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Title: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0131118927
Author:
David J. Griffiths
Publicate Date: 2004-04-10
Publish: 2004-04-10
List Price: $128.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $87.00
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $79.25
Amazon Merchant Price: $88.70
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Undergraduates, search no farther. Here is the BEST QM book.
As an incoming freshman into an undergraduate university, I have read a few books on quantum mechanics, particularly those by Liboff, Fitzpatrick, and Sakurai. For the absolute beginner in quantum mechanics, I must say that this is the best book that I have ever found. In all ways, it succeeds:
- The author presents the text in a conversational style.
- The material and examples are concise, yet perfectly relevant.
- The problems in the book are of varied difficulty, and stars next to the problem narrate the difficulty. Problems of harder difficulty are usually supplemented with hints.
When I tried using Liboff, Fitzpatrick, and Sakurai, Fitzpatrick was effectivly useless, Liboff provided a decent overview, and Sakurai went very deeply into mathematics (too much for the undergraduate). So, if you're looking for an introductory book to QM, this is the perfect book for you! Just make sure you are familiar with concepts like calculus (obviously...), differential equations (again.. obviously...), and linear algebra. Even then, for linear algebra, Griffiths has a section in the back for this.
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2: A good introduction
A very readable introduction to quantum mechanics. There really isn't much to say that hasn't been said in other reviews -- this book is really good and is a great resource for undergraduates learning quantum mechanics. Its only shortcoming lies in the fact that the power of the bra-ket formalism hasn't been sufficiently brought to attention; because of this, you might want to have another good book (like Shankar's "Principles of Quantum Mechanics") and compare it to this one from time to time.
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3: The Best Introductory Text!
This book literally saved me in quantum mechanics. Between my professor's willingness to help introduce us students to many of the challenges faced by quantum theory today and this book's ability to quickly and painlessly explain many of the concepts behind QM I actually enjoyed learning this subject.
The book not only has great explanations of numerous concepts essential to QM but always supplies one thorough example of a calculation relevant to each of these topics. Some of the problems in the book were a little difficult however. Particularly, I remember searching for hours through integral tables before I found the integral I needed to solve one of my assignment problems. That was a huge waste of time. But still, this book will set the necessary groundwork for whatever kind of understanding of QM you can manage.
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4: Good introductory text
This book will take you through the core topics on quantum mechanics. As a confirmation of the author's statement that quantum mechanics is conceptually rich (p. vii) this book indeed introduces you to topics encompassing but no limited to thermal physics, statistical physics, solid state physics, chemistry, optics, astrophysics, that should give you an indication for its wide spectrum of applications. You will encounter a wide gamut of familiar physical concepts here such as Bohr radius, Rutherford scattering and lasers.
The text is well explained and easy to follow, the problems are doable. Be prepared for the math though. Before reading this book I suggest that you do groundwork on engineering math comprising functions of a complex variable, series solutions of differential equations, probability theory and linear algebra. There is one thing I can't get from books on quantum mechanics including this one: an elucidation on the development of the Schroedinger equation.
This book will serve you well in preparing for a more advanced reading in quantum mechanics. I personally find it indispensable in being literate in texts about semiconductor physics, opto- and microelectronics.
Update: PS. Recently I've been told by a physicist that the Schroedinger equation is taken as a postulate without proof.
It appears I have overused the book as evidenced by its having gone out of binding.
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5: A really overrated book
This book is a fair book into the Quantum Theory. Just that, fair. Griffiths does a nice job in the first chapter of laying the foundation of the rest of the book. But in later chapters, he tends to assume to much and fails to provide a deeper mathematical inforamtion and tends to assume that the reader knows where he is going.
Tip to the buyer of this product: If you want a full understanding buy another Quantum book and use them side by side. This way you can get the most out of the course/personal pleasure.
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