Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 113
 Great Book for Junior/Senior Undergrad Course February 22, 2000
Reviewer (Near Columbus, OH United States)
73 out of 77 found this review helpful
(Edit: 3/10/07)
-- I have visited this review three times now. I wrote it as an undergraduate, edited as a graduate student, and now I'm editing it again as a professional with a little more experience. After reading through this review I fear that an instructor, searching Amazon for a text for the upcoming academic year, might think that I am recommending Jackson over Griffiths for an undergraduate course. Heck no. Griffiths is the best book you will find on the subject for an undergraduate junior/senior level textbook. It is a must have text for students new to the field, as it is well written, quite readable, and worth keeping. The text speaks to the student, not the instructor. While you, as the instructor, might know that there is a lot more to the field than is covered in this text, you must set that aside and realize that this book is the best for your students who are still learning. This book is a foundation that will give them the experience and confidence to eventually tackle more difficult texts like Jackson (though I still wonder if anyone could possibly master that text). My original review follows. --
I orignially wrote a review for this book as an undergraduate. In that review, I credited Griffiths with a knack for presenting information in a clever and entertaining way. I still believe this is true. At the time, I also said that Griffiths included precise and complete examples. Looking back, I no longer believe this is true.
When I first started using this book, I was under the impression that Griffiths had discovered a method in the way of writing textbooks that was totally superior to all other authors of similar background. Now, after several years of using Griffiths as a reference, I find that his books serve as a wonderful resource for refreshing one's memory, however they lack a certain comprehensive quality that would make them a solid reference text. I am now a student of John David Jackson's text, that legendary text with the impossible exercises (Classical Electrodynamics), and the astounding thoroughness of his book dwarfs the Griffiths E&M text by comparison. Valuable information in the Griffiths text is often left as an exercise. This is very frustrating when one is searching for solutions to much more advanced problems. I contacted Dr. Griffiths and asked him if it would be possible for me to obtain a solutions manual to both his E&M and his Quantum texts, but he informed me that I could not obtain these manuals unless I was an instructor at the insistence of the publisher (Prentice Hall). This is unfortunate. However, it is remarkable that Griffiths responded to my email. I think this is a testament to his character - he wants to help his readers, and this is evident in his textbooks.
All in all, the text is a fantastic book for the undergraduate, and a helpful resource for the graduate student. The book is a valuable resource for the intermediate or slightly advanced undergraduate physics student, and I encourage instructors at the undergraduate level to use the Griffiths text. For the physics student, the first exposure to E&M should come from Halliday and Resnick, the second should be Griffiths, and there really should be an intermediate step before they see Jackson, but no one has written that book yet.
If I was a millionaire..... August 3, 2000
Felix Matathias (Manhattan, NY, USA)
62 out of 73 found this review helpful
I am a graduate student of physics.I used this book as an undergraduate. It was invaluable. I understood what Electricity and Magnetism means. I used this book to study for the GRE physics test. It was invaluable. I wouldnt have made it without it. Everything was there, self contained, crystal clear. I used this book as a supplement to Jackson to the graduate school. Jackson was inpenetrable some times and this book paved the way for the more advanced material. I used this book to prepare for the comprehensive examinations of my physics department. The book was invaluable. It refreshed my memory (by that time I knew the material!) and I went quickly through solved and unsolved problems. I passed the exams. Isn't that enough ? How more usefull a book can be ? If you are a physics major you ought to yourself to buy this book. Dont complain later when you move to Jackson. If I was a millionaire I would buy this book to all the physics major of the world. Enough said.
The Best I've Seen August 25, 2005
N
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is probably the most used one I own. I refer to it for just about everything. You need all the vector calculus equations? There they are on the front cover. Need more info on them? First chapter covers vec. calc. pretty well.
As a beginning grad student in physics this book was invaluable. I lacked the EM background many around me had, but this book saved me. For instance, mutual induction...what the heck is it? I never learned that in undergrad and if I did, I sure don't remember. Well, I could scour my grad text Jackson for a couple hours and still never find a decent explanation or find it used in a much to technical context. Or I can look it up in Griffiths and find it explained with clarity and simplicity. Of course, if you've mastered undergrad EM, Griffiths may be baby food. But I can't imagine living without it. Jackson does go way more into detail but often when looking something up, that is more of a hindrance.
The problems in Griffiths are good because they range from trivial to very difficult. But as far as I know there are no Jackson type problems where you also don't learn anything valuable from them after the first time. Griffiths problems tend to actually teach you and not just drive you to suicide. In fact, I would recommend do many problems from the text that are not assigned because you will learn a lot from his problems. I think that is a sign of a good text book where every aspect of it lends to the learning process.
Hands down the best text book ever... December 8, 2005
Aeronomer (Texas)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
After 11+ years of undergraduate and graduate physics education, I have to say that Griffiths is *the* best text book I've ever used. In any field. Reading it is like having a conversation with the instructor. The problems are fantastic (for the level of the text) and the examples are perfect. If all text books were of this quality, my education would have been much more enjoyable. The text is no replacement for Jackson, since it never attempts electrodynamics at Jackson's level. But for its level of difficulty, you can find no better text. If I could give it 10 stars, I would.
Don't know electrodynamics? BUY THIS BOOK January 11, 2004
Peter Hugger (Eugene, Oregon United States)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you have never used a textbook by Griffiths, then stop wasting your time and buy this one. I am a current physics graduate student who did NOT use this textbook during undergraduate study and I am left wondering why...
In Introduction to Electrodynamics, the reader is expected to have a basic understanding of vector operations, and a firm grasp of calculus. Beyond this, the text clearly and accurately explains the fundamentals of electrodynamics, from steady-state electric fields (up to the concept of multipole expansions), to steady-state magnetic field topics, and even more advanced topics. The entire book is increadibly readable and contains many pre-worked examples of pivitol problems.
Any undergraduate student of Physics should not be without this text. If you are a graduate student currently hacking your way through Jackson's Electrodynamics, you ALSO should not be without Griffith's E&M. This book is without a doubt, the best introduction to electromagnetic phenomena around.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 113
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