Well, this is probably not the most up to date text but it is still one of the best. The book is a collection of topics (Atomic Physics, Solid State Physics, some of QM, some of classical Physics, Statistical Thermodynamics), which are explained in a short, simple and clear way. This is also a great book for those who are familiar with QM: they will find an excellent collection of topics that are just outlined on other standard QM textbooks. Moreover one can learn a lot from the original way M. Born approaches important subjects in Physics (how to recognize the Physics in every concept, for example). This is a book everyone interested in Physics should have in her/his library.

When we see how much quantum mechanics pushed our civilization and how bad it became explained on 'modern' textbooks it is a relief to find out that this book is still published and affordable. A must for anyone interested in the subject or needing to understand it with the help of one of the fathers of QM.

Max Born was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, a great physicist and a cultivated gentleman. His "Atomic Physics" has been around since a long time, but is still the best place to find out why do we really need to replace Newtonian mechanics. This book studies every kind of phenomena which puzzled the physicsts of the early century, like thermal equilibrium of radiation, photo-electric effect, the Bohr model of the atom, specific-heat irregularities, cohesion forces among molecules, etc. Then he shows how quantum mechanics correctly describes each one of them. This is done in a pedagogically very effective way: the ideas are explained in the text, while the more formal derivations appear in a large set of appendices. These are gems of precision and concision, precious by themselves. My favorite one is the derivation of the Van der Waals forces (between molecules), which he shows to be essentially quantal, as they are due to the zero-point energy of the ! quantum harmonic oscillator. One of the great text-books of this century.

The book starts with an interesting and simple overview on Mechanics and Electromagnetism. The basic concepts of SR are presented, like Lorentz Transformations, space contraction, time dilatation, velocities addiction and the well known "E = mc2". It ends with a small introduction to GR.

The notation is not quite usual, so don't be surprised to read "K = mb" for the usual "F = ma". Anyway, read it if you are young (I read it right after my "Sweet Sixteen") or if you want reduced knowledge of the matter.

This little book is a complete delight; if you can only take one physics book to bed with you at night, this might be it. Born reviews much of classical mechanics and E&M, and gives a great introduction to special relativity. There is a bit more on the history of ether than I really wanted to see, but that aside, this a wonderful, comprehensive, handy (not big and heavy) and inexpensive book. I highly recommend it.

At times notation can be a distraction, at other times notation can cause confusion, as in E&M most notably. Max Born's book is a gem and if you can get around the mild distractions and focus on the ideas then you may even get around the paradoxes in Relatively, where "common sense" is a distraction.
Some gifted people can write and explain well the most complex ideas some cannot. Max Born succeeds one of the best popular books on Relativity.

This book is a classic with all problems associated. Half of the reference quoted have been written before the WWII. Very useful if you like to quote original papers. This book cover most topics of the classical optics but hardy cover modern topics.

However, it is hard to read and use a weird notation. Certainly not useful for rapid referencing. Like the bible, use it only when you have serious problem to deal with.

It is of course the reference for optics, and is very complete
and rigorous. I didn't learn optics from it, I only use it
as a reference and I suppose that is its function.
It feels a bit oldfashioned (for example, I haven't found
speckel applications in the chapter on coherence) but I
suppose that that is due to the fact that it is a classic.
My other, personal, objection is that I hate Gaussian
units, I prefer by far SI units. Even Jackson finally
conceded to switch to SI units, but Wolf clings on this
Gaussian system.

It is just a rare book on physical optics based on Maxwell equations. Rarely a book states the assumptions,the validity of the equations, the principles and how the equations arrived. Certainly, it is a great book for postgraduates and researchers in physical optics not so for undergraduate students who don't want to go through all the mathematics.

i dont want to because this book sucked so ba

This is not only the first, but still one of the best, explicit formulation of the Born-Oppenheimer approach, which stands as the basis for most of the quantum chemistry.