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Title: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by David J. Griffiths ISBN: 0-13-124405-1 Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 02 August, 1994 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $108.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.59 (59 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: A poorly organized introduction
Comment: I had previously written a review of this text based upon my experiences with it first semester, dealing mostly with chapters 1-4. Upon further reading of the book and comparison to various other texts (the Baym, Sakurai and Shankar, specifically), I have decided that I need to rewrite my review.
First off, the good side: If you're interested in a wave mechanics approach to learning quantum mechanics, this book isn't horrible. You certainly learn a lot about solving differential equations, although you are never asked to solve any yourself. Also, the problems for the students to work range from the insanely trivial to the intriguingly difficult. Now for the bad part...
Well, the problem with those worked problems is that there is a lot of important stuff in the problems, and Griffiths assumes you have worked every single problem. This wouldn't be an issue, except most of the chapters have over 50 problems, and the odds that you did the right problem you need when he references that problem three chapters later is pretty slim.
Also, he does not introduce you to the Dirac notation or the linear algebra approach to quantum mechanics until the third chapter, after which he promptly discards that powerful tool in favor of the way he had been going, which is with wave mechanics. So he deprives the readers of knowledge of a remarkably useful language to discuss quantum mechanics.
He begins with the Schrodinger equation, without any motivation at all, and proceeds from there. He could start out talking about two level systems, the collapse of the state vector, eigenvalue measurements and all that long before getting into infinite-dimensional systems, but he seems to think that solving a differential equation without explaining what the Schrodinger equation actually is (the Hamiltonian operator) or giving any idea of its physical significance.
Some problems are absurdly ambiguous to the point that you really wonder what exactly you're supposed to do, and the working of nontrivial examples is few and far between (with exceptions being the hydrogen atom and the raising and lowering operators for the various applications of those).
Because I don't want to conclude being completely negative, I would like to point out that the sections on approximation methods are very good and easy to follow.
I think everyone else put it best when they said that this is quantum mechanics for those with no mathematical inclination, and if you are a physics major with no mathematical inclination, I have to question your choice of study. For those serious about learning quantum mechanics, purchase the Shankar, it's cheaper and much more fulfilling.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not bad, pretty dull
Comment: I have read the first 4 chapters of the 1st Ed, and carefully looked at the 2nd. The book is an introduction to wave mechanics, starting with the Schrodinger Eq on the first page! It feels like he doesn't begin at the begining. He should at least give brief comments on the development of quantum ideas (both wave and matrix) and JUSTIFY why the wave approach is more suited as an introduction. What are the advantages and disadvantages?
All these jumps add up: when you try to work the problems you are working with wavefunctions like you've known them all your life! One could find this and that, but I was never sure how the results could be used (in an experimental setting for example). What system does this wavefunction represent, or at least approximate, give me some motivation for working on a problem for almost an hour.
I would also say the book is dull, because the author explains every single math step he takes. Sometimes it is helpful, but most of the time it kills the thrill. But wait, don't think that means he takes the same attitude everywhere: in chapter 3 you'll find plenty of math rushed. In the 2nd Ed. the author breaks some of the more elementary part of Ch. 3 into an appendix, but doesn't really improve on the writing. Apperantly it is believed that students of physics have never heard of seperation of variables(so he walks through it) but live in complex vector spaces(where he starts running)! The 2nd Ed. does add 2-3 more examples in each chapter; that should save some problem solving time. But I am afraid important things such as properties of the wavefunction are still left as excercises. I don't think it's THAT bad because it does take every step, but again he doesn't know where to walk and where to run; which leaves the average student generally bored and sometimes confused. I think things mentioned above should be improved on. Don't think Schuam's outline book will help you much, that book solves problems of a more general nature.
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent introductory text book if you want to learn
Comment: I used this text book for my undergraduate quantum mechanics class. In that class, we covered basically everything in Griffiths. I have since gone on to graduate school. I have found myself very well prepared and I still use Griffiths as a reference because it explains basic ideas and basic problems better than most other text books. More importantly, it provided me with a good foundation for further study.
This text book is a great introductory text book. It is a text book for students for whom quantum mechanics is a new subject. It is not a text book for people who already know any significant amount of quantum mechanics, nor is it a great text to use for independent study (unless you work the problems and have some way of checking yourself.)
Shankar is too advanced for most students new to the subject. It's also too much material to cover in a standard two semester course where the material is completely new. The only school I know of which uses it is Yale, and they count on students having a stronger background than most students at most schools have. Moreover, I know from personal experience that teachers at Yale focus on getting students to calculate the right answer rather than developing a solid understanding of the ideas behind the physics.
It's also too much material to cover in a standard two semester course where the material is completely new. Griffiths is designed such that it can be used for the quantum mechanics classes at most universities -- ie, if students haven't had every other physics class before they use this book or if some of their background is a little weak, they aren't screwed. This may not agree with some people's notions of how physics should be taught, but the reality is that you can't teach every physics class as if the students had already mastered every subject except that one. This is the reality at most universities.
The fact that this book is accessible does not make it bad. Physics is a wonderful, beautiful subject and we're being really stupid if we judge how "advanced" a book is by how difficult it is to understand. This is a suicidal attitude for our field. I've been reading physics books for a long time, and most of the ones which are difficult to read are difficult because they're not well written, not because the material is inherently difficult.
This book also cannot compensate for its misuse or for bad teaching. When I took the class, the teacher assigned some of the basic problems and some of the difficult problems. That way we made sure we knew the basics before we moved on to the difficult problems. If you're only doing the simple problems, it's your fault you're not getting anything out of it. If you're only doing the computationally difficult problems, you're missing some beautiful, simple examples. The physics is neither more real nor more important if it takes you a day to calculate rather than ten minutes.
This is a problem-centered book, but honestly, that's the way most of us learn. We don't remember things we read as well as we remember things we do. Similarly, new notation is not introduced until later because ideas are being developed first. Introducing too many things at once does not facilitate learning, only frustration. I suggest the people who think they already understand all of the ideas consider what Feynmann said -- "Nobody really understands quantum mechanics."
If you want answers, look them up. If you want to learn, use this book.
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Title: Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd Edition) by David J. Griffiths ISBN: 013805326X Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 30 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $108.00 |
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Title: Schaum's Outline of Quantum Mechanics (Schaum's) by Eliahu Zaarur, Phinik Reuven ISBN: 0070540187 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 30 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems by Stephen T. Thornton, Jerry B. Marion ISBN: 0534408966 Publisher: Brooks Cole Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $125.95 |
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Title: Principles of Quantum Mechanics by Ramamurti Shankar ISBN: 0306447908 Publisher: Plenum Pr Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $72.50 |
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Title: Thermal Physics (2nd Edition) by Charles Kittel, Herbert Kroemer ISBN: 0716710889 Publisher: W H Freeman & Co. Pub. Date: March, 1980 List Price(USD): $81.60 |
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