A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics

Rating:
Summary: A great undergrad text
Review: I used this text for a course and was impressed with it. For those who claim Sakurai is a better text, I'd say that Sakurai is a text just a half a step above this on in difficulty. I've tried reading Sakurai and found that I only got anything out of it after having studied out of Townsend's book extensively. Sakurai is more on an intro graduate level, while Townsend was written specifically to be an upper-division undergraduate text.
In other words, I learned a whole heck of a lot from this book, but don't get Townsend expecting a complete and thorough graduate-level treatment of QM. It's a really good introduction that provides a few dips into more advanced topics (particulary chapter 14).

Rating:
Summary: Decent Book, but missing a lot
Review: Townsend's book gives good insight into Introductory QM, but lacks a lot of the rigor that other books at this level provide. Basically, this book is a gentler version of Sakurai's "Modern QM", and it is somewhat annoying that the Townsend implies that Stern-Gerlach experiments are the be-all, end-all way to understand quantum mechanics.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: Unlike other textbooks which cover very abstract notions from the first chapter on, Townsend does a very good job of explaining simple concepts that will prove to be invaluable towards sharpening one's physical intuition. Townsend does not pretend that it is profound and often cites other references that are more challenging to read so for the physics enthusiast, they appetite is satisfied nonetheless. In summary, his book is an excellent introduction to very fundamental aspects of wave mechanics using both bras and kets plus operator notation. A must-read if you want to ground your understanding of quantum mechanics in very accessible and tangible physical arguments, especially if you have a bad memory like me.