Product Description
Theoretical physics is in trouble. At least that's the impression you'd get from reading a spate of recent books on the continued failure to resolve the 80-year-old problem of unifying the classical and quantum worlds. The seeds of this problem were sewn eighty years ago when a dramatic revolution in physics reached a climax at the 1927 Solvay conference in Brussels. It's the story of a rush to formalize quantum physics, the work of just a handful of men fired by ambition, philosophical conflicts and personal agendas.
Sheilla Jones paints an intimate portrait of the key figures who wrestled with the mysteries of the new science of the quantum, along with a powerful supporting cast of famous (and not so famous) colleagues. The Brussels conference was the first time so many of the "quantum ten" had been in the same place: Albert Einstein, the lone wolf; Niels Bohr, the obsessive but gentlemanly father figure; Max Born, the anxious hypochondriac; Werner Heisenberg, the intensely ambitious one; Wolfgang Pauli, the sharp-tongued critic with a dark side; Paul Dirac, the silent Englishman; Erwin Schrödinger, the enthusiastic womanizer; Prince Louis de Broglie, the French aristocrat; and Paul Ehrenfest, who was witness to it all. Pascual Jordan, the ardent Aryan nationalist, came uninvited.
This is the story of quantum physics that has never been told, an equation-free investigation into the turbulent development of the new science and its very fallible creators, including little-known details of the personal relationship between the deeply troubled Ehrenfest and his dear friend Albert Einstein. Jones weaves together the personal and the scientific in a heartwarming--and heartbreaking--story of the men who struggled to create quantum physics:a story of passion, tragedy, ambition and science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Extremely engaging journey into a turning point in physics
I see a few other reviewers disliked this book, but I must strongly disagree.

It seems to me that there are many personalities left out of typical books on quantum history, for example Max Born and Pascal Jordan typically appear only as shadows on the side. I enjoyed reading about the German contribution - the so called Gottingen school - in all its detail.

Background biography on the various characters and how the mystery of quantum theory slowly and painfully unfolded is well done and enjoyable.

Careers were being molded as some characters can be seen trying to prove that they belong with the big boys, to land a respectable job. Others seemed almost desperate to shut out certain views and keep their own dominant. Personal lives and friendships became entangled in it all.

I'm not crazy about google searches, but one reviewer says "all this is within reach of someone searching online." I seriously doubt that so much detail actually is there, and even if it is, would someone actually sit down and do about 7,000 individual searches? How would they know *which* searches to do, not knowing beforehand all of the twists and turns of the actual history?
Surely, having it all the info already under one cover, and told in a coherent fashion makes far more sense, I think one must agree.

A nicely written record of the birth od quantum mechanics
I think this book is nicely written on the birth of quantum mechanics.It gives a general idea about the key players, but not in depth.Certain characters are left out (Otto Hahn, and Lise Meitner).For more information about the lives of the scientists, one is recommended to read their biographies.Interestingly enough, Einstein has more books written about his life than probably the rest nine combined.

A really great book

I have read a number of non-technical books about the origins of quantum mechanics, and I think this book can hold its own with the best of those books. The author deftly weaves history, sidelights on the personalities of the key scientists involved in the development of the theory, and the fundamental points of difference in viewpoints of the ten scientists " the quantum ten", a list including Einstein, Bohr,Heisenberg, Schrodinger and Born.Anyone who reads this book will emerge with a real appreciation of how quantum mechanics evolved and what it is all about.

Many wrong statements in the book
First of all I would like to state that were many mistakes stated by author in this book. On the second page of the book, where it says that Einstein objected to the rules of quantum physics, is entirely wrong to say that because he did not objected at all in fact He praised Quantum Physics as a beautiful Science but He did not agree in one particular aspect based on Heisenberg Uncertainty principle of probabiliy. He argued that God does not play dice with the Universe in reference probabilistic nature of thePrinciple. The other mistake that I have also encountered on page four regarding the statement that Einstein was not good at maths, which is also wrong otherwise he would have failed during his work on the Special and General Theory of Relativity. In fact, he was a brilliant scientist in his theory, A Nobel Prize Winner, and during the last days of his life he was working on the Grand Unified Field Theory(GUT). What it should have been said, that he has consulted colleagues on topics such as Tensor Calculus which helped him to lay the foundations of his work on Relativity. The books also criticized brilliant scientist which attended the Solvay Conference going into a gross details on their personalities and character, which I find personally distasteful for the author to write such things about famous scientists.

Achievements And Failures In High Science
The challenges of developing an understanding of quantum physics provides the background to the interplay of personalities of these ten primary architects, whose successes in their respective fields was often mirrored by deep personal failures and loss. There is enough of the science involved to provide a good overview of some of the mechanical aspects of the evolving and competing theories, and a very good review of the implications behind these, which at many levels became more philosophical than strictly technical. Many, if not most, of these issues are with us still. The book also illuminates the importance of human drive, and hubris, in using `science' as an arena for exposition, not necessarily as an altruistic reach for truth. This well written and easily read book is a real page turner, with plots and secrets and ambitions, deceptions and betrayals. Perhaps to these ten, long before the practical aspects of their work became commonly manifest in atomic bombs, integrated circuits, cell phones and more, it was all really a gladiatorial game, played for imaginary points. The eighteen chapters are capped with an epilog and excellent bibliography. ... Read more

Product Description
PhysletA (R) Quantum Physics contains a collection of over 200 ready-to-run interactive exercises. These "media-focused" critical thinking and problem-solving exercises are based on carefully designed computer simulations generated in awardwinning Java applets. PhysletA (R) Quantum Physics is based on current educational, experimental, and theoretical research, and gives students an interactive visual representation of the often difficult-to-visualize physical phenomena in quantum physics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Brilliant softwate
The applets on this is just great for understanding many physics concepts. It covers most topics (mechanics, waves, electrostatics, magnetism etc), it has interactive menus so you can change the parameters in the experiments and it logs the output and plots them for you.

Highly recommended for any high school student and even university students. An excellent teaching and learning tool. I highly recommend it to my students since it moves abstract concepts closer to the concrete stage.

If you are a parent, this is a MUST have for your child to aid their learning of physics concepts.

The downside is some of the applets do not work but they are a small minority. Note you need to enable the java function on your browser, just go to Sun Microsystems website, it should work.

Great tool for visualizing quantum physics concepts
This book is an attempt to teach modern physics to students by enabling them to visualize various physical phenomena via Java applets designed to demonstrate various physics concepts - thus the name "physlets". The book and its accompanying CD contain around 250 such physlets that span a broad spectrum of physics courses, although the emphasis is on quantum theory. The book has some discussion of the concepts involved, particularly in the context of the parameters of the particular Physlet being examined, but this really wasn't meant to be a textbook. It's just a supplementary text for a variety of physics courses in which visualization of a concept is a real roadblock in learning. The book has 200 exercises, and they are not what you would expect in a physics book. The problems largely consist of running a physlet and answering some questions about your observations, or you are asked to change the input parameters to a physlet and explain what you observe versus what you observed when the default parameter was active. At no point does the author assume you are a Java programmer yourself and ask you to code up your own physlet, although if you know how, that would probably be a very educational activity. The following is the table of contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Physlets

Part 1: Special Relativity
Chapter 2: Space and Time in Special Relativity
Chapter 3: Relativistic Mechanics

Part 2: The Need for a Quantum Theory
Chapter 4: From Blackbody to Bohr
Chapter 5: Wave-Particle Duality

Part 3: Quantum Theory
Chapter 6: Classical and Quantum-mechanical Probability
Chapter 7: The Schrödinger Equation
Chapter 8: The Free Particle
Chapter 9: Scattering in One Dimension
Chapter 10: The Infinite Square Well
Chapter 11: Finite Square Wells and Other Piecewise-constant Wells
Chapter 12: Harmonic Oscillators and Other Spatially-varying Wells
Chapter 13: Multi-dimensional Wells

Part 4: Applications
Chapter 14: Atomic, Molecular, and Nuclear Physics
Chapter 15: Statistical Mechanics ... Read more

Product Description

At last, science and the soul shake hands. Writing in a style that is both lucid and charming, mischievous and profound, Dr. Amit Goswami uses the language and concepts of quantum physics to explore and scientifically prove metaphysical theories of reincarnation and immortality.

In Physics of the Soul, Dr. Goswami helps you understand the perplexities of the quantum physics model of reality and the perennial beliefs of spiritual and religious traditions. He shows how they are not only compatible but also provide essential support for each other. The result is a deeply broadened, exciting, and enriched worldview that integrates mind and spirit into science.

One of today's pioneering thinkers in science and spirituality, Dr. Goswami taught physics for 32 years, was a professor of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon, and is currently senior resident researcher at the world-renowned Institute of Noetic Sciences. He is an advocate of "monistic idealism," the philosophy that defines consciousness, not materiality, as the primary reality.

Customer Reviews (9)

Kind Of Hard To Follow
It pains me to have to give this book less than four stars because the ideas in it are surely needed today.

The problem I have is that the author presents the ideas in a sort of disjointed fashion.

This style of writing makes it slightly hard to follow from one tenet to the next.

The other problem I have is that while reading, I don't get a sense that the author has had much personal experience of the things he writes about.

I get this weird feeling (don't ask me to explain it) that I am getting a second hand account of things.

The other thing is that, I know that he is trying to be as scientific as possible in his explanation of the soul, but he only ends up overdoing his effort.

For instance on page 96 he writes:

"The causal laws of physics are deterministic laws. Given initial conditions on position and velocity and the causal agents (forces) acting on the system, the laws of motion determine the future of all nonliving systems."

I just wish he would write more plainly so that I could follow it. Thanks.

Metaphysics of soul
Consciousness and the laws of physics are highly intertwined to define physical reality. This relationship is murky since consciousness does not appear in any equations, although it is invoked in the interpretation of quantum phenomenon. Consciousness is not treated as a physical entity, like space and time (both of which can be measured in physical terms), and it does not have a physical existence like matter (or energy), but it is associated with living mater such as a human being. Purely from physical (and mathematical) considerations, very few have provided satisfactory explanations for consciousness and laws of physics, except for physicists like David Bohm and Roger Penrose. From neurobiological considerations efforts have been made to correlate these two concepts by Carl Jung, Karl Pribram, Stanislov Groff, Gerald Edelman, and many others. From metaphysical point of view, many from the school of Vedanta (Hindu philosophical tradition), school of Buddhist philosophy, early Greek philosophers and modern-day thinkers have dwelled in this subject, but a perfect harmony between physics and consciousness is not yet achieved. One of the problems is of course the implied dualism in the interaction of nonmaterial entities like consciousness or soul with physical body. Do we mean soul and body are two different things? How do we account for consciousness in the physics of an atom or a molecule? Is consciousness a fundamental force or a medium? How is it related to the other four fundamental forces of nature? There are many questions which require answers. In this book, the author considers soul, reincarnation, and transmigration in his explanation of physical reality. He is somewhat bold in suggesting the reader to consider data from; paranormal research, extrasensory perception (ESP), telepathy, near-death experience (NDE), and UFO encounters to gain knowledge about soul and consciousness. Certainly this approach may interest many mystics, spiritualists and new age groups, but very few physicists take these suggestions seriously.

The quantum physical basis for consciousness described by the author is mainly theoretical with little experimental support. This is summarized as follows: Reality pervades as undivided consciousness, as quantum wave function with probabilities for various possible states. Hence, consciousness is non-local; it is spread out across space and time. The act of observation leads to the collapse of this wave function into a self-reference that splits consciousness into apparent subject-object experience, which the author calls tangled hierarchy. The quantum measurement occurs in all living cells not just species with brain, but in the latter, thought, memory, mind, learning, etc., play a significant role in the subject-object relationship, and consciousness exists at various levels of complexities; the brain, organs, tissues, and cells. In addition, it is proposed that all individuals have subtle bodies besides the physical body. They are connected with our particular life processes. These are; a mental body (connected with our individualized ways of mentation); and a supramental body (that contains the learned themes of movement of the mind); and the vital body (bodies made of substances that are ethereal in nature). These subtle bodies neither interact with the phys¬ical body nor with each other, but they run parallel with the physical body. The subtle bodies are also quantum possibilities within consciousness. The subtle bod¬ies are also non-local (less localizable) and do not directly interact with the physical bodies, but consciousness recognizes parallel simul¬taneous states of the physical and subtle body for its experience. The consciousness synchronistically collapse similar states for non-locally separated brains that are suitably correlated. And the collapse of a unique state of experience into actuality is one of recognition and choice (quantum characteristics), not one of exchange of energy, so it is surmised that problems of dualistic interaction do not exist (classical characteristics). Consciousness mediates the interactions between subtle bodies or subtle body and a physical body, maintaining parallelism. But the bodies do not interact themselves directly thus avoiding dualism. Telepathy is a good example to support quantum non-locality of thought and mind.

Soul like consciousness is a quantum phenomenon. It survives death of the physical body, transmigrates and reincarnates in another body to form a continuum. Physical body represents quantum like possibilities that manifests as localized structure, but soul also represents quantum like possibilities (transcendent potentia) that has non-local correlation (can not be localized, could be anywhere in spacetime). Hence transmigration and reincarnation occurs through non-local quantum like phenomenon. The author invokes some parallel to the Tibetan book of the dead where various states of life and death called bardos form a continuum through life and death.

The author proposes that the memory of the vital and mental bodies is entirely quantum in nature (quantum memory) that occurs through conditioning of the possibility structure due to repeated experiences and it results from the basic dynamics of quantum mechanics. Thus, our individual mental and vital bodies are functional bodies, not structural like the physical body. Soul is the quantum monad, an individualized unit: The individualization of mind and vital body occur through quantum memory. This is the sole survivor of death of the material body, which carries the attributes from one life to another. It mediates reincarnation through transmigration.

The main problem with this theory is that quantum entanglement is known to occur between different quantum states (such as two spin states of an electron or a photon). How quantum entanglement or non-local interactions occur for subtle bodies whose physical states are unknown? Secondly, non-local interaction for larger bodies are very slow as described by quantum decoherence phenomenon. Is it possible that soul (consciousness) is a medium like ether (as invoked in Newtonian physics). Or is it a fundamental force linked to other four natural forces by unknown forces not yet discovered? The nature of dark matter and dark energy are still unknown. In light of these observations, I am uncertain if the author is on the right track.

1. Wholeness and the Implicate Order (Routledge Classics)
2. The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe
3. Languages of the Brain: Experimental Paradoxes and Principles in Neuropsychology
4. The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives
5. The Holographic Universe
6. A Universe Of Consciousness How Matter Becomes Imagination

Physics of the Soul
Physics of the Soul: The Quantum Book of Living, Dying, Reincarnation and ImmortalityI think it is a very good work by one of the scientists who appeared on the What The Bleep movies.I do think that the title - Physics of the Soul - is a bit ambitious.It implies a rigorous scientific investigation of the soul and how it work.The truth is more much eastern religion, some science.Having said that - it is interesting easy to read, informative and educational.Just not all that scientific.

Banish your fear of Death!
Physics of the Soul: The Quantum Book of Living, Dying, Reincarnation and Immortality by Amit Goswami was for me a look at the possibility that life continues on. I am a believer in God, so what was I worried about? Because not much is said about our state of existence in the scriptures, except for resurrection, then heaven. But where is heaven, our personality? Our soul. If there is no such thing as communicating with the deceased, then why do we as Christian profess the "communion with Saints"? I got a clear picture of some of these things in Mr. Goswami's book. By the way you will want to read all of his books!

excellent food for thought
As a student of Dr. Goswami, i very much enjoyed his thoughts and the models that he proposes. While so many in hte west have been taught since childhood that we have a 'soul', we're never given much of a context within which to hold that concept. Dr. Goswami provides some interesting models, based on The Upanishads, that i am still thinking about and applying months after first reading this book. If you are a student of consciousness, metaphysics, or just curious about the possibilities, Physics of the Soul is a must read. ... Read more

Product Description

This book gives a modern, comprehensive introduction to the principles of quantum mechanics, to the main approximation methods and to the application of quantum theory to a wide variety of systems. The needs of students having an average mathematical ability are kept very much in mind, with the avoidance of complex mathematical arguments and any undue compression of material

Customer Reviews (10)

Quantum Mechanics (Paperback) by B. H. Bransden

Product received quickly and in good condition,
matching the description at a cheap Price. Good seller
to do business with

quantified quantum
As Irving Berlin wrote, Blue Skies is all I see" so goes Quantum Mechanics 2nd Edition. The theories "sing" in this thoughtfully written technical epic. As bathroom reading goes I wouldn't recommend this weighty volume since its such a long read. But anyone with a love for their neighborhood mechanic will treasure it. Thumbs up!

Not as I expected
I dont get this book as i exptected the seller said the book is "Good" but i got it in a bad condition.

Good book about QM with a sound mathematical foundation
This is a good book about quantum mechanics which starts out with the history of how quantum mechanics was derived. Afterwards it introduces wave mechanics and further on matrix mechanics. The math is introduced along the way, and is thoroughly explained.

My biggest problem with this book is that it never mentions Hilbert spaces which is an important part of the mathematical foundation of quantum mechanics.

Great QM Text
I have to agree with the other reviews. This is an excellent QM book for advanced undergrads or grad students. Beware, you'll need pencil and plenty of paper to read through the text and fill in the gaps between some calculations(like from equations a,b,c,d we can derive e). ... Read more

Product Description
This book first teaches learners how to do quantum mechanics, and then provides them with a more insightful discussion of what it means. Fundamental principles are covered, quantum theory presented, and special techniques developed for attacking realistic problems.The book's two-part coverage organizes topics under basic theory, and assembles an arsenal of approximation schemes with illustrative applications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (113)

It's a book
The book came in a good amount of time for use. It was a little more beat up than expected, but it's a book and it works just fine as a book. The author is very good. A little dry though. I like my physics with a good amount of humor.

Never received it
I sent a message to Infinity Book Store inquiring on the status of the delivery when I didn't receive my item after nine days. I sent several e-mails, and each time they told me to wait a few more days. Well, after a month, I requested a refund. Let's see how long this will take. Apparently they don't call themselves Infinity for nothing! What upsets me the most is that I lost valuable study time.

Very good introductory book
I used it for a basic QM class. This book is very clearly written, well understandable. Problems are almost solvable. If you follow the class this book will help you.

Sent international edition instead of US edition pictured
The book was in good condition but was not the edition I expected to receive.I expected the US edition and instead got the international edition--not the same quality of binding or printing.

OK intro to QM
This is a pretty decent introduction to QM.Not many prereqs are assumed which is good.Ch. 4 is organized a bit strangely (angular momentum is presented after the hydrogen atom).However, you will probably have to read a more advanced book to move on to QFT. ... Read more

Product Description

Most people have heard about quantum physics and its remarkable, well-nigh bizarre claims. And most people would assume that quantum reality describes a world quite different from ours. In this book, David A. Grandy shows that one can find quantum puzzles, or variations thereof, in the backyard of everyday experience. What disappears in transferring quantum theory to the everyday is the theory's mathematical formalism, but that need not imply a loss of analytic rigor. If quantum reality is truly as elemental and ubiquitous as many thinkers suggest, then alternative or complementary perspectives ought to be possible, and with the proliferation of such perspectives, a more fully rounded understanding of quantum reality -- and everyday reality -- might emerge. Everyday Quantum Reality is a step in that direction.

Product Description

With contributions by many of today's leading quantum physicists, philosophers and historians, including three Nobel laureates, this comprehensive A to Z of quantum physics provides a lucid understanding of the key concepts of quantum theory and experiment. It covers technical and interpretational aspects alike, and includes both traditional topics and newer areas such as quantum information and its relatives. The central concepts that have shaped contemporary understanding of the quantum world are clearly defined, with illustrations where helpful, and discussed at a level suitable for undergraduate and graduate students of physics, history of science, and philosophy of physics. All articles share three main aims: (1) to provide a clear definition and understanding of the term concerned; (2) where possible, to trace the historical origins of the concept; and (3) to provide a small but optimal selection of references to the most relevant literature, including pertinent historical studies. Also discussed are the often contentious philosophical implications derived from quantum theory and its associated experimental findings.

This compendium will be an indispensable resource for all those seeking concise up-to-date information about the many facets of quantum physics.

Product Description
'An excellent text....The postulates of quantum mechanics and the mathematical underpinnings are discussed in a clear, succint manner.'--American Scientist, from a review of the First Edition The author introduces major additions and updates key presentations in the long-awaited new edition of this classic text. New features of the Second Edition include an entirely rewritten mathematical introduction, a discussion of Time-reversal invariance, and extensive coverage of a variety of path integrals and their applications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (64)

Outstanding Textbook for a QM Class
I was fortunate to have a professor use this book for a QM class! Although I don't "understand" QM, this text was the one that allowed me to solve homework problems, gain insight into the theory, and prepare me for field theory classes. Mandel & Shaw was a seamless transition from this text and I am glad my professor chose this book. Grad or undergrad, this QM book will help you more than you realize.

Chapter one is amazing -- all the math prep you need for the rest of the book. Few books can brag about such a feat but Shankar can! Good treatment of Dirac and statistics rivaled by few QM books. The homework problems are carefully selected and make for a challenging class.

Quantum mechanics
I will make it real simple. It has been over a half of a year since I bought this book. When I first got it, it seemed really hard, you have to really read this book line for line. With the help of scham's outline, quantum mechanics and quantum mechanics demystified I got through it without a teacher. It now seems real easy and I cannot understand why I had trouble. One review says it breaks down after chapter seven. Well it does not. Only after I started doing quantum field theory did I start to understand why this book is written the way it is. Plain and simple this book prepares you for QFT. All other Quantum Mechanics books seem easy after going through this book. Only after doing QFT do some of the chapters in this book now make sense. The chapters starting with 10 are a preparation for QFT. A good Physics book is one that prepares one to go on to harder subjects. This book does just that. Read it slow and understand it step by step, I had to re-read some chapters 3-4 times. You need strong linear algebra and partial differential equations skills. Go on youtube MIT offers linear algebra and differential equations courses, free. OFT is hard but this book paved the way. You have to derive the equations along with the author and fill in the missing steps to really get the most from this book. Good luck, not really just really hard work.

The best graduate level quantum text
This is by far the best graduate level quantum textbook available.The information is very clear, and the book is easy to read.I would say that an undergraduate course using Griffiths and a graduate course using Shankar will give you all the quantum you'll ever need (for most physicists).This book is also a great reference text.I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants/needs to learn quantum mechanics at the graduate level.

Excellent for Self Study
As other reviewers have remarked this is an excellent book, and if you are interested in really learning quantum mechanics, this is where I'd recommend you start.

Here are some of the things I particularly liked about this book, and some of the ways I thought it could have been better.

The first chapter provides the necessary mathematical background for quantum mechanics. It is a long chapter, but very well done. Regardless, make no mistake, you should not attempt this book at all without a solid background in differential equations and linear algebra. This chapter is very helpful though as a review and for fixing notation. I also approved of its stated goal: to put the math first rather than trying to interleave it with the physics. Physics is hard enough without trying to tackle the math and the physics at the same time.

Chapter two is a quick review of classical mechanics. Advanced classical mechanics. If you are not already comfortable with the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of classical mechanics before you attempt this book, well you probably shouldn't attempt this book. But if you are, this chapter is an excellent and concise review done with an eye towards quantum mechanics.

Chapter four presents quantum mehcanics in a postulatory manner, and builds the subject deductively from there. Of the quantum mechanics books I've read, the ones that proceed in this fashion tend to be clearest, and this one is no exception.

Chapter five presents a collection of one dimensional problems. This chapter is one of the few that I felt could have been better. I did not think there was enough discussion of tunneling and scattering, which struck me as odd. Certainly I have seen other introductions to quantum mechanics do a better job with these topics.

Chapter ten is on systems with more degrees of freedom and covers the tricky subject of identical particles in quantum mechanics. It is a very clear treatment.

Chapters twelve and thirteen extend the treatment to three dimensional systems and the Hydrogen atom in particular. While good, I thought the author could have done a better job building intuition for the special functions that appear in this section of the book, like the spherical harmonics. The author even states that many other books provide graphs and additional information for these very important functions. Ok, so why not this one as well? For a book that is so complete in so many other ways, this omission seemed odd.

Chapters fourteen and fifteen cover spin and the addition of angular momentum. Challenging topics in quantum mechanics. For the most part the discussion is very lucid, and among the best I've seen.

Chapters sixteen through eigthteen cover approximation methods. They are superb. Chapter eighteen is a particular standout here. The discussion of the quantization of the electromagnetic field is outstanding, and very unusual in an introductory book.

Chapter nineteen is on scattering, and is probably the clearest introduction to this (rather tricky) subject I have seen.

Chapter twenty is on the Dirac equation. Almost never seen in an introductory book, this is again an outstanding feature of this work.

Finally, as other reviewers have mentioned, this book discusses path integrals in two chapters: eight and twenty-one. These discussions are five star worthy. This topic is also highly unusual in an introductory book, but as the author points out it is of central importance in contemporary physics.

The last chapter -- twenty-one -- is definitely the most advanced in the book. It disusses the Quantum Hall Effect, the imaginary time formalism, the connections between quantum mechanics, quantum statistical mechanics, and classical statistical mechanics via path integrals, and ends with discussion of fermionic path integrals which are central to quantum field theory. All of these are advanced topics, and the author does an excellent job preparing the reader to tackle them. Kudos!

There are numerous problems throughout, most of which are rather simple.

This is an excellent book for anyone looking really to sink their teeth into QM.

.....Better -> Best -> This book!!!
Neils Bohr once said : "if you are not shocked by quantum physics, you don't understand it." . And here is the promise: read the book and you get nothing less than a 20000 Volt DC....One in a million of its kind. The author looks to have penned down questions/problems that he faced while studying quantum mechanics.. Read the complete book and every question of yours would be answered..Scattering theory though could have been a bit better..Overall, this book could be compared to the works of Feynman and Kramer.. ... Read more

Product Description
Developing a theory that seamlessly combines relativity and quantum mechanics, the most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics, has proved to be a difficult and ongoing challenge. Thisbook details how two distinguished physicists and Nobel laureates have explored this theme in two lectures given in Cambridge, England, in 1986 to commemorate the famous British physicist Paul Dirac. Given for nonspecialists and undergraduates, the talks transcribed in Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics focus on the fundamental problems of physics and the present state of our knowledge. Professor Feynman examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. Professor Weinberg speculates on how Einstein's theory of gravitation might be reconciled with quantum theory in the final law of physics. Highly accessible, deeply thought provoking, this book will appeal to all those interested in the development of modern physics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

five stars for the lectures, one star for the book
This slender volume comprises the first two Dirac Memorial Lectures, endowed by St. John's College, Cambridge, in honor of one of its most distinguished alumni, Paul Dirac, one of the originators of quantum mechanics, and the first to successfully meld quantum mechanics with special relativity to produce what eventually became quantum field theory and the Standard Model of particle physics. The first lecture is by Richard Feynman, who helped perfect quantum electrodynamics, that portion of quantum field theory dealing with interactions of electrons and photons, the modern view of electricity and magnetism. The second is by Steven Weinberg, who pioneered the unification of electromagnetism with the weak nuclear force, pointing the way towards the Standard Model and beyond to an as-yet-unrealized dream of a Grand Unified Theory encompassing all of physics including gravity.

The lectures themselves are terrific. This review is focussed on Feynman's lecture, which is the reason I bought the book. The target audience for the Dirac lectures according to Weinberg (page 67) was "undergraduates who have had a first course in quantum mechanics". Such a course would typically not include a lot of the material covered by Feynman. His lecture concerns itself with two very deep topics in quantum electrodynamics: how the inclusion of special relativity predicts antiparticles, and the relationship between a particle's spin and its behavior in aggregates (statistics). Basically, he starts by showing how a simple mathematical theorem requires that if we restrict our analysis of particle interactions to include only particles with positive energies, then particles travelling faster than the speed of light must be included in the analysis. It is then shown that in some reference frames these particles will be seen to travel backwards in time, which can be interpreted as antiparticles. Using a particularly simple particle interaction as an example, he then shows how in order for the probabilities of all the possible variations which must be included in the analysis to add up to one, particles with spin zero (and other whole integer numbers of spin) obey one kind of behavior in groups (Bose-Einstein statistics, hence the name bosons), whereas particles with spin 1/2 (and other half-integer spin numbers) follow a different kind of behavior in groups (Fermi statistics, hence the name fermions). He shows that a particle obeying Bose-Einstein statistics enhances the probability of a copy of itself spontaneously appearing, whereas a particle obeying Fermi statistics suppresses the probability of a copy of itself spontaneously appearing. The former behavior leads to a phenomenon called stimulated emission, which is the basis for lasers (not discussed further in this lecture). The latter behavior is the basis of the Pauli exclusion principle, whereby no two electrons can occupy the same state in an atom, which in turn is the basis for the periodic table of the elements and all the phenomena of chemistry.

Feynman presupposes that the audience is familiar with the basic mathematical formalisms of quantum mechanics, such as the arithmetic of complex numbers, calculation of amplitudes, and their relation to probability. He also presupposes an acquaintance with special relativity, Minkowski diagrams, etc. He uses ingenious simplifications to make the calculation of the amplitudes and probabilities in his simple example more clear.

Which brings me to why I give this book as opposed to the lectures only one star. It's not suitable for the general reader. Yet it masquerades as such. The name Feynman is displayed in large letters across the top, as bait. Look in the science section of any good general bookstore and only four scientists will have any prominence: Darwin, Einstein, Feynman, and Hawking. These are the only four who have achieved significant name recognition with a general audience. Anyone who buys this book thinking they're getting something on the level of "Surely You're Joking" or "Six Easy Pieces" or "QED" will be disappointed. No attempt has been made to add any material which will improve the comprehension for the general reader. Not so much as a simple statement that -i times -i equals -1, let alone any definition of amplitudes, or their relationship to probability, or what a light cone is, etc., etc. This is a disservice and smacks of exploitation of the Feynman name.

Then the publisher uses the trick of shrinking the size of the pages to try to hide the fact that if the book had regular-sized pages it would be too thin without supplementary material to look worth the price being charged.

Plus, despite having gone through at least 8 printings since first published in 1987, there are still typos! Not trivial ones, either. On page 7, Figure 1 has x1 and x2 labelled backwards. On page 14, Figure 3, the sign of the sum on the left hand side should be positive, not negative. On page 18, line 11 should read "those from Fig 7c, d, and f should cancel", not Fig 7c, d, and e.

Great book
Feynman's lecture is the simplest and the most intuitive explanation of the connection between spin and statistics that I have ever seen! This is a very readable book, no knowledge of quantum field theory is required, but a good understanding of relativity and quantum mechanics is essential for understanding the book. I think every physicist should read these lectures, although very simple, they add a lot to our understanding and even to our knowledge of fundamental physics.

Summary of Paul Dirac Memorial Lectures
This book is a summary of 1986 Paul Dirac memorial lectures delivered by physicists, Richard Feynman and Steven Weinberg. This book requires the knowledge of undergraduate level physics and perturbation theory, and it is described in two chapters; the first is by Feynman under the title "The reason for antiparticle." This section describes the first attempt of Dirac in 1928 to "wed" newly discovered quantum mechanics and theory of relativity. When relativity was included into Schrodinger's pure wave equations, the relativistic equation (Dirac equations) would only be satisfied if there were two solutions corresponding to positive and negative energy states, and in the case of the electron, an electron with a positive charge was required for negative energy state. Thus the existence of antiparticles (positron) was predicted as a direct result of combining the relativity with quantum mechanics. Paul Dirac was also able to explain the origin of the electron magnetic moment and spin. Feynman postulated one of the revolutionary thought in quantum field theory, that antiparticles could be viewed as particles going back in time. This should not be taken as a physical reality in which cause - effect sequence could be revered. Because during the Lorentz transformation the time sequence of two events gets reversed, one of them could not have been the cause of the other because the two events are outside each other's sphere of influence. In frame A, if event 1 occurs first and event 2 occurs after event 1, but in frame B, event 2 occurs before event 1. This is possible in relativity because the time ordering of two events is not an absolute concept; one event can be in the past of another event in one frame, and in its future in a different frame. An observer in frame A will see an electron before event 1, an electron between events 1 and 2, and an electron after event 2, but in frame B, he will see one electron before event 2 and only one electron after event 1.

In the second part under the title, Toward the final laws of physics, Steven Weinberg discusses the developments in physics to explain physical reality with one set of physical laws. This has lead to several unsuccessful theories to unify relativity and quantum physics, finally leading to String theory.

Paul Dirac believed that physical laws should have mathematical beauty. Both Feynman and Weinberg have made beautiful theories. Weinberg played a key role in the unification of electricity and magnetism with the weak forces of radioactivity, and Feynamn expanded the understanding of quantum electrodynamics; they were best suited to deliver the Paul Dirac memorial lectures.

1. Paul Dirac: The Man and his Work
2. Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac: Reminiscences about a Great Physicist
3. Dirac: A Scientific Biography
4. Lectures on Quantum Mechanics
5. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
6. Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character
7. Positron Physics (Cambridge Monographs on Atomic, Molecular and Chemical Physics)
8. Dreams of a Final Theory: The Scientist's Search for the Ultimate Laws of Nature
9. QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Princeton Science Library)
10. Cosmology

Tougher than the Lectures on Physics
When I readThe Feynman Lectures on Physics including Feynman's Tips on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition, I was hoping to understand the reasoning behind the exclusion principle, and was disappointed to find that RPF felt that this was too complex for undergraduates, so he asked them to take it on faith for the moment.

Here he is talking to a more advanced audience, and explains it - he was right, it's tough.I'm still struggling to understand it, but I have confidence that this is a good book to help.

[Added nearly a year later] Having reread the book several times, I finally understand Feynman's lecture!As is often the case, once I understand the principle, I see relationships to various other things I had not fully understood before.

I should also comment on Weinberg's lecture: he's talking about more speculative areas than Feynman, which is perhaps one reason I found him less enlightening than Feynman, but in a rather vague way I follow what he's saying.Certainly these are fascinating ideas, but they don't sing to me like Feynman's lecture.

Recommended
From Richard Feynman, with love. Need more to be said? Read it, and read it again. This one can be read all over again once in a while and does not get boring. ... Read more

Product Description
This book will be useful to anyone who wants to understand theuse of quantum theory for the description of physical processes. It isa graduate level text, ideal for independent study, and includesnumerous figures, exercises, bibliographical references, and even somecomputer programs.
The first chapters introduce formal tools: the mathematics areprecise, but not excessively abstract. The physical interpretation toois rigorous. It makes no use of the uncertainty principle of otherill-defined notions. The central part of the book is devoted to Bell'stheorem and to the Kochen-Specker theorem. It is here thatquantum phenomena depart most radically from classical physics. Therehas recently been considerable progress on these issues, and thelatest developments have been included. The final chapters discussfurther topics of current research: spacetime symmetries, quantumthermodynamics and information theory, semiclassical methods,irreversibility, quantum chaos, and especially the measuring process.In particular, it is shown how modern techniques allow the extractionof more information from a physical system than traditionalmeasurement methods.
For physicists, mathematicians and philosophers of science with aninterest in the applications and foundations of quantum theory. Thevolume is suitable as a supplementary graduate textbook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

excellent exploration of the subject matter.
The author has put serious work and thought to writing this excellent book. It is a graduate level exploration of quantum theory but it is written very clearly. A background in college level physics and mathematics are necessary of course but the book is so well designed that the reader requires only common sense and persistence to complete the journey. I found some of the insights very illuminating. and most of the mathematical work was clear enough for me to comprehend the logic behind the ideas, not just through the accompanying discussion but through the maths itself.

I am not a physicist nor a mathematician, just someone who is scientifically inclined with a deep interest in quantum theory and this book is a very valuable addition to my library. I highly recommend it. the author in my opinion literally guides you through an excellent exploration of the subject matter.

The Innovative View of Quantum Theory
The essential logic of this book is stated at 'Preface': "quantum phenomena do not occur in a Hilbert space, they occur in a laboratory".The author's view is stated on p.26: "The essence of quantum theory is to provide a mathematical representaion of states (that is, of preparationprocedures), together with rules for computing the probabilities of the various outcomes of any test."Also, on p.183: "The only meaning of "quantum state" is: a list of the statistical properties of an ensemble of ideally prepared systems."The above pragmatic view of quantum theory is truly innovative, and expected to settle the longstanding controversies over the meaning of quantum theory.The author's view seems to correspond to Einstein's instrumental interpretation of quantum theory, one of Einstein's three interpretations of qunatum theory. (see, A. Fine in "Einstein in Context" pp.257-273: http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Context-Science-Mara-Beller/dp/0521448344/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223250841&sr=1-2 )

A High class presentation of fundemental quantum theory
This book is the result of something like six years of work. The highly contemplative tone of this deep composition reflects the labor of the author. It is extremely well presented. The many problems range from quite easy (but not trivial) to time demanding mini-projects. The book is written for self-study, too. Which, to me, is something more authors need to embrace.
Final Note: This texts serves as a sophisticated introduction to the foundational aspects of quantum theory. A bit of higher math, computational skill, and a working knowledge of elementary theoretical physics will be useful.

Wonderful Book
I don't have a physics background. I wanted to understand from the scratch the connections between thermodynamics, information theory and the quantum world. Also I wanted to understand the issue of quantum entanglement a little deeper. I wouldn't say that I found everything that I was looking for in this book. But it did give me a very good start and more pointers for what to look for.

Very good
One of the rare books that give a deep and balanced account of Quantum Theory... Concepts are emphasized as much as techniques. Anyone who wants to understand (as opposed to merely use) quantum mechanics should at least have a brief look through such a book... ... Read more

Product Description

Tough Test Questions? Missed Lectures? Not Enough Time?

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More than 40 million students have trusted Schaum's to help them succeed in the classroom and on exams. Schaum's is the key to faster learning and higher grades in every subject. Each Outline presents all the essential course information in an easy-to-follow, topic-by-topic format. You also get hundreds of examples, solvedproblems, and practice exercises to test your skills.

This Schaum's Outline gives you

• Hundreds of examples with explanations of quantum mechanics concepts
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Topics include: Mathematical Background; Schrodinger Equation and Applications; Foundations of Quantum Mechanics; Harmonic Oscillator; Angular Momentum; Spin; Hydrogen-Like Atoms; Particle Motion in an Electromagnetic Field; Solution Methods in Quantum Mechanics; Solutions Methods in Quantum Mechanics; Numerical Methods in Quantum Mechanics; Identical Particles; Addition of Angular Momenta; Scattering Theory; and Semiclassical Treatment of Radiation

Schaum's Outlines--Problem Solved.

Product Description
The more you learn about quantum physics, the more you wonder: who is really creating your reality? Fear not: Dr. Quantum, superhero of spiritual science, is here to help you Meet the Real Creator—You! Join this champion of modern thought (sometimes known by his alter ego, Dr. Fred Alan Wolf) on a quest for truth through the strange reality of quantum physics. Listeners will discover how we participate in the manifestation of each moment, why the universe only seems to be beyond our ability to control, and how we can use the principles of cutting-edge science to truly take charge of our lives. On this four-part journey into understanding, Dr. Quantum will unravel such mysteries as: • Your "spiritual elephant"—who is really in control of your life from a quantum perspective?• Quantum heaven, quantum hell—if we create our own reality, why do things happen that we don’t want?• "If I have a soul, why doesn’t it do something?" How to open a dialogue between your "self" and "soul."• Is there one soul, or are there many? A quantum perspective on the nature of self and other. Whether he’s rescuing listeners from confusion about subatomic subtleties or breaking down the barriers between science and spirit, Dr. Wolf sets the standard for bringing quantum physics down to earth—and into our lives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Entertaining and Relevant to Everyone
I LOVE the way that Fred Alan Wolf speaks on this book. There are so many Audiobooks out there that simply talk at you. In this he annunciates and has fun talking about quantum physics and its relativity to the consciousness of man. Great audiobook. Very Recommended!!!

A gem!
This is a review of the audiobook.I have purchased more than a dozen fine audiobooks and this one is now number one on my list. Wolf reads his own book and some of the strait-laced may be a bit put off by a herr professor who in spots sounds like a manic comedian. And maybe a few aspects of the argument could have been more developed and the point underlined. But this is a popular introduction on how quantum physics relates, or has similarities, to a spiritual understanding of the worldand as such, I think, is a spectacular success. Wolf uses metaphor, analogy and word pictures to bring his point across, signs of a good writer. He deals in profound ideas and though he may make it seem like a sleigh ride, it aint that easy to do. There is speculation here and assumptions so if you're looking for a scientific explanation of quantum physics this audiobook is not for you. Materialists and spiritualityphobes, you'll hate it! But for me, Wolf is a supremely wise old coot full of vim and vigor and joy of life. A gem.

Utter Rubbish
It's amazing how this guy can rave on and on for hours without actually saying anything. Here's a scientist that never seems to have heard of the scientific method. Very disappointing! The non-sequiturs and leaps of logic are astounding.

Very Good Book.
I liked this book. Fred Alan Wolf is a exuberant speaker. I wish i would have had him as a teacher.

Don't miss this one!
I listen each day. I am enjoying listening and learning more about the world and myself. ... Read more

Product Description
This edition has been completely revised to include some 20% of new material. Important recent developments such as the theory of Regge poles are now included. Many problems with solutions have been added to those already contained in the book.


... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Good book, more classical notation
I like all Landau books, but in quantum mechanics I'd rather see more Bras and kets than wave functions.

Good Book, Hard read
This is a great book to reference if you already have some mastery of Quantum Mechanics.Does not who any math, but has many illustrating and difficult examples.

Marvellous
If one wants to understand Quantum Mechanics then she or he should read this book.

great book
this is very great theoretical quantum book. Although you cannot start learning quantum mechanics from this book, But for extended theoretical studies, in the concept of quantum mechanics in general, and also in specific fields. I recommend this book. This book is number 5 of my quantum books, it is so far the most consistent, but I understand also this is because quantum is not a strange subject to me any more. I really recommended forgraduate students, or undergraduates who have good understanding of the mathematical calculation for basic quantum.
great book after all.

Contents - Great, Print Quality - Really Bad
It is really a shame to have such a classic text with a typesetting that makes much of the mathematics almost unreadable.For example, the authors often use either a tilde, hat (carat), and dot (period) on top of operators, sometimes in combination.These are so badly rendered that you have to derive their identities from the context of the surrounding discussion.Frequently parts of characters are missing as if an old typewriter with a worn ribbon were used. I have 2 other volumes in this series (Mechanics andStatistical Physics Part 1) which do not suffer these defects.My 2-star rating is in no way a reflection of the contents nor the authors, which get 5 stars (based on the prose and the equations I CAN read). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Something practical
This book is part of the "Secrets of the Universe" series.

Reading the introduction makes you want to regurgitate. Even though the target reader grade is sit to nine, the author, Paul Fleisher, talks down to the reader in the most fundamental way.

After you get past the introduction it is Relativity and Quantum Mechanics relatively with out the math. You will find the book more of a history of how our concept of light and the makeup of the atom changes down through the ages. He sights key discoveries and concepts. And drops names such as Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Max Plank, and Werner Heisenberg.

Before you get a chance to yawn this is one of the few books that has practical experiments to prove the laws and not just take my word for it theories. Try the Red or Blue light on a motion detector that proves that "the shorter the wave = the higher the energy."

The information is split into logical and short chapters:
1. Relativity
2. Quantum Mechanics
3. Conservation of Mass/Energy
4. The Uncertainty Principle

Included are references to further reading and web sites to visit.

Real science, real simple
This book by Paul Fleisher is an interesting introduction to a difficult subject.Written ostensibly for sixth to ninth grade levels, in fact many people beyond these levels have gaps in their knowledge about science.For all of its fame, the Theory of Relativity is one of the misunderstood ideas in science.Not as well known as Relativity, Quantum Physics is also largely misunderstood.Fleisher's book by no means presents all the depth of these ideas, but it does provide a very basic framework for understanding.

There are four chapters -- the first chapter looks at relativity, discussing the speed of light, frames of reference, and the idea of warped space-time around massive objects.The second chapter, quantum mechanics, presents the idea of the photoelectric effect, the idea the energy behaves in wavelike and particle manner, and that there are few 'real life' experiments that can adequately explain quantum effects.The third chapter looks the conservation of mass and energy, the famous Einstein equation of E = mc(squared).The fourth chapter presents one more misunderstood physics idea, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, one of the important concepts in quantum physics, that basically sets the stage for much of the 'bizarre' aspects of modern physics, including the concept of limits to our knowledge and measurement ability.

Fleisher presents several short appendices -- a two-page timeline starting in 1675 with Olaus Romer's discovery that the speed of light is finite to the late 1900s with nuclear events.There are eight pages of one-paragraph biographies of major physicists of the past few hundred years.There are selected readings and bibliography, as well as a useful glossary.

Not just for kids, the book and the others in the series of 'Secrets of the Universe' present science ideas in small, easily comprehended pieces for any non-scientifically-literate reader. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is a clear and comprehensive introduction to quantum field theory, one that develops the subject systematically from its beginnings. The book builds on calculation techniques toward an explanation of the physics of renormalization. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Kindle Edition Review
The typesetting is terrible in the kindle edition:
1) Equations appear as a (low quality) scan- they are rather gray and the resolution is bad.This is a problem for sub/superscripts in particular.
2) The math symbols in the text vary widely in quality; some are correctly identified and treated as text, but others as scanned images- even within the same equation.This is a problem because the scanned parts are not lined up with the text-like symbols, making things appear as sub/superscripts when they are not.Also, consistently, right brackets (<) are three times the height of other things, including | and left brackets (>), which makes Dirac's notation difficult to read in a glance.

Hammer, saw and screwdriver
This is the ideal book to use a basis for learning QFT. That isn't to say that it's the only book that you'll need or that it can replace a course on QFT, but the good thing about the book is that it shows you how to actually calculate things. So my way of using this book is to go try to do a calculation until I run into an idea that the book does not explain well. At this point, I turn to some other book for more details. Quite a few times, the other books are not necessarily books on QFT. Ideally you want to be in a short course on QFT that shows you what the ideas in QFT are so that you can go crazy, compute a scattering amplitude and learn the details of the tricks involved in the calculations from a text. Which brings me to the the topic of backup texts to help understand things that this text does not treat well. A great set of supplementary notes for understanding the ideas involved in QFT are David Tong's 'Lectures on Quantum Field Theory' ([...]) that are freely available on the net. Unfortunately, they don't go very far but another great set of notes are Michael Luke's version of Sidney Coleman's 'QFT Lecture Notes' ([...]) that are also freely available on the net. A good text for more basic QFT stuff is Franz Gross' 'Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and Field Theory' (http://www.amazon.com/Relativistic-Quantum-Mechanics-science-paperback/dp/0471353868/). Gross' book assumes less knowledge on the part of the student and spends a lot of time on the EM field and the K-G and Dirac equations. A good supplement for (mostly) classical fields and gauges is 'Geometry, Particles and Fields' by Bjorn Felsager (http://www.amazon.com/Geometry-Particles-Graduate-Contemporary-Physics/dp/0387982671/). At a much more elementary level is Davison Soper's 'Classical Field Theory' (http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Field-Theory-Dover-Physics/dp/0486462609/). Special relativity and electrodynamics are covered well by Asim Barut's 'Electrodynamics and Classical Theory of Fields and Particles' (http://www.amazon.com/Electrodynamics-Classical-Theory-Fields-Particles/dp/0486640388/). A good book for a more laid back, overviewing, historical, pedagogical and well-written view of QFT is Steven Weinberg's 'The Quantum Theory of Fields: Vol I, II & III' (http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Theory-Fields-Foundations/dp/0521670535/), although, like most texts written by Weinberg, it's great and scholarly for people who already know some QFT but probably not a good text for someone seeing it all for the first time. Finally, mention must be made of the excellent, but sadly out of print, text on QED by Josef Jauch and Fred Rohrlich 'The Theory of Photons and Electrons' (http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Photons-Electrons-Relativistic-Mathematical/dp/3540072950/). Jauch and Rohrlich cover most of QED but none of the developments involving the Weak or Strong Force because they were not understood at all the time of the publication of the first edition of the book (1955). An update in 1976 included more QED but the death of Josef Jauch prevented it from becoming a full-blown QFT text.
In conclusion, you'll probably wannt Peskin and Schroeder as a sort of 'hammer, saw and screwdriver' text (a carpenter's basic tools are hammers, saws and screwdrivers) but you'll need to go grab other tools every now and then.

Mixed feelings about it...
Having started reading QFT as an undergrad from textbooks like Mandl and Shaw, I was reluctant to use this one, even while it was the recommended textbook of a graduate course in field theory. The main reason for this was that Peskin and Schroeder (P&S) makes practically no effort to make contact with the rest of the (vast) literature on the subject. If you have read some other QFT book it is very-very difficult to go through P&S and vice-versa. I remember trying to use in some occasions this book for some calculation and ending up completely confused, because the notation and normalization conventions where different from everybody else. So after these first sad encounters I quickly dismissed it and decided to use other books for QFT instead.
Unfortunately, P&S seemed to remain the standard reference and everybody else seemed to have read it, so from some point on, I decided to give it another chance, so I wouldn't feel I was intellectually isolated. Thus, I bought the book and spent a couple of months reading through most of the text. This time I decided to not just read the parts I considered new, but start from the very beginning and keep going, doing every in-between calculation. Surprisingly, this time I could understand what was going on and managed to advance very fast through the chapters.
I realized though that my initial impression remained true. The book is very idiosyncratic in its presentation method and many topics are treated here in a way you won't find anywhere else. This can be actually very useful, if you have already some familiarity with the material and you want to gain some further insight.
The chapters of P&S have an obvious flaw though, which is why I couldn't follow the text on my first attempt: They are not at all self-contained. The book will present some small, one paragraph argument, which at the particular point seems rather tangential to what you are reading, then 400 pages latter, in a different chapter and subject, there comes a reference to that argument which now appears to be of outmost significance. So, you have to go back and see what is it that you missed. Apparently, unless you are reading the book without stop and start to finish, there is no way to avoid these frustrating self-references (and even if you are reading full-time, it takes about two weeks to advance 400 pages and by that time, you have most certainly forgotten half of the things you 've read). Many chapters suffer from the same problem and this renders the book almost useless as a reference, Every time you have to look up something which is a little more advanced than the Dirac equation, you end up encountering some reference to a previous passage, which then references another and so one, until you have to read again half of the book to find what you where looking for.
There are also parts where an argument on a subject (like the Ward-Takahashi identity) can extend through many chapters and many pages. It is not uncommon in P&S to find discussions which continue for more than 10 pages. By the time you reach the end, you have almost forgotten what you where trying to prove in the first place. And this is another problem of the book. It has a tendency to present subjects which are in fact difficult and obscure as long discussions, without giving a hint in the beginning about what the result will be and expecting from the reader to make up his own mind about what actually has happened over the past 10 pages. Even when the exposition is interesting and engaging, it still may leave the reader perplexed in the end. The book also makes no distinction between which parts are "considered" easy and those that are supposed to be more difficult. This is very frustrating for the reader, since he may end up struggling too much over an easy part for no reason, then the next moment not paying the attention needed to truly follow a more profound section. It is always easier to learn once you are told what to expect.
This trend seems to plague particularly the exposition of renormalisation techniques. P&S spends almost 200 pages discussing one-loop renormalisation in QED in chapters 6 and 7, then comes back to discuss renormalization more formally in Chapter 10, then 11 for renormalization with spontaneously broken symmetries, then 12 for the renormalization group. After nearly 400 pages or reading, you only have heard of Minimal and Modified Minimal Subtraction only once and in passing, without explanations or examples of how to use it. And for the record, after all this theoretical talking of renormalization, this is what you need the most in order to do some actual calculation of your own! Instead, you are left to more or less figure it out yourself after all these 400 pages.
Having read almost the entire book, and having struggled to adapt to its notation, I thought I could at least use what I had just learned to read papers and do some research. Alas, the only papers I could read and understand using P&S, where those of Peskin! And of course, this is because everybody else doesn't use his notation. In a field as technical as QFT, notational conventions are very-very important and if you can't stick to a common language, you only make your life more difficult with no reason.
Overall, I think there is no good evidence for someone to read this book and I am surprised this has become the standard reference on the subject. More surprising still, is the fact that the very professors who use it as recommended textbook in their courses of QFT almost never use its notation in their lectures or notes (from my experience in several universities, including the US). In my opinion, there is no all-encompassing textbook on QFT at the moment (Weinberg's trilogy also suffers from the same problem, it is very idiosyncratic). Maybe there will never be one again (like Bjorken and Drell once was), since the field has grown considerably over the years and has now become huge. So the only way to learn field theory is to read from many different books, depending on which has the best treatment for each topic. And in this case interoperability and notational consistency is far more worthwhile and rewarding than just striving for originality. Mandl & Shaw is perharps still the best introductory book and Bjorken & Drell has its merits. Greiner is the perfect reference for calculations on the early topics of field theory, like the Klein-Gordon, Dirac and Maxwell field and canonical quantization. His exposition of path integrals and the effective action is also a lot more coherent and to the point than P&S. Books on gauge theories like Aitchison & Hey, Huang and especially Cheng & Li are probably the best sources for more advanced topics on renormalization. Lie groups and the Standard Model. Leader & Predazzi also have a great chapter on the renormalization group. Coleman's lectures are also a must read. Finally, Zee's book is an excellent read if you actually want to know what it all really means.

poor
even years later now i still really dont like this book.
there is a gap in 1st year grad courses and this book.
Among other things i specifically dont like:
1) there is a shallow discussion of lie algebras
2) The notation can leave a newcomer confused in a field where clarity is essential to pedagogy
3) field theory isnt just QED and the standard model
4) there is a lack of nonperturbative topics
5) lack of fancier math
6) quantization is done entirely wrong, as if [x,p]~i came from nowhere. which leads to a convoluted (albeit original) tour through quantizing a dirac field
7) often the diagram and value of it are just stated in clever time and space saving ways which is detrimental to pedagogy again...
...the list goes on

I prefer:
1) ryder was easy for me to read when i started
2) bertlmann "anomalies" which is a book about much more than that
3) makeenko
4) A. Zee'stour of QFT
5) for getting into nitty gritty i liked ho kim an pham's particles book.

there are a lot of other good choices. mandl n shaw, srednicki, lowell brown's book, pokorski's, the whole series by greiner...those are also better in my view.

i think people only use this book because peskin is well known. the book doesnt have much merit from my perspective.

Perfect.
I received the book as it should be: knew. And it cames before the estimated time. ... Read more

Product Description
Quantum behavior encompasses a large fraction of modern science and technology, including the laws of chemistry and the properties of crystals, semiconductors, and superfluids. This graduate-level text presents the basic principles of quantum mechanics using modern mathematical techniques and theoretical concepts, such as hermitian operators, Hilbert space, Dirac notation, and ladder operators. The first two chapters serve as an introduction to quantum theory with a discussion of wave motion and Schrödinger's wave mechanics. Coverage then details the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.Throughout, basic theory is clearly illustrated and applied to the harmonic oscillator, angular momentum, the hydrogen atom, the variation method, perturbation theory, and nuclear motion. This volume is the ideal textbook for beginning graduate students in chemistry, chemical physics, molecular physics and materials science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent textbook
Despite its title, this book contains few applications to chemistry.What distinguishes it from most QM texts is the absence of physics-specific applications like solid state, and the careful, step-by-step process by which the author derives results.I'd recommend it to anyone (chemist, physicist, whatever) who wants to know nonrelativistic quantum theory.It's also a handy reference for a few subjects that have wide use outside QM, like group velocity and spherical harmonics.The style is a bit dry, and I doubt that I'll ever read it cover to cover, but as a textbook it's hard to beat.

Fantastic explanation of theory with math
This is exactly what I was looking for when I wanted to put a face to some of the more complex theories and physics that I've been studying on my own about the fundamentals of some string and quantum mechanics theories. He starts from the beginning and goes nice and fast, however its nice small steps he takes, you can read it at any pace but its a LOT packed into it.I'm just glad he was able to finish it without going crazy :)Thanks for taking the time to split up the math and put it all together into one source.This makes it much easier to apply some theory with this kind of background.The math is easily layed out and forshadowed.the formulas and values are explained as they are used and each propogation is shown and explained.It assumes knowledge of physics but explains anyway.I'm not a graduate student, but I can understand it anway, great work. ... Read more

Product Description

Motivates students by challenging them with real-life applications of the somtimes esoteric aspects of quantum mechanics that they are learning.

Offers completely original excerices developed at teh Ecole Polytechnique in France, which is know for its innovative and original teaching methods.

Problems from modern physics to help the student apply just-learnt theory to fields such as molecular physics, condensed matter physics or laser physics.

Customer Reviews (2)

Collection of Solved Problems in Quantum Mechanics
This book has quite a comprehensive collection of solved problems in quantum mechanics. It is a suitable supplement to the usual texts on quantum mechanics such as those by Shankar, Griffiths, Sakurai, etc. Another similar useful book on solved problems is: Problems and Solutions on Quantum Mechanics by Yung-Kuo Lim.

Extremely useful
If you are studying quantum mechanics using popular textbooks such as Griffiths', Shankar's, Liboff, Sakurai, Ballentine, ... you must have this problem book on shelf. You can look up ALMOST every typical problem that appeared on qualifying exams--almost any hard problem you don't know how to solve. I personally find this very very helpful. Hihgly recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
Physics is a complex, even daunting topic, but it is also deeply satisfying even thrilling. And liberated from its mathematical underpinnings, physics suddenly becomes accessible to anyone with the curiosity and imagination to explore its beauty. Science without math? It's not that unusual. For example, we can understand the concept of gravity without solving a single equation. So for all those who may have pondered what makes blueberries blue and strawberries red; for those who have wondered if sound really travels in waves; and why light behaves so differently from any other phenomenon in the universe, it's all a matter of quantum physics. "Absolutely Small" presents (and demystifies) the world of quantum science like no book before. It explores scientific concepts from particles of light, to probability, to states of matter, to what makes greenhouse gases bad in considerable depth, but using examples from the everyday world. Challenging without being intimidating, accessible but not condescending, "Absolutely Small" develops the reader's intuition for the very nature of things at their most basic and intriguing levels. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

I loved this book, but it's not for everyone
While I personally agree with the enthusiastic praise of most other reviewers, I think they oversell this book. It's not a Six Easy Pieces, ABC of Relativityor Thirty Years that Shook Physics. It has a narrower and deeper goal, and is likely to appeal to a smaller group. People with small aptitude for physics and mathematics, or little training and experience in them, will not find the explanations useful. People with extensive knowledge will find them too superficial. The ideal reader mastered Newtonian mechanics in high school, but didn't pursue physics in college.

The book is non-mathematical, but it uses rigorous and systematic reasoning that few math-phobes will tolerate. There is no physical intuition, in fact the author repeatedly warns against using it. That is a benefit to people who want to deepen their understanding, but it makes the argument abstract, requiring close attention. You need a pen and paper with you when you read this book, and you will be constantly turning back to refer to prior pages. It teaches you how to think about setting up quantum mechanical problems and then gives you the answer. That does save you a lot of detailed math (most of which has to be done on computer anyway) but it requires a significant fraction of the effort of learning the full subject.

Another difficulty of this approach is you have to accept a lot of principles that seem as arbitrary as epicycles. Why only two electrons per orbital? What is the nucleus?

This book delivers much of the insight from a college course in quantum mechanics with perhaps 10% of the work; but that's still a lot more work than most popular accounts demand. The book is written with clarity and style, but the density of the subject makes it a lot less fun that, say, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat or A Brief History of Time. And it does not deliver the kind of knowledge you can trot out at a cocktail party or use in a political essay. You won't impress anyone by reading this book, except maybe yourself.

So if you're serious about deepening your understanding of quantum physics, you can't do better than this book. But if you're not serious, there are lots of great alternatives that demand and deliver less.

Starts out good
I enjoyed the first 7 chapters or so and then it just got painfully boring.I skimmed through the rest. The last chapter was good. Absolutely not for the casual reader.I guess I hoped it was going to be more like Stephen Hawkings Universe In A Nutshell. Chapters 8 through 19 talk a lot about the rules of electron orbits in the different valence of atoms, ionic and covalent bonds and such.A little dry.Informative though.I had previously given it 2 stars but am now changing it to 3 because I did actually learn quite a bit I did not know before despite my average intelligence. I did not give it a 4 or better because I was looking for a light entertainment read, and it is anything but.A good book for the right reader.Maybe it deserves 4 stars because it does accomplish what I believe it sets out to do.

Quantum chemistry without math? Well, almost...
In the preface to this book the author begins: "If you are reading this book, you probably fall into one of two broad categories of people. You may be one of my colleagues who is steeped in the mysteries of quantum theory and wants to see how someone writes a serious book on quantum theory with no math. Or, you may be one of the vast majority of people who look at the world around them without a clear view of why many things in everyday life are the way they are." As the holder of a Ph. D. in theoretical chemistry, I definitely belong to the first group. (Aside: this is not really a book on "quantum theory" as the physicists might consider it, but strongly emphasizes the chemical applications of quantum theory, so "quantum chemistry" or "theoretical chemistry" would be more accurate than "quantum theory" in the second sentence of this quote. But this makes it even more clear that I belong to that first group.) "With no math" is not quite true; there is certainly a bit of mathematics in his treatment. But it is definitely a book intended for people with only a small mathematical background, and I think this book probably succeeds at its task. I have to put in a caveat in that the material he covers is _so_ familiar to me that it is hard to put myself in a layman's position to determine how clearly he explains things. I think he does a fairly good job, thus four stars. I'm not sure it is good enough to qualify for five, but I would not argue strongly that it does not deserve the fifth star.

The author clearly embraces the "Copenhagen interpretation" of quantum mechanics. I, myself, do not: for me quantum mechanics is a theory (the only theory we have at present that really works) that explains what we will observe, in an accurately quantitative manner. But I feel that people are wrong to attribute to it the status of an accurate theory of exactly what is going on. Quantum theory tells you, if you perform an experiment, what measurements you are likely to find: it succeeds in this, but it is unfair to ask more than this of it. I believe Planck, Einstein, Schrödinger, and others were right in that there is something real behind this, which we simply do not know how to find out, and quantum theory is the best theory we have at present to calculate the phenomena we will observe in the real world. But to his credit, the author does not let his adherence to the Copenhagen interpretation get in the way of his explanations, and most of what he says in this book is quite acceptable to me, despite my different philosophical orientation.

And the point he considers fundamental -- so fundamental that he bases his title on it -- is that there are such things as objects that are "absolutely small" as defined on p. 19 of the book: "An object is big in the absolute sense if the minimum disturbance that accompanies a measurement is negligible. An object is small in the absolute sense if the inherent minimum disturbance is not negligible." And expressed this way, I agree. So this philosophical difference does not prevent me from giving the book a high rating.

Absolutely Great!
Professor Michael Fayer holds a distinguished chair in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University, and has written a respected textbook, "Elements of Quantum Mechanics".His recent book, "Absolutely Small", shows he has an exceptional ability to dissect a deep scientific theory in non-mathematical terms, and illustrate it in way that is both interesting and informative for all levels of readers.As such, I rate Fayer as among the very best of scientific writers.In "Absolutely Small", Fayer first provides a non-mathematical introduction to the foundations of quantum physics.He then applies this knowledge to the Periodic Table, chemical bonding, and other topics of general interest.Finally, he illustrates the broad applicability of quantum physics and chemistry to a variety of interesting topics from everyday life.Although "Absolutely Small" will be readily accessible to any intellectually curious individual, it will also be fascinating to people (such as myself) who have studied quantum mechanics.I found "Absolutely Small" a delight to read, and it "bought to life" the quantum mechanics formalism that I have learned.I highly recommend this book!

Comes from an award-winning physics scholar and teacher
ABSOLUTELY SMALL: HOW QUANTUM THEORY EXPLAINS OUR EVERYDAY WORLD comes from an award-winning physics scholar and teacher who believes that quantum physics should be accessible to any person - and who uses ABSOLUTELY SMALL to explain its importance. From why everyday mysteries have quantum roots to how to understand quantum mechanics without math, this offers an invaluable guide for any general lending library.
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Product Description

This volume brings together leading quantum physicists to expound on the meaning and future directions of quantum mechanics. It offers new insights from different vantage points to tackle essential questions in quantum mechanics and its interpretation. All the authors have written for a broad readership, and the resulting volume will appeal to everyone wishing to keep abreast of new developments in quantum mechanics, as well as its history and philosophy.

Product Description
Goddess Spirituality for the 21st Century presentsnew ways of deepening the mystical connection with the divine embodiedas female. Judith Laura begins by reviewing concepts common to variousforms of Goddess spirituality. She then moves into uncharted territoryby re-envisioning the metaphysical basis underlying much of Westernmysticism.

This is the first book to look at both Jewish Kabbalahand Western Esoteric Qabalah from the point of view of Goddessconcepts, and to offer a more gender-balanced, female-affirmingre-visioning of the central kabbalistic symbol, the Tree of Life. Thebook also encourages the incorporation of contemporary science, suchas quantum physics, into the symbolism and practice of Goddessspirituality. Though tackling complex subjects, the author offers herexplanations in an approach that is easy to understand without beingsimplistic.

The book also includes rituals and guided meditationsto help put these ground-breaking theories into spiritual practice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

More than I expected
I admit it. I"m a snob when it comes to books on Kabbalah and the spiritual side of quantum physics.So many authors writing about Kabbalah and the feminine divine are spouting ideas that traditional kabbalists would balk at, and present them right alongside unsound pop science, to boot.Oy vey, indeed.

Yet this book makes a delightful exception.I bought this book assuming that I wouldn't like it, yet I was drawn to her premise and wanted to give the book a chance. I"m very glad that I did.Her treatment of Kabbalah very obviously stems from a study in Traditional Kabbalah, which for me indicates scholarship, dediation, and true desire to help seekers understand the subject matter.It would have been easy for Ms. Laura to use entirely hermetic sources and views in her treatment of Kabbalah, but instead she teaches from the source, from the heart of Kabbalism, and for that alone, I applaud her.

I did have a few issues with some of her theories, most notably her feminization of the sephira Chokmah.I feel that this is a violation of the most baisc ideas of traditional Kabbalah, and while I understand why she did this and why she feels justified in doing so, this sat wrong with me.But it is the only major beef I have with this work.

I reserve my 5 star ratings for books that in some way change my world.This book didn't quite do that, but only because my own studies of Kabbalah have advanced beyond the level of study this book intended.Had I read it several years ago, it very well may have changed my world.As it is, it is a sound, well researched, opinionated and interesting look at Kabbalah through the lenses of feminist spirituality.Job well done.

a brilliant summary of spiritual and political ideas
Judith Laura deals in complex ideas and history, both in spirituality and science.She does so in such clear prose that the most difficult issues, usually impenetrable, become clear and direct.And she demonstrates the direct relevance of ancient mysticism and modern physics to people's lives today.I have learned more from this short book--more on Kabbalah, more on the history of suppressed female spirituality, more on quantum theory--than from many long and complicated volumes.Highly recommended. ... Read more