This is an extremely detailed treatment of the theory and the practical design considerations of building Tesla coils, primarily those based on spark gaps. There is scarcely mention made of vacuum tube or solid-state based coils, but the author seems to have chosen to cover the basics exhaustively rather than try to reach into every corner of present-day Tesla coil design.

Others have protested the book's math-intensive nature, but some things (the Manhattan Project, the Apollo program, etc) just can't be done--correctly--without heavy mathematics, and this is one of them. I did find the book's CONSTANT references back to the author's (freely available) Excel spreadsheets a bit distracting. (It's hard enough to try and absorb the physical principles involved without constantly having to read around cell addresses.)

All in all, though, this is THE best summary of the principles of Tesla Coil design and operation I have found.

This is an extremely detailed treatment of the theory and the practical design considerations of building Tesla coils, primarily those based on spark gaps. There is scarcely mention made of vacuum tube or solid-state based coils, but the author seems to have chosen to cover the basics exhaustively rather than try to reach into every corner of present-day Tesla coil design.

Others have protested the book's math-intensive nature, but some things (the Manhattan Project, the Apollo program, etc) just can't be done--correctly--without heavy mathematics, and this is one of them. I did find the book's CONSTANT references back to the author's (freely available) Excel spreadsheets a bit distracting. (It's hard enough to try and absorb the physical principles involved without constantly having to read around cell addresses.)

All in all, though, this is THE best summary of the principles of Tesla Coil design and operation I have found.

This book is only for those with a high degree of knowledge of engineering. This is not written for the hobbyist or the general public. I think the place for this book is in the library of the Engineering Department of universities. I plan on donating my copy. But I can't help thinking that Tesla himself would be pleased with the rigorous science with which it is written.

If all you want to do is "make a Tesla coil and watch the pretty sparks" then I agree this book may be over your head, and yes to truly understand all that is in this book you will need a good electronics background. Having said that then the only other thing that can be said about this book is that it is without question the most comprehensive treatise ever written thus far regarding the theories and disciplines of Nikola Tesla. The electrical principles that Tesla was working on are still to this day not totally understood. From all that is in this book, it may be that the author, Mr. Tilbury, understands and knows more about Tesla's theories than anyone else there is. If you too would like to truly understand Tesla's theories, then this book is for you. This book would also be very useful as a supplement to electrical engineering courses in helping the student understand practical applications and how to perform SPICE analysis, one of the staples of everyday electrical engineering.

This book does live up to it's name in that it breaks down the minute details of Tesla coil design to dozens and dozens of formulas.

For an engineer that wants to make exacting calculations for his/her first Tesla coil this book has all the mathematical legwork done for you.

For the hobbyist interested in making Tesla coils without requiring an engineering degree this book is of very limited value and will be a disappointing purchase.

This is not a book with instructions or plans for building Tesla coils but rather a reference for those that wish to use exact calculations for every aspect of their coil design.

Unless you have a fairly solid background in the mathematics of electromagnetic theory, and you want to use formulas without having to do the brainwork yourself, I recommend purchasing other books.