Introduction to Electrodynamics
by: David J. Griffiths
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Features a clear, accessible treatment of the fundamentals of electromagnetic theory. Its lean and focused approach employs numerous examples and problems. Carefully discusses subtle or difficult points. Contains numerous, relevant problems within the book in addition to end of each chapter problems and answers.
Presents a textbook on electricity and magnetism, designed for an undergraduate course at the junior or senior level. Some notations have been modified by the author to avoid inconsistencies or ambiguities. DLC: Electrodynamics
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. 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.
Griffith's treatment is CLEAR and to the point. As an undergraduate, you will learn a lot of the mathematical methods for treating partial differential equations by working through this text. You will also end up with a true, fundamental, deep and ALMOST complete understanding of electrodynamics. As a graduate student, you will probably use this book more than Jackson to prepare for your qualifying exams. You will still need Jackson in certain areas and with respect to certain mathematical methods to more fully understand electromagnetism. The difference between these two becomes starts to become readily apparent from about Jackson's chapter 9 (2nd. ed.) onwards. Jackson goes deep into the use of spherical harmonics and Green's functions for the study of near and far radiation fields, waveguides, cavities, then goes deep into relativistic electrodynamics for particle interactions and so on.
Reviews:
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.
It's been years since I've been in school when I took a course using this book. Years in the real world, I came back to this book to clear up an issue I had when designing an electronics device that required knowledge of magnetization and, magnetic field density, susceptability, etc. What I came to realize from consulting the book was there are basically no real-life practical problems that have real-life results with real computed values. All the examples only ended up being another equation. Having results such as these are mathematically pretty, perhaps, but always drive me nuts? Does this equation assume that the material is diamagnetic, paramagnetic or ferromagnetic? Also, for new students, concepts such as magneto-motive force, magnetic field density, magnetic field, magnetic flux, magnetic field intensity,etc. are tricky to get a feeling for. Unfortunately, the author's only insight comes with using equations, and examples that result in more equations. You never get an intuitive sense of the magnitudes or directions of various fields, etc. when the answer is so general. It takes a very seasoned physicist to see through such results; a student is left confused, with only equations to create an "intuitive" fundation. What is needed are problems such as "A 4-79 Permalloy material with a 20-gauge insulated wire wrapped around it with a alternating current of 120Hz. Find B, H, M, susceptability, inductance, etc. Doing such a problem requires a focused answer, one that defines a point of measure, one that requires working knowedge of real-life parts (what you do when you get a real job), and provides a practical situation that arise when designing something. Also, there are so many important quantum ideas that should have been included (at least breifly mentioned), so as to bring the study of electrodynamics back to earth. Are university physics departments actually trying to help their students find a job by giving them books such as this?