Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Much better with a solution set
Review: This book is very readable but it doesn't contain enough worked out examples. If you can get your hands on a solution set, then the book is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Born Again... I love this textbook
Review: I hated this book when I took the course. Every one of my classmates hated this book.

That being said, now that I am in graduate school, I thank my lucky stars that we used this book. This text helped me build a great foundation that I used to go on to tackle Jackson. If you want to complain about a bad time, look at Jackson's EM text!

Now that so many folks are selling PDF copies of the solution manual, I sugest you pick up a copy of it as well. However, if you use it, be careful. It is full of mistakes. Don't confuse this with a poor understanding of E&M on the part of the author, or that the problems are too hard. They're not.

Like any text in Physics, this one is hard to understand the first couple times you look at it. Don't let it ruin your view of E&M. It gets better if you work at it.

Good luck!

Rating:
Summary: Awful text and here is why:
Review: I think I can understand how everyone in my class loved Griffith's book "Introduction to electodynamics". People like this book because he spends a lot of time explaining difficult concepts. and does not focus very much on the math involved. However, the problem with this book I think I have found and it is this:

IN THE REAL WORLD YOU CANNOT SOLVE REAL PROBLEMS BY RESORTING TO CONCEPTUAL EXPLANATIONS BUT RATHER YOU NEED HARD PROOF.

what do I mean by this?

I mean that griffiths spends so much time elucidating concepts that he DOESN'T explain the important mathematical proofs and facts. This book is extremely frustrating for a physicist who wants to SOLVE ACTUAL PROBLEMS.