Rating: 
Summary: Good introduction to Feynman diagrams
Review: I worked through the most of this book in explicit detail (the only way to get the full benefit, in my humble opinion), and, while it was very good at teaching the methods for deriving and computing Feynman diagrams, it often sacrifices pedagogy for explicit calculation. For instance, while there is a brief discussion of representations of the Lorentz group, the book gives no indication of how to construct and work with fields of higher spin. Also, I found their discussion of the LSZ reduction formulae rather impenetrable. (Their discussion of BRST symmetry, in contrast, is very readable and easily understood.) So, while I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn to do calculations in quantum field theory, it is imperative that they supplement this book with other sources that treat important topics, like the CPT theorem, general representation theory, and non-perturbative phenomena (which are barely mentioned here), in detail. (Also, there are a rather large number of unfortunate typos in the first edition...)
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for what it aims at
Review: It is always extremely difficult to review any QFT text. This is no exception. I believe that a text should be judged on whether or not it succeeds at what it attempts; in this respect, I think the book is excellent. As many other reviewers have pointed out, this is a book that gives one detailed knowledge on how to calculate S-matrix elemtents and cross-sections, etc. If one thoroughly understands what is presented in this book, one is well poised to start a fine career in practical particle calculations. The flip side of this is that it is simply impossible to cover somewhat more abstract topics as elegantly as some other, more advanced texts. On the other hand, this has its advantages, especially for those who have already been introduced to field theory. For me at least, this book forced me to think deeply about what QFT is all about and how the different results of the theory fit together, just to stay afloat. This in and of itself was far more beneficial to me than any text that spells out the author's opinions on these questions could have been, since everyone has a completely different view on what QFT is about, and reading what someone else thinks it is about does not help the student who is beginning to form his own opinions very much. Getting into the details of the book, I felt that the authors did an excellent, thought provoking job on Wilson's beautifully simple ideas on renormalization; most texts treat the renormalization group as an advanced, mysterious tool, partly because it is usually presented after the older renormalized perturbation theory approach, but here Wilson's ideas are given top priority, and strong emphasis is given on the general applicability of the renormalization group to ANY field theory, be it in condensed matter physics or particle physics.
Also, despite what other reviews have indicated, I find the derivation of the LSZ reduction formula perfectly clear. The way it is derived is in my mind completely natural, namely by convoluting the n+2 point Green's function (for 2->n scattering) with wave packets that are simulateneously well seperated and have distinct momenta. The fields decouple, forming true asymptotic states and in the end producing propagators with poles at the physical masses and residues =SQRT(Z). The remaining factor is just the S-matrix element. What could be simpler than that? Incidentally, although the proof of renormalizability for gauge theories is not explicilty given, who needs it in a first or second encounter with field theory? I feel that the vast majority of students in this field do not need a proof right away. I think that almost the same thing could be said for most of the other rigorous derivations which are skipped in this book.
Although the text does not cover nonperturbative methods in any significant depth, I feel that it would be inappropriate to do so in a text of this type; after all, not all students taking first or second semester QFT end up using these methods on a day to day basis. In summary, I think this book covers the right topics for the audience that it reaches, and covers them well, if not entirely rigorously.
Rating:
Summary: probably the best all around introduction to qft
Review: It takes more than one book to learn quantum field theory, but I think at present this is the best book to start from. It doesn't try to cover everything, and nonperturbative methods especially are not covered much. But for perturbative field theory, it is great and much more complete than other textbooks.
Rating:
Summary: The best book for everyday use
Review: P&S has, in my opinion, the absolutely best ratio of material covered at a comprehensible level per # of pages. This criterion is important when one wishes to compare it with other QFT books, such as Weinberg. At each instant the authors give the reader useful tools explained with a nice physical intuition, without either going too much into philosophy or unnecessary heavy mathematical rigor. This is the book for those who believe that the best way of learning QFT is actually doing calculations in various physical contexts.
Rating: 
Summary: How To Do Calculations
Review: Peskin and Schroeder is not a book intended for those who wish appreciate the underlying principles or myriad subtleties of quantum field theory. The book merely "teaches" one to calculate. Texts which can be used in conjunction with P&S to address its weaknesses include those by Weinberg and Ryder.
Rating:
Summary: Promotes physical insight and understanding...not formalism
Review: The authors give an excellent overview of the physical concepts and computational aspects of quantum field theory. They stress the situation behind the subject, and endeavor to remain as concrete as possible. Abstract mathematical constructions are left to more advanced texts in quantum field theory. The authors characterize their book as an updating of the two volume set of Bjorken and Drell. The main emphasis of the book is on quantum electrodynamics (QED), the most successful of quantum field theories. The representation and analysis of the physical processes of QED is done via Feynman diagrams, with electron-positron annihilation leading off the discussion. Recognizing that the exact expression for the amplitude of this process is not known, perturbation theory is used to give an approximate representation for it via an infinite series with each term involving successively higher powers of the strength of the coupling between the electrons and photons (i.e. the charge). Each term is represented as a Feynman diagram. This is followed by a discussion of the quantum field theory of the Klein-Gordon field. The authors give one of the best explanations in the literature of why one must deal with the quantization of fields and not particles, the most important one being causality. Canoncial quantization is employed and the Feynman propagator for the Klein-Gordon field is derived. The Dirac field is also quantized using the canonical formalism. The authors show that Klein-Gordon fields obey Bose-Einstein statistics and Dirac fields obey Fermi-Dirac statistics. The all-important Wick's theorem is proven and higher-order Feynman diagrams are discussed. Most importantly, the authors show how to connect these results to experiment via the calculation of cross sections and decay rates. This entails the computation of the S-matrix elements from Feynman diagrams. The authors are very detailed in their elucication of the discussion, and those who have done these calculations know that it is great fun to do so. In addition, these "bread-and-butter" calculations give quantum field theory its ultimate justification in the modern particle accelerator. The discussion on radiative corrections is especially well-written, particularly the section on infrared divergences. The authors do not entirely neglect the more formal aspects behind quantum field theory, and spend some time discussion renormalization and the amazing Ward-Takahashi identity. This important identity gives one further confidence in the consistency of QED in that is shows that timelike and longitudinal photons can be neglected in the actual calculations. The process of renormalization has been viewed with suspicion by mathematicians, but it has been given a firmer foundation recently using, interestingly, mostly 19th century mathematics. The authors discuss functional methods, and give an example of its use by calculating the photon propagotor. Viewing this as a constrained problem because of gauge invariance they use the Faddeev-Popov gauge fixing condition to obtain the correct results. In addition, they derive the important Schwinger-Dyson equations for QED using functional methods. Effective field theories are also introduced in the book, with an explicit calculation of the effective action. The authors show the important connection between continuous symmetries and the existence of massless particles (Goldstone's theorem). Their discussion of the renormalization group is very understandable, and they motivate the subject well, by asking why the loop integrals over virtual-particle momenta are always dominated by values on the order of the finite external momenta. Non-Abelian gauge theories are given a thorough treatment and Wilson loops are introduced as a comparator between gauge transformations at different spacetime points. The quantization of these theories is again done by viewing the quantization problem as a constrained problem, and the famous "Lagrange multlipiers", the Faddeev-Popov ghosts, are introduced. The authors show in detail how their introduction allows the correct Feynman rules to be produced, by showing that the unphysical timelike and longitudinal polarization states of the gauge bosons are cancelled by these fields. The BRST symmetry is discussed as a formal device to to this cancellation. The omit though how the Ward identities are derived from BRST symmetry. The authors give the best explanation in the literature of asymptotic freedom by showing the effect of vacuum fluctuations on the Coulomb field of a SU(2) gauge theory. The important operator product expansion is treated in the context of the Callan-Symanzik equation in quantum chromodynamics. It is applied to the deep inelastic scattering and electron-positron annihilation. Dispersion relations make their appearance here. The authors also discuss anomalies and motivate the subject by analyzing the axial current in two-dimensional massless QED. The axial current is shown not to be conserved in the presence of an electromagnetic field, and they conclude that gauge invariance and conservation of axial currents in this theory cannot both be simultaneously satisfied. This is generalized to axial currents in four dimensions and the authors derive the famous Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomalies. The implications of anomalies for gauge theories are discussed along with observable consequencies. The (mysterious) Higgs mechanism is also discussed and compared to the situation in superconductivity. To view it in terms of superconductivity I think gives it the most plausible and intuitive justification. Understanding the Higgs mechanism is a usual stumbling-block for newcomers to gauge theories, and the authors do a fair job here. The quantization of spontaneously broken gauge theories is then carried out, with emphasis on the Goldstone boson equivalence theorem. A brief discussion of the future of quantum field theory ends the book. When reading this book, and others on quantum field theory, I am always amazed at the degree to which it works, and its elegance, despite the fact that it really is a collection of ad hoc strategies and sophisticated guesswork. One gets the impression that there is something profound behind the scenes, still waiting to be discovered, and which will be able to shed light on the major unsolved problem of quantum field theory: the existence of a bound state.
Rating: 
Summary: Some Goods, Some Bads
Review: The book has so much assumptions about student levels, for example, fluency in tensor analysis, highly skilled on complex integrations, and so on. As a student, who was not a best one, such assumption makes me confusing on the equations. Despite above things, this book explanes the subject on QED as simple as possible. If you are interesting on condensed matter physics or solid state physics, you have to abandon useful things to find in it. Instead, I recommend you read "Green's functions ..." by Doniach firstly and then master Negele and Olrando's one.
Rating:
Summary: A course of algorythms to do calculations.
Review: The book makes Quantum Field theory look much harder than it should be. There is ABSOLUTELY NO logical flow. Things seem independant of each other the way they are presented. One gets a scattered feeling when going through the first few chapters. Its complete, except perhaps for non-perturbative stuff, but thats not a necessary virtue in a book which tries to be an introduction - maybe not a virtue at all. The best introduction to Quantum field theory is Hatfield's book, if u r one of those who define understanding as the ability to create the stuff on your own. ( The string theory part is a little too sketchy, of course, but just don't read it if you don't like it. )
Rating:
Summary: A major step since Bjorken/Drell
Review: The book of Peskin/Schroeder represents in my view a major stepforward since Bjorken/Drell. Not only do they cover everything in moredetails but their book also reflect the considerable advancement and refinement of quantum field theory. In any case, one should still start with Bjorken/Drell in order to get a good understanding before moving over to Peskin/Schroeder. This is not to say that Peskin/Schroeder is difficult to read, quite the contrary, but the physics embedded in the mathematics will be much easier to master. The problems are very well tied to each chapter and are also clearly written for a further and deeper understanding of the subjects. Also, Peskin/Schroeder cover quite a bit in quantum field theory and one will never have the feeling that something was left out. This also makes it an excellent reference book as well.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Presentation, Lack of Depth
Review: This is a difficult book to review. That a detailed study of several textbooks is needed for a thorough introduction to QFT is a well-known maxim among students of the subject. Every QFT text excels in some areas and struggles in others, and Peskin and Schroeder's book (P&S) is no exception. P&S chooses to emphasize performing calculations in the Standard Model (SM), and the chapters pertaining to this topic are excellent. Chapters 5 and 6, covering tree and one-loop calculations in QED, are invaluable, as are chapters 20 and 21, which detail the electroweak theory. Several of the formal aspects of QFT are shunted in P&S, as must something be neglected in every QFT text that is stable against gravitational collapse. The general representation theory of the Lorentz group is the most glaring omission in P&S. Chapter 1 of Ramond's "Field Theory: A Modern Primer" treats this topic quite well. The LSZ reduction formulae are derived and discussed more clearly in Pokorski's "Gauge Field Theories", as are BRST symmetry and free field theory. For those interested in undertaking detailed phenomenological studies of the SM or some extension thereof, Vernon Barger's "Collider Physics" is also recommended. Despite its shortcomings, P&S remains the best QFT reference currently available. It's the book I turn to first when confronted in research papers with field theoretic puzzle that I just can't crack. If you buy only one QFT text, buy P&S.
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