Customer Reviews

Classical Electrodynamics, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book should not be used for dydactic purposes. As I have stated empathically for the second edition, this book (now even in revision) fails to teach. Though the book presents an admirable breadth of topics, it should not be considered a classic. The author frequently omits vital steps, and there are simply too few examples. Unless the reader has previously been exposed to the material, reading and understanding is a torturously onerous task and a waste of time.

The problems are usually challenging but occasionally a bit tedious. It seems to me that the use of Jackson as a standard text book is a bit akin to the use of wooden paddles in fraternity ceremonies. The professors got wacked and so must the next generation of uninitiates.

Will the fourth edition be clearer? Jackson remains a standard text but not a good one. The only improvement in the third edition is that Jackson has finally conceeded and uses S.I. notation at least for several chapters. More examples would be helpful.

I write about five pages of my own notes for every page of this text that I work through and haven't even attempted the problems yet. It will take years of self study at my rate to work through this book.

I'd prefer expanded treatments of many of the topics with less haste and compactness. I understand that this would at least quadruple the size of the book. Much of the content presented isn't actually inaccessible, but the presentation makes it initially scarier than it really ought to be. Some sort of middle ground, more than an intro e&m course provides, and less than this advanced treatment would be ideal (for me).

This is the textbook for the classic
weed-out graduate course in physics.
The problems are notorious. If you can solve
every problem in this book by age 24, then you
have a good chance of winning the Nobel prize
later in life. Better make your mark now
before all the solutions are posted to the
Internet...

This is the textbook every physicist knows about. The ubiquitous, maroon book: and it's right here at Amazon.com! We must all relish in the headaches this text gives us. It is one of those few gems that physics students both abhor and treasure as one of their most valuable resources. Often terse in its mathematical derivations; but by design we see how they do not interfere with the most important aspect of the topic: the interpretation of the mathematical results -- the "physics" behind the math.

Most of the problems in the book are "highly stimulating."

As many professors tell their students: "you are not a physics student if you haven't lived through Jackson's electrodynamics."

This is the best physics book I have ever studied, and absolutely indispensable to anyone who has to solve real-world problems in electrodynamics!

Jackson's treatment of physics is elegant and crystal-clear throughout, and he generously includes material on Legendre functions, spherical harmonics, etc. that undergraduates may not have been exposed to. However, when it comes to the mathematical verifications needed to read the book with understanding, he doesn't hold your hand. This is as it should be! Physics is not the same as mathematics, but the latter is an essential tool that every physicist must master.

If you go through the book conscientiously checking and deriving all the equations, you'll end up filling a large notebook (amazingly, I didn't find any errors -- this book is rock-solid reliable). But the great thing is, you'll never have to do this again! Then you can reread Jackson without getting snowed under by what are essentially routine, but sometimes tedious, mathematical verifications; and you'll be free to savor the physics and really appreciate how great the book is. If you want some worked problems, look at The Classical Theory of Fields in the Landau-Lifshitz series. At the end of each chapter in Jackson there are excellent problems that will test your understanding.

The negative reviews of Jackson can only indicate a problem with how physics is taught in graduate school. Jackson's book has to be read carefully at least twice, and preferably N times; perhaps this is too much to expect from harassed graduate students in physics. I'm a mathematician by training and was able to study Jackson's book on my own and enjoy it without being rushed for time or having to worry about being tested. With the possible exception of the volume on quantum mechanics by Landau and Lifshitz, which again requires a lot of mathematical verifications, Jackson's book has no rivals.

It's a pity he didn't write any other physics textbooks.

Jackson's text is widely considered a classic in the field,
but it's not intended for the first-time student of
classical electromagnetism. Instead, one must approach with
a firm physical and mathematical grasp of Maxwell's
equations. Then Jackson becomes an indispensable reference
as it covers almost every significant classical topic,
albeit only in a cursory survey. Read Jackson to get
additional insight after you know the stuff; he definitely
has things to teach you, if you're capable.

This book is difficult, but if you spend some more time, you will it is very helpful. It will help you to understand the fundamental.

This book is a little hard to follow, but has many good examples. I was able to learn much from this book and would recommend it in conjunction with another E&M book. I chose to buy the second edition because the entire book is in gaussian units.

This book has to be _the_ classic text for electrodynamics.
The material is very readable with many examples and many,
many problem sets. All the important topis in
electromagnetics for physicists are covered in detail.
There are, however, topics for engineers that could get
more coverage. For example, waveguide and transmission line
theory, Smith charts, etc. But, it is a very good book
overall.

I have heard some complaints that the problem sets are
too hard. But, I think with reasonable effort, and a good
teacher, the problems should not be that difficult.