Fundamentals of Geophysics by William Lowrie

Fundamentals of Geophysics

Features

Cover Type: Hard Cover with 392 pages

Published by: Cambridge University Press

Edition: 2nd Edition October 22, 2007

Written in: English

ISBN 10 Number: 0521859026

ISBN 13 Number: 978-0521859028

Book Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.9 inches

Weighs: 2.8 pounds

Product Review
Reviews from the 1st edition 'Bill Lowrie is to be congratulated with this superb effort. I highly recommend this volume as a must-have, middle-level, highly instructive textbook that makes for enjoyable reading at an easily affordable price.' Tectonophysics

'A book like this defines the subject The scientific treatment is meticulous. Each topic is described precisely and clearly an great resource for the intermediate student.' Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors

'This superb textbook manages to bear the weight of the complex mathematics associated with the study of the Earth's surface and interior. William Lowrie simplifies the maths to about second-year degree level an great textbook.' New Scientist

'The book is well illustrated and clearly presented. I have already found it helpful in teaching second-year geology students and have no doubt that it will be a useful reference book for undergraduates.' Geological Magazine

'This is the best and most comprehensive general geophysics book available, not only for undergraduate students but also for more experienced graduate students. It is clearly written, gorgeously illustrated, and has the appropriate balance between mathematical and descriptive treatment. I particularly like the brief historical accounts that accompany each chapter. The new second edition includes text boxes that deal concisely with specific background topics (e.g. Fourier transforms), as well as useful exercises for students at the end of each chapter.' Professor Jim Channell, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida

Product Description
This second edition has been completely revised and updated, and now contains review questions and exercises, making it the ideal geophysics textbook for undergraduate students of geoscience with an introductory level of knowledge in physics and mathematics. It is a comprehensive treatment of the fundamental principles of each major branch of geophysics, and presents geophysics within the wider context of plate tectonics, geodynamics and planetary science. Solutions to the exercises and electronic copies of the figures are available at www.cambridge.org/9780521859028.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Fundamentals of Geophysics (Paperback) I tried to use this book as an "updated" textbook for an introductory course on Physics of the Earth (second year geophysics major) I had to taught. Since my area of research is paleomagnetism and rock magnetism the name of William Lowrie was sort of a guarantee that the book would be good. However, in the middle of the term I had to switch back to the "great classics", namely Stacey's and Garland's books. There are several problems with this book, firstly most of the formulae are presented out of the blues without a comprehensive deduction. That is not the most serious problem though, I also found several mistakes in the 2000 edition (I do not know if further editions took care of these problems). Some of these mistakes are pretty serious. As an example: he states that the international formula for the gravity normal to the Earth's ellipsoid derives directly from MacCullah's formula. That is not correct since in MacCullah's formula the centrifugal term coming from Earth's rotation is not considered!!!! There are also lots of minor mistakes related to missing terms in several formulae and derivatives. I did not touch the chapters related to geomagnetism and rock magnetism but I gather they should be the best in the whole book (I really hope so!!!!) since that is precisely William Lowrie's field of research. However I would not recommend this book at all. Comment | | (Report this)

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Updated on 6-4-2008.