 'starting place' for years to come.
---Ryan Tweney, Bowling Green State University, author of Michael Faraday's 'Chemical Notes, Hintes, Suggetions and Objects of Pursuit' of 1822.

"Howard Fisher is exceptionally well equipped to guide us in a reading of the Experimental Reseaches in Electricity. He himself has an impressive talent for experimenting and his years of experience in discussing the "Great Books" in seminars at St. John's College have revealed his skill at ferreting out central issues and clarifying discussion of them."
---Thomas K. Simpson, St. John's College, author of Maxwell on the Electromagnetic Field.

Sample pages from the book (viewing pdf text requires Adobe Acrobat Reader: Click here to download Acrobat PDF reader.)