Rating: 
Summary: I can't belive it
Review: I bought this book, because of the good reviews people wrote here.
now after almost in the end of my qunatum mechnics course I can fully say this book, belong to one place only, in the recycle bin.
It's a very small, unclear, with no problems at all, does the writer ever heard of giving an example of solving problem ? none in the book!
Also complicating very simple stuff, like particle in infinte well. almost every quantum student will do that in five sec, while in this book it's so so complicated, I could not understand how somthing so simple as this could be complicated to this levels.
a lot of chpaters are scarmbled, means, there is no logic behind it, in one chapter it says :
the basic postulates of QM, but u can't understand a word of what is written in the chapter until u read the NEXT four...
very bad book, not even close to coehn tanjdi book.
Rating: 
Summary: It's okay
Review: I changed my mind. I like this book a lot more now that I understand the material better. That said, I didn't like this book when I didn't know what I was doing. I don't think this is a suitable place to start, although most of the people who are buying this book have to for a course, and if your professor is good, this text is fine. The main weakness of this book is the problems, which a quite trivial.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding. Perhaps the best book on the subject.
Review: I own about a dozen or more books on quantum mechanics and Shankar's is by far my favorite. He starts out with an excellent chapter on the mathematical prerequisites of the subject and then develops the theory from the postulates, always having the student in mind. Shankar is obviously a man with high exposition skills (I wonder if he plays the sitar as well as he writes quantum mechanics?).I highly recommend this book over Cohen-Tannoudji (too thick!) or Griffiths (which deceptively looks like a good book until you actually start reading the text and attempting the poor selection of problems).
Rating:
Summary: Shankar is a Master at Teaching
Review: I tried to read Sakurai and it made no sense to me... I went to Shankar and read the first few chapters of it and it made sense and I learned how to work problems. Then I went back to Sakurai and Sakurai made all the sense in the world. This is a great book and Shankar really makes things clear and understandable. The problem solving techniques that Shankar taught me were applicable to many of the problems in Sakurai even though Sakurai never mentioned those techniques. This book is more advanced than Griffiths but eases you into the Sakurai-level QM with the first couple chapters and I found that very instructive. If I had already studied Griffiths and had a choice between Shankar and Sakurai, I'd pick Shankar. Of course the two go very good together though.
Rating:
Summary: OK
Review: I used this book in an introductory quantum course for seniors. I admit that I do not have any experience with other quantum books, so I will not refute some of the other claims here that this is the best intorductory quantum book available. I, however, am not nearly as enthusiastic about this book as some of the other reviewers. I felt that in many places the exercises were merely mathematical exercises that did not offer any physical insight. Many of the problems could be done without any knowledge of the physical theory whatsoever. I understand that these mathematical exercises are pertinent and important, and are often the greatest obstacle that students face in learning QM. The problem is that I sometimes felt that doing the exercises were merely testing my knowledge and ability in mathematics, and that frequently my understanding of the physical theory was not improved by working problems. At many points as well, I felt that the notation was confusing. Overall, I felt that doing the problems gave me a decent insight into the mathematical tools of quantum theory, but left me with very little physical insight. That being said, I would recommend this book to learn QM. It is certainly not the best physics book I have used, but as I have said, I do not have experience with other QM books, and this may very well be the best available (I've heard some people claim that there really are no good quantum books at all). There are some parts of the book that I thought were very good, but overall I was not thrilled.
Rating: 
Summary: great stuff
Review: I'm not pretending to have read a great number of quantum mechanics books but from the few I have used this one certainly stands out. This book covers a lot of material and in good depth (I used it as an extra reference for a 3rd year undergrad Quantum Mechanics course). The mathematical introduction at the beginning is something missing in some other textbooks - it straightens out your ideas on operators, adjoint operators, vector spaces etc rather than just whippng them out from nowhere. Some people say not too worry too much about the maths when doing a Physics course and this is fine for a basic conceptual understanding but to be able to explore the ideas yourself and understand what is behind the formalism a bit of maths theory never goes astray. Shankar also goes over derivations etc. in good detail. All in all, a really great book.
Rating:
Summary: great stuff
Review: I'm not pretending to have read a great number of quantum mechanics books but from the few I have used this one certainly stands out. This book covers a lot of material and in good depth (I used it as an extra reference for a 3rd year undergrad Quantum Mechanics course). The mathematical introduction at the beginning is something missing in some other textbooks - it straightens out your ideas on operators, adjoint operators, vector spaces etc rather than just whippng them out from nowhere. Some people say not too worry too much about the maths when doing a Physics course and this is fine for a basic conceptual understanding but to be able to explore the ideas yourself and understand what is behind the formalism a bit of maths theory never goes astray. Shankar also goes over derivations etc. in good detail. All in all, a really great book.
Rating:
Summary: The author's attitude is what makes the difference.
Review: I've never before encountered an upper level physics textbook where the author is so concerned about whether or not the reader really understands the material. Other textbooks will just throw the information at you, and leave you to sink or swim. This book is different, and the author actually takes the time and effort to explain the concepts. It has made learning Quantum Mechanics an enjoyable process for me.
Rating:
Summary: Written for Students
Review: It seems that some QM books are written for people who have already mastered the material. Shankar's book is written for people with a good background in physics but are still learning QM. This book can be used as an advanced undergrad book. Not as informal as Griffiths but more readable than many other texts.
Rating:
Summary: A Grounded Review
Review: Let's be a little realistic. The other reviews of this book make
Quantum Mechanics sound easy with Shankar as your quide. This is NOT TRUE. To get anything out of Shankar you must spend hours reading and doing his problems. I'm sure compared to the other indecipherable tomes out there Shankar looks like a Godsend to the experts, but a student must still work hard to begin to understand QM. Shankar simply makes that work doable.
| 
