Rating: 
Summary: Griffiths defines "Introductory Course"
Review: David Griffiths' texts are indispensable for any beginner, and are used to "translate" more advanced texts. I used his "Quantum Mechanics" to fill in the gaps at the advanced graduate level, and his "Electrodynamics" was essential to understanding Jackson. I'm sorry that I waited so long to purchase his "Elementary Particles".This book contains all the background that professors expect you to have already been exposed to: particle classification schemes, the November Revolution, relativistic kinematics, and fundamental force overviews. Griffiths then goes on to discuss Feynman rules, QED, QCD, electroweak and gauge theories. Griffiths also works out some essential problems, like muon decay, that you will want to see done, but I think it is done better by Lahiri and Pal (that, however, is a field theory book, which might be more advanced than is necessary to some people in particle physics). This is a great text for anyone starting out in particle physics and for anyone who needs to review the fundamentals. My only bone with Griffiths is that sometimes more of the work is left to the reader than is appropriate (those problems worked out in gory detail are a godsend when you genuinely aren't getting the point).
Rating:
Summary: Griffiths defines "Introductory Course"
Review: David Griffiths' texts are indispensable for any beginner, and are used to "translate" more advanced texts. I used his "Quantum Mechanics" to fill in the gaps at the advanced graduate level, and his "Electrodynamics" was essential to understanding Jackson. I'm sorry that I waited so long to purchase his "Elementary Particles". This book contains all the background that professors expect you to have already been exposed to: particle classification schemes, the November Revolution, relativistic kinematics, and fundamental force overviews. Griffiths then goes on to discuss Feynman rules, QED, QCD, electroweak and gauge theories. Griffiths also works out some essential problems, like muon decay, that you will want to see done, but I think it is done better by Lahiri and Pal (that, however, is a field theory book, which might be more advanced than is necessary to some people in particle physics). This is a great text for anyone starting out in particle physics and for anyone who needs to review the fundamentals. My only bone with Griffiths is that sometimes more of the work is left to the reader than is appropriate (those problems worked out in gory detail are a godsend when you genuinely aren't getting the point).
Rating:
Summary: Griffiths defines "Introductory Course"
Review: David Griffiths' texts are indispensable for any beginner, and are used to "translate" more advanced texts. I used his "Quantum Mechanics" to fill in the gaps at the advanced graduate level, and his "Electrodynamics" was essential to understanding Jackson. I'm sorry that I waited so long to purchase his "Elementary Particles". This book contains all the background that professors expect you to have already been exposed to: particle classification schemes, the November Revolution, relativistic kinematics, and fundamental force overviews. Griffiths then goes on to discuss Feynman rules, QED, QCD, electroweak and gauge theories. Griffiths also works out some essential problems, like muon decay, that you will want to see done, but I think it is done better by Lahiri and Pal (that, however, is a field theory book, which might be more advanced than is necessary to some people in particle physics). This is a great text for anyone starting out in particle physics and for anyone who needs to review the fundamentals. My only bone with Griffiths is that sometimes more of the work is left to the reader than is appropriate (those problems worked out in gory detail are a godsend when you genuinely aren't getting the point).
Rating:
Summary: Another masterpiece
Review: Griffiths just can't write a bad book. This book give a very clear introduction to particle physics. It covers the material very well, runs through numerous useful examples, and has problem sets with very good problems at the end of each chapter. This is one of the best physics books I've ever used (his e+m and quantum books are praiseworthy also). This is the place to start if you want to learn particle physics.
Rating:
Summary: Great Intro to Particle Physics
Review: Griffiths' book provides an ideal introduction to particle physics for the undergraduate who is desperate to find a comprehensive treatment that is truly understandable. I was greatly disappointed by Griffiths' books on electrodynamics and quantum mechanics, but he really hit the mark on this one. There is the usual introductory material on the Standard Model, relativistic kinematics, symmetries and bound states, but his presentations of QED, Feynman calculus, decays and interactions are clearly written and geared for the student who has been frustrated by the obtuseness of other so-called introductory texts. His exposition on gauge theories, the Yang-Mills field and the Higgs mechanism is elementary but enlightening and even entertaining. Griffiths' sly wit is in great evidence in this text, and this is one of the reasons why it is so enjoyable. Although he displays a similar witty vein in his other texts, it just doesn't succeed as it does for this book. If you want to be able to calculate particle decay rates and interaction cross sections and have fun doing it, Griffiths' book is an excellent investment.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Companion
Review: It's a good thing that Griffiths has written this book about particles. So many other professors have tried but have failed miserably. Griffiths on the other hand is a gifted writer and teacher. This book is well written and easy to learn from. The text includes a chapter on bound state and another on home to calculate amplitudes from Feynmann diagrams. You won't always find mathmatical rigor in this text, but it will always be claer and readable.
Rating:
Summary: Another masterpiece
Review: Like all of Griffiths' books, this is the best place to start on this particular subject. This book teaches many of the fundamentals of particle physics without getting heavily into quantum field theory. The book has the particular magic of all of his books in that it makes the difficult subject seem easy. This seems to be done in two ways. One is that Griffiths has a wonderful casual speaking style that makes it easy to follow. He is simply an excellent teacher. The other is that he only covers the subjects that are readily simplified. His theory seems to be that on the first attempt one should learn the easy stuff and then later go back and learn the not so easy stuff that may require much more complicated mathematics. This always requires one to hit the more difficult books like Jackson, Goldstein and any advanced QFT book later in life. This has been my theory as well and this is why I appreciate his books as much as I do. In the down side this books is probably not as successful as his E&M and Quantum books. That is simply because particle physics is a much more diverse field and a newer field and also a more difficult subject and so "Griffithizing" it is a more challenging task. However as usual no one else has done a better job.
Rating:
Summary: Best place to start
Review: Like all of Griffiths' books, this is the best place to start on this particular subject. This book teaches many of the fundamentals of particle physics without getting heavily into quantum field theory. The book has the particular magic of all of his books in that it makes the difficult subject seem easy. This seems to be done in two ways. One is that Griffiths has a wonderful casual speaking style that makes it easy to follow. He is simply an excellent teacher. The other is that he only covers the subjects that are readily simplified. His theory seems to be that on the first attempt one should learn the easy stuff and then later go back and learn the not so easy stuff that may require much more complicated mathematics. This always requires one to hit the more difficult books like Jackson, Goldstein and any advanced QFT book later in life. This has been my theory as well and this is why I appreciate his books as much as I do. In the down side this books is probably not as successful as his E&M and Quantum books. That is simply because particle physics is a much more diverse field and a newer field and also a more difficult subject and so "Griffithizing" it is a more challenging task. However as usual no one else has done a better job.
Rating:
Summary: A grain of salt...
Review: OK. It seems that I am the one who criticizes all the books that everyone else loves.
The book is very good as far as didactics is concerned. But have you really read it? Let me ask you a few questions: How many typos can you find in chapter 9?
What do you think - had ANYONE proofread Chapter 11 before the book was published?
What about the exercises -can you do 9.2 without Halzen and Martin at hand (so that you may look up what, say, |7'> really means? (Griffiths mixes notation from the two books and you can never solve the exercise without intoroducing some corrections). There are many more questions like these to be asked about the Introduction to Elementary Particles.
So, do you like the content or the lively style? But, of course, five stars!
Rating:
Summary: Exactly the place to start from with high energy physics
Review: This books supplies what everyone needs when coming to nuclear and particle physics, a good beginning. It is intuitive and very clear and nice to read, allthough it wont supply the math rigour a grad student needs but will give an undergrad some idea of these subjects. Griffith has done a similar good job in electrodynamics (allthough there is more rigour in math)
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