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Principles of Nuclear Magnetism (International Series of Monographs on Physics)

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Given the time at which it was written, this book is still unsurpassed in its quality, conciseness, and clarity of style in the field of NMR. It was written by a physicist, contrary to Ernst's book, which is also excellent but focuses more on the interpretation of spectra rather than spin physics. (This was of course Ernst's intent anyways, there already was an excellent textbook on NMR by Abragam; he saw no need to reinvent the wheel.) While Abragam's book is quite a joy to read, it is also rather outdated. Nearly half the topics dealt with are no longer in use today. It needs to be supplemented by Ernst's book, as well as Callaghan's book. I also recommend Abragam & Goldman's book "Order and disorder" for a treatment of more modern NMR physics, if like me, you like eclectic topics. Abragam uses a purely quantum approach, and does not treat feynman path integral approach to relaxation. The chapter on relaxation is excellent, and has been praised by many, but he does not really explain much of the theory of random processes, so you'll need to learn this stuff elsewhere if you've never been exposed to stochastic processes before (well, Abragam makes very simple markov approximations, which is easy to understand as is- without too much extra background). Definitely the chapter on dipolar line width is worth mentioning.

Referenced in countless professional journal articles, this 1961 classic is one of the seminal treatises on the subject of Nuclear Magnetism. Topics addressed are: motion of free spins, basic resonant and non-resonant methods, macroscopic aspects of nuclear magnetism (Bloch equations, transient methods, detection methods), Dipolar line width in a rigid lattice, spin temperature, electron-nuclear interactions, quadrupole effects (fine structure), thermal relaxation, line width theory, multiplet structure in liquids, and effects of strong RF fields.

All of these topics are covered in consise, easy-to-understand language, and the treatment of the material is classic and elegant. A necessary part of any complete solid-state or NMR library.