Carries almost everything one needs to know ab't Turbulent flows, but it should have more space devoted to Chaos and non-linear dynamics.

- Anupreet Singh

This is a good place to start studying QM after being introduced to some basic quantum physics from a modern physics text such as Serway or Eisberg and Resnick. I especially like the treatment of the uncertainty principle done in this text and many of the side comments made are very interesting. It is not perfect however, as there are no solutions to problems and some of the later chapters have errors. You can download an errata list at the author's web site though and many of the problems are the types that you can be fairly certain if you have the right answer or not. If you want to just read it and not work many problems it can get a little annoying because in deriving some results Griffiths will often say something like "and because of the theorem you proved in problem 2.4, we see that..." This book is also a bit overpriced in my mind, but so are almost all of the serious intro QM texts. I've seen other reviewers saying that Griffiths is not very rigorous and I believe that these reviewers must be either mathematicians or people who already knew the subject before reading the book. It is fine on the rigor for an intro text in my mind and since it is a standard QM text in many undergraduate physics programs it looks as though some people agree with me. In many ways I like Liboff better than this text, yet Griffiths is better than Liboff in many ways also. Two two texts complement each other yet put a dent in your wallet. If only Dover could get ahold of the two!

I used this book in an introductory quantum class last semester, and found it to be a well-written, easy-to-read, and, perhaps most importantly, lively text. Griffiths deserves to be described by the old term for physicist: "natural philosopher." He makes sure to explain concepts using logical, physical arguments and reviews most of the relevant math needed to understand the physics. It's something of a letdown, then, that many of the problems are mere mathematical exercises in tedium. There are many good problems, however, and, on the whole, it's a great book, especially if you've seen quantum a little before, as I had.

If you are like many beginning chemistry/physics students and you feel intimidated by QM you will love this book. It covers the foundations of QM well and develops confidence by repetition of fairly simple -- But Critical -- mathematical constructs.

If you are an obviously advanced student then you will want a book with more meat. Books with more "meat" generally do not have the word "Introductory" in the title. Strange how all of the anonymous geniuses missed that.

This Review refers to the paperback edition of Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun with audio CD.

The title of Goodstein's book, Feynman's Lost Lecture, may be a bit misleading in terms of the overall content. The book is, in truth, mainly an explanation of the elliptic patterns performed by the planets, among other things, that an unpublished Feynman lecture originally referred to (although the lecture is included in text and on CD, the lecture is only a fraction of the overall book). Goodstein provides a geometrical means of explaining elliptical patterns that even a non-physicist will find easily comprehensible, especially considering the frequency of companion diagrams. The book also includes a rather unique introduction providing a brief biography of Feynman along with the author's personal experiences related to the well-known physicist. An unexpected, but greatly appreciated, addition is Feynman's original notes regarding his lecture contained in the back of the book.

Feynman's Lost Lecture details how to use geometric proofs to find answers to problems such as the speed of a planet when in motion around the sun and how to prove geometrically that an object is an ellipse. The author properly explains and demonstrates these concepts throughout the book via written and visual examples.

Goodstein presents the topics in such a fashion that the reader can easily try for himself\herself the idea portrayed. This is generally due to a generous selection of diagrams and exemplary situations, which properly convey the ideas that Goodstein presents (although it would probably be much more beneficial if more of the diagrams accompanied Feynman's actual lecture). The main text is also of a form easily understood and more than adequately conveys the topic that the author presents. However, the literary style is slightly lacking - in that it often becomes a bit informal in description and detail.

Overall, the literary shortcomings do not interfere with the author's ability to convey the topic and makes for a rather interesting read. Yet another above-par lecture accompanied by a surprisingly above-par explanation, Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun is more than worth it's price and should be a welcome addition to any reader's (both physicists and non-physicists alike) personal library.

This book is a labour of love by Judith and David Goodstein for their friend Richard Feynman. I really enjoyed the revelations of the human side of the great physicist, especially the 20 page reminiscene by David Goodstein (a fellow physicist at cal tech) and Feynman's sometimes gruff answers to questions after the lecture. A different view of the human side of Feynman than what you read in "Surely, you're joking". I found the technical side of the book even more rewarding (see next paragraph) but be warned: this is pretty intense geometry and logic - I have a hard time imagining anyone without at least a couple years of post secondary math or physics or engineering following all the arguments.

But if you have the background and patience, it's some pretty cool stuff. Like many folks, I learned planetary dynamics using calculus, not geometry, and so this was my first exposure to the elegant relationship between velocity diagrams and orbits. While Feynman's lecture is somewhat unorganized and not entirely clear, the book does a great job filling in the blanks. There are certainly some rough spots (way too much time on the initial simple properties of ellipses, the argument connecting Kepler's third law to the law of gravitation is not clear, and more) but anyone with sufficient background willing to invest a few hours will be able to get past these minor problems. I kind of like how the pace accelerates to a ridiculous level by the end, leaving you to pretty much work out all the hard details of Rutherford's law of scattering for yourself.

Listen to the lecture, scratch your head wondering "what the heck was that", then read the book and study the arguments, then listen again and feel enlightened.

Feynman could explain complex subjects in laymen's terms. He didn't need anything higher than high school geometry math to explain most of his subjects. About the same math that was around back in Newton's time.

A lot of the diagrams in the book jump from one section of the subject to another, but they are brought back together eventually. If you get lost in 1 of the 20 (or more) diagrams within one section of the whole lecture you may not totaly understand when the conclusion is reached. It helped to have the book in front of me - where I could go back and re-read from the part that I figure I got lost.

Listening to the CD and reading along (in Chapter 4) was a bit tricky. After a few pauses/rewind/replay I caught on and can say I understand planet orbits.

A good book to have if you are a fan of R. Feynman.

* Poor index - no detail * Good detail in text on subjects covered * Has some errors in the chapter on flownets * Disjointed in discussion of compaction * Good for students with little to no soil mechanics background

I found Mr. McCarthy's book to be a valuable resource. From a geologist's perspective, it was of great help in bridging the gap between engineering geology and geotechnical engineering. It gave me greater insight into not only field technique, but also into geologic considerations that are of importance in foundation design. The text was both concise and clearly written.

Civil engineers throughout the world can use this book as either a classroom text or reference handbook. It covers a variety of soil conditions including expansive soils and provides examples of both foundation designs,and retaining earth structures.

I reviewed the manuscript for the first edition of Davies's book for Routledge & Kegan Paul and recommended it fairly enthusiastically. The book was limited, but what it did it did relatively well. It was brief but clear, well-written, did not introduce too much of the usual mythology in discussing 'wave-particle duality' (I liked the discussion of the two-slit experiment), and went on to present the introductory ideas and mathematics of quantum mechanics in an attractive way. I used it in the spring of 1998 to prepare several lectures for my junior-level modern physics class, and recommended that my students read sections of it.

I can not recommend this new edition. At $42.95 the cost is probably about four times that of the original edition. For a book of this size and limitation, a bargain at $10, $40 is ridiculously overpriced. At $42.95 there are too many attractive alternatives.

I have used this textbook at a for upper-division undergraduate quantum mechanics for 2 years.

This book covers the basics and discusses more physics than mathematical tricks. At approximately 100 pages, it still provides excellent discussions on scattering, perturbation theory and symmetry. I would hope that such a text as this one marks the beginning of a shift in physics textbooks - from the overly verbose with reams of algebra and calculus to the essentials - to one which concentraits on physics.

This is the best QM I have. I would recommend it to any undergraduate student studying this subject. The book is very small and pleasant to read. It's great to use as a complement to a more comercial book like Gasiorowicz's one which I also recommend. It's the most compact book on the subject and the author looses no time with numerical examples. A must have.

First and foremost, you will NOT get any scientific insights in quantum mechanics from this book. In fact a basic knowlede of the relevant science is probably a prerequisite to full understanding of the concepts discussed. Will you get any conceptual/philosophical insights into the field? -- Unless you're already well read in the subject you almost certainly will; however, by the time you're through reading, you're bound to walk off with more questions than you've received answers. In all fairness, and with due respect for the author, this feeling of unfulfillment may not be the fault of the book per se, but of the nature of quantum mechanics itself (the theories of which few physisists have conceptual grasp of, let alone layman). Regadrless of the reason though, the reading is still unsatisfying in my opinion, so my rating stands.

This book gives a good picture of the issues with quantum mechanics. However I was extremely disappointed at the last 1/2 because it simply did not explain how the measurement problem or the problem of the emergence of classical properties emerges from the theory. He simply states that modern physicists are starting to understand how, gives it a name, and leaves the reader high and dry. His bias against hidden variable theories detracts from the work as well. You would also need to read some of the other books (Bell Speakable and Unspeakable, etc) to get a fuller picrure. On the positive side, this did get me very interested in the topic and I have read numerous other books now. I think Bohr's statement 'If you are not shocked by quantum theory then you don't understand it' is dead right.

The realm of quantum mechanics lies well beyond the range of direct human perception. What we do "see" when we try, only complicates things. Lindley's treatment of the fundamental problems with QM in "Wierdness", represents one the best non-technical approaches that has ever been attempted. Much better than Gribbin, and more thought provoking than Rae, Lindley's book is perfect for every physicist whom has ever tried to explain his/her life's passion to friends or family over coffee or at the dinner table. I wish I had read this while I was an undergraduate.

The text provided a good basic explanation of the theories.My book was missing vital table A-1!!-thank-you-very-much!.No response from the company!
Here,s the problem;You read the book,you are attentive at the lecture,you can't do the homework,you get the solutions to the homework,you still can't do the homework!For this book to be effective, an extensive supplemental solved problems programmed learning document must be authored! Silly me,I thought study hard be successful!Ha.Ha.Ha!

This book paints a good picture of concepts. The formulas are explained adequately and are followed by examples most of the time.

My only dislike of the book is the examples that are shown are very elementary and don't offer a lot of help on solving new problems. Another thing that the book needs is answers to the problems, because if you are working the problems and arrive at an answer, you don't know if you are correct.

As far as textbooks go, I thought this was an excellent one. The text itself is useful, the example problems are relevant to the problems related to each chapter, and the theory is clearly mapped out.

Our class used this text to supplement another, though I thought the course could have stoof alone on the Incropera and Dewitt text. An excellent introduction to the topic.

This book as a basic physics textbook is weak in content - its similar to Halliday-Resnick's textbook. In its supposedly main goal, to give a historical approach to physics, it not only fails but is full of historical mistakes. In the references are cited works such as Drake's study on Galileo and Cohen's on Newton, but exactly the opposite of what you find in such works is presented in the textbook. Cohen and Westfall, for instance, explains that stating that Newton delayed 20 years his discoveries is completely wrong, since Newton did not have the law of gravitation in its final account on his hands until very soon before the publication of Principia. However, this is exaclty what you find in this textbook : "Newton delayed 20 years ... ". This is just one example....

I saw the excellent Mechanical Universe Television series while I was in high school and I recently purchased this book. I've just finished reading this book and am simultaneously doing problems in Schaum 3000 Physics problems. This is a great reader to use as it puts the physics in the historical context and traces the reasoning these great scientists used in inducing their conclusions in the first place. The explanations are mostly very clear. Some of the historical interpretations are questionable but they do not detract from the overall value of the historical approach. This is how all physics should be taught.

I came across the Mechanical Universe telecourses after my third year of College and really liked them.

One day I discovered this book, and then had to buy its sequel.

They are awesome in their storytelling ability and in the clarity they bring to some very difficult concepts. The depth of content is simply HUGE, from Integration and Differentiation to Thermodynamics and Quantum Mechanics.. I can't wait for the telecourses to come out on DVD.

In the meantime, Annenburg also sells the series on video tape to consumers, and any books by Goodstein and Apostol who contributed to this book are similarly astounding.

Consider this a recommendation for casual reading, I already had my grades for the college courses and developed my fanaticism "after" school was out.

Trust me these are to Physics and Mathematics, what "Cosmos" was to Astronomy.

This book is a very good introduction to Quantum Mechanics. I thought that the first three chapters on "Superposition", "The Mathematical Foundation and " Nonlocality" were particularly interesting and well written and alone worth reading. Later chapters are of a lesser quality and the writer seems tired towards the end of the book. Also be warned this book needs effort, review will be required, and if you don't have some talent for mathematics its going to be hard going. Overall I think that the knowledge to be gained will be proportional to the work put in by the reader and I believe that this book is well worth the required effort.

This book will not please everyone (this much should be clear from the reviews). Those with a weak math background will find Albert's presentation of linear algebra hard to follow, and those seeking a detailed, technical treatment will likewise be frustrated. Rather, this book seeks a middle ground. The potential reader should bear this in mind, and the potential reviewer should not blame the book for being what it is. Having said this, the book is written in a breezy style that, I suspect, closely matches the way Albert speaks; this tone is not for everyone. Albert's presentation of superposition and the measurement problem is the clearest I have seen, and this is a major attraction of the book. His solution to the measurement problem, the Many-Minds theory, is strange, but the phenomena for which it seeks to account are strange. He discusses, and finds fault with, several other interpretations in a manner that may lead the reader to delve more deeply into these rival accounts. This is good, for Albert has not written -- nor has he intended to write -- an encyclopedic tome covering the entire history of philosophical musings on this subject. This should not be the only book you read on this topic, but it is a valuable text for your collection, if for no other reason than the clear and clever way Albert details the problem of quantum mechanical collapse.

This book explores quantum theory with a slightly mathematical approach. Albert presents the information largley with respect to linear algebra and how it directly represents paradigms in quantum theory, which definatley help the average reader understand abstract concepts such as non-locality and superposition. In doing so he gives a very elementary view of linear algebra, which should make even the mathematically inclined reader to reconsider how he/she views things like vectors, spaces and probability. At times he might delve a little to deeply into the basics, but it doesn't detract from the overall idea presented in the book.

This book is one of the worst textbooks I've had. The example problems do not contain units, and skip vital steps to arriving at the solutions. In lieu of this, the authors have used such statements as, "of course" and "so"-- a true sign of a bad textbook. This one gets sold back at the end of the semester.

I used it because I teach in the Santiago Mariño Politech in Maracay City, but I was surprise that the select problems only have solutions until chapter 8, and I need the rest of the chapter select problems solutions.