Introductory Quantum Mechanics (4th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Good Book, but requires a supplement
Review: Liboff goes into much more detail in his explanations than do many other undergraduate texts on quantum mechanics. Unfortunately, it is often necessary to look at another book before you begin trying to decifer this one. In my undergraduate quantum course I often read Griffiths first to give me a basic idea of what it was I needed to understand, and then I would follow through with Liboff in order to actually understand it. This book was definitely helpful with a first course in Quantum Mechanics.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but somewhat slow
Review: Overall, I found this book very well written and comprehensive. The only complaints I have about it are that it is somewhat slow, and that there is very little interesting material until the last chapters in the book (but I suppose that most presentations of quantum mechanics are organized like this).

Rating:
Summary: Terribly written and lacks explanation
Review: The books dives into numerous topics without first giving thorough FOUNDATION or MOTIVATION. The examples are sparse, the explanations are few and far between, and the structure is overall bad. For those who need a book that teaches instead of a book that annoys and frustrates, get the Quantum Physics MIT introductory series book by AP French. It's a million times clearer, easier to read, and much more enriching.

Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners
Review: The first course in quantum mechanics that I took at Berkeley required only the Griffiths book. After realizing how terrible that book was, I picked up the Liboff book and was thoroughly satisfied. Although it is lacking in depth at some points, the subject matter is chosen very well and each section is reasonably self contained (as much as it can be in this subject). The mathematical level is just right for a second/third year physics major as it does a good job introducing new mathematics such as Airy functions, Legendre polynomials, spherical harmonics, and spherical Bessel and Neumann functions. It is also nice to see Liboff give a taste of more advanced topics such as path integration and relativistic quantum mechanics. The treatment of angular momenta and their addition (orbital and spin) is especially good for beginners. All undergraduates in physics would benefit from this text.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the beginner in Quantum Mechanics
Review: This book is excellent, if you already have some background in quantum mechanics. For the beginner,though, it has problems. There are very few examples, and the examples that the book does have are hard to follow and do not help when trying to figure out the problems. I used it for my Senior level quantum class and the students had trouble finding what they were looking for in the book. But, it is an excellent book, if you know what you are doing.

Rating:
Summary: Not For Everyone!
Review: This book is incredibly comprehensive, but I wouldn't recommend it for the typical undergrad. In my experience with the book, I found it annoyingly elitist, like many physics texts. There are plenty of "...the rest is left as an exercise" and "the good student will notice..." comments scattered throughout the book. I would prefer a text with a focus that is not so narrowly centered on physics students. For those of you who are looking for a book on Quantum Mechanics to teach to a fair cross-section of undergraduates (i.e. chemistry students, mathemeticians, and engineers), don't get this book. For example, I was in the class with a friend of mine who is a mechanical engineer (and a good student), who wished to pursue graduate work in nuclear engineering. This book nearly scared him away. Griffiths writes a better text for those of us who can admit that we prefer background, examples, applications, and explicit derivation in a text.

Edit: 12/2004 - Again I find that with the passage of time wisdom and experience gives one perspective. Ironically, even though I was initially turned off by this book, I often use it as a reference. It is an excellent text to accompany both Griffiths' intro book and Merzbacher. Not a great text for a course, but then again.... what quantum text *is* a good book for a quantum course?

Rating:
Summary: Not For Everyone!
Review: This book is incredibly comprehensive, but I wouldn't recommend it for the typical undergrad. In my experience with the book, I found it annoyingly elitist, like many physics texts. There are plenty of "...the rest is left as an exercise" and "the good student will notice..." comments scattered throughout the book. I would prefer a text with a focus that is not so narrowly centered on physics students. For those of you who are looking for a book on Quantum Mechanics to teach to a fair cross-section of undergraduates (i.e. chemistry students, mathemeticians, and engineers), don't get this book. For example, I was in the class with a friend of mine who is a mechanical engineer (and a good student), who wished to pursue graduate work in nuclear engineering. This book nearly scared him away. Griffiths writes a better text for those of us who can admit that we prefer background, examples, applications, and explicit derivation in a text.

Rating:
Summary: Good book, but use another along with it
Review: This book is quality. It is very comprehensive for an introductory text, especially when covering fundamental applications of quantum mechanics. If it's a sunday hammock book you're looking for, this ain't the one for you. I feel bad for using this text in a senior level physics course when caltech is covering it in sophmore level, but oh well, I'll catch up with grad texts after the course.

Rating:
Summary: excellent, undergraduate text, a classic
Review: This is perhaps one of the best undergraduate level quantum mechanic book ever written. The examples in the book are necessary to go into any "deep" detail. (See other reviewer comments). I would recommend it to anyone trying to understand quantum mechanics for the first time.