Customer Reviews

Introduction to Elementary Particles

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This is possibly the best textbook on any subject that I have ever read. And when I say read I mean cover to cover, several times! (The book is now so shabby and food stained that I'm thinking of buying another copy.) The previous reviews have said it all but I want to summarize some quick points.

1. The footnotes and references are in a class of their own. You MUST read them to get full value. They contain a wealth of critical information.

2. The narrative style and method of explanation in this book makes me feel as though David Griffith is talking one-on-one to me alone. In my opinion he is peerless as a teacher!

3. The ability of this text to present some of the most complex mathematical material in an a simple, accessible and meaningful way using ordinary, jargon free language is just amazing. Of course particle physics is never going to be simple in laymen's terms but the ability to simplify the difficult ideas it contains as much as possible is critical for a student.

4. The ability of David Griffiths to make the subject - even at its most formal and driest points - exciting and alive is a rare and special skill.

5. The problems posed at the end of each section are the gateway to true understanding. They are clear, practical, have a definite educational purpose and are often fun to solve as well.

5. If you are affiliated with a university or other teaching institution and can get hold of the Solutions Manual, you MUST do so. It is a gem in itself and an essential part of the total "David Griffiths" experience.

Although this book is an absolute must if you are studying the subject and even if you are merely interested in it, there are a couple of minor quibbles that I need to bring to your attention.

Firstly, I would have loved to see a bit more on the fascinating subject of Renormalization and especially some of the deeper implications of Renormalization Theory. As it is the subject is treated in a very practical way and the book contains just enough material to enable one to solve the problems and to get on with other things. A little more would have been nice.

Secondly, and much more seriously, my copy of the book arrived with a double sided printout of 53 errata. These range from minor typos to complete show stoppers (if left uncorrected)! In fact there are so many of them, and they often have such serious effect on the text that I have broken a habit of a life-time and penciled in the corrections on the pages themselves. I would normally regard this as inexcusable vandalism but the constant referral to the errata sheet had become tiresome. I regard Wiley the publishers of this book to be one of the best technical publishers in the world and I can only guess at the glitch which let so many errors get through to the print stage. Having said this, once the errors are noted and corrected one can get back to the study and enjoyment of this fine work.

One of the most interesting and most intellectually far-reaching areas of modern Physics is Particle Physics. No other area of Physics has as conceptually profound implications for our understanding of how the world works on the very fundamental level, and nowhere else have the experiments been as monumental and imposing. And yet, particle Physics is rarely if ever taught in undergraduate Physics curriculum. The reason often given for this is that mathematical sophistication required for fully understanding this subject is far beyond the capability of most undergraduates. However, if done properly, the mathematical sophistication need not be beyond what is required in an upper level Electricity and Magnetism or Quantum Mechanics courses. To the contrary - the most important results in Particle Physics can be obtained by mathematical means that are not nearly as demanding as those in those other two upper level Physics courses. A perfect example of this are the textbooks by David Griffiths. He has been well known to generations of Physics students who had used his Electricity and Magnetism or Quantum Mechanics textbooks. These textbooks have become a de-facto standard for teaching those subjects. These textbooks are also known for many very demanding problems that require many, many pages of mathematical manipulation. And yet, most of these manipulations are much harder than anything you'll encounter in Griffiths' "Introduction to Elementary particles." There is still a collection of worked-out examples, but nowhere nearly at the level of what one finds in his other books. The presentation is characteristically accessible and pedagogical. A considerable amount of space is devoted to historical and experimental considerations, and this textbook also serves as a useful history of the development of particle Physics.

The second edition greatly streamlines some presentations and introduces a few new topics that have been of interest in particle Physics in recent decades - most notably the neutrino oscillations. The chapter on future developments is mostly descriptive, and mercifully short on certain topics that have enjoyed a lot of attention lately but have been woefully short on experimental verifications, such as supersymmetry and string theory. In the end we are left off with a picture of current understanding of particle Physics that shows this field of research both as a tremendous success and still a work in progress. Hopefully in the upcoming decades we'll be able to fill in many of the holes and come up with a more streamlined understanding of nature at the most fundamental level. Until then, textbooks like this one will be the best and surest way of getting the basic facts about the nature of elementary particles.

Doing physics homework is rarely truly fun, but a good textbook can at least reduce the stress and confusion/frustration levels associated with working problems and learning material. This book is basically what I said in the title: Helpful, clear, and readable, which are three things that are essential in any informational book yet sadly lacking in so many physics textbooks. Excellent book. Also, there are amusing footnotes sprinkled throughout the text, including some anecdotes/commentaries on physics pillars such as Niels Bohr.

Griffith's book is a straight-forward and easy-to-follow introduction to particle physics. The book doesn't require the reader to have much background in particle physics, mostly just quantum mechanics and Lagrangian physics. Quantum field theory is definitely not necessary to learn from this book, although it'll probably be helpful.

The book focuses more on "how" rather than "why," so it's a great starting point for experimentalists. Griffith's writes in a very casual and simple style; you won't find much mathematical jargon here. I'd recommend this book over Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics. Once you learn from this text the basics of the Standard Model and how to calculate amplitudes, cross-sections, decay rates, etc., you'll be ready to move on to more theoretical material (such as Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics) to answer the question of "why."

Like what the other reviews have said, this book is the ideal choice for someone who is just starting their particle physics education. If you are interested in purchasing this textbook, I would recommend that you have some familiarity with quantum mechanics before attempting this book. You don't have to be a QM expert (although the more you know, the more you will be able to get out of this book). Griffith's book on quantum mechanics, while not the best, should be all you need. You can even get by covering both books at the same time...which is what I did. Other than that, an understanding of special relativity at the level of a standard modern physics course is all that is required.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to learn more about this exciting field of physics.

Griffith's introductory book on the Standard Model of particle physics is a magnificently accessible overview of a very complex subject. The book covers all of the major topics, including the quark model, quantum electodynamics (subatomic level electromagnetic interactions), quantum chromodynamics (strong nuclear force interactions), Feynman diagrams (used to calculate information about particle interactions), electroweak theory (involved in nuclear decay processes). He also presents one of the most easily comprehensible discussions of quantum field theory I've seen.
Griffith's writing style is engaging and entertaining, which is very unusual for an advanced physics text. The book is a pleasure to read even if you don't really understand the topics. It was good enough that I sat and read the whole book, end to end.
What this book does not have is detailed mathematical derivations of the theories presented. Griffiths provides references to books that contain the proofs and derivations, but he focuses solely on the whats and hows. Another unfortunate drawback is that the book doesn't contain solutions to the problems at the end of each chapter, which would have been nice to have.
To really appreciate the book, one should have a college level science background, but one doesn't need to be a full blown physicist or mathematician to appreciate the book (I am a professional chemist, and my mathematical background is not all that advanced). All in all, this is, in my opinion, the best introduction to the Standard Model that's out there.

I've just begun a wonderful voyage through the realms of the smallest entities of energy or matter (how ever one wants to see these building blocks of the world at large). Nobody, whatever the background, can remain calm and disengaged with professor Griffiths unfolding the spectrum of particles. It is his exceptional talent to word his messages such that they find their way directly to the grey cells of the reader. So far, for my way of thinking, the best written book on topics of physics was "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Green. Now there is a second book on this shelve of "most pleasure to read": "Introduction to Elementary Particles" by David J. Griffiths

This is an impressive book, and I feel confident in recommending it based upon an initial careful scan. I bought this book to assist with developing a project proposal, and I have not yet had a chance to use it due to competing demands for my time. Never-the-less, I am confident I will be in good hands when I am ready to ask the Authors for their guidance.
(th)

There's not much to say, really. The package arrived in perfect conditions at the nearest post office.
As for the item itself, it's a good book on the subject.

The book is nice to read during a sunny week-end but does not contain detail proofs of equations and this is what i was looking for. Nice try... but missed...