Quantum Mechanics (Physics and Its Applications) [Paperback]

P. C. W. Davies (Author), David Sheridan Betts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0412579006 | ISBN-13: 978-0412579004 | Edition: 2 Sub

Quantum mechanics is the key to modern physics and chemistry, yet it is notoriously difficult to understand. This book is designed to overcome that obstacle. Clear and concise, it provides an easily readable introduction intended for science undergraduates with no previous knowledge of quantum theory, leading them through to the advanced topics usually encountered at final year level. Although the subject matter is standard, novel techniques have been employed which considerably simplify the technical presentation. The authors use their extensive experience of teaching and popularizing science to explain the many difficult, abstract points of the subject in easily comprehensible language. Helpful examples and thorough sets of exercises are also given to enable students to master the subject. This book should be of interest to 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students in physics, chemistry and some electrical engineering courses.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Macquarie University, Australia University of Sussex, UK --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 178 pages
• Publisher: Chapman & Hall; 2 Sub edition (January 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0412579006
• ISBN-13: 978-0412579004
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,867,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, where he runs the pioneering Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He also chairs the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Post-Detection Taskgroup, so that if SETI succeeds in finding intelligent life, he will be among the first to know. The asteroid 1992OG was officially renamed Pauldavies in his honor. In addition to his many scientific awards, Davies is the recipient of the 1995 Templeton Prize--the world's largest annual prize--for his work on science and religion. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine, and The Goldilocks Enigma. He lives in Tempe, Arizona.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most readable QM book, October 23, 2002

By 

Pedro (Porto, Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics (Physics and Its Applications) (Paperback)

This is the best QM I have. I would recommend it to any undergraduate student studying this subject. The book is very small and pleasant to read. It's great to use as a complement to a more comercial book like Gasiorowicz's one which I also recommend. It's the most compact book on the subject and the author looses no time with numerical examples. A must have.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fresh approach in a crowded field, December 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics (Physics and Its Applications) (Paperback)

I have used this textbook at a for upper-division undergraduate quantum mechanics for 2 years.

This book covers the basics and discusses more physics than mathematical tricks. At approximately 100 pages, it still provides excellent discussions on scattering, perturbation theory and symmetry. I would hope that such a text as this one marks the beginning of a shift in physics textbooks - from the overly verbose with reams of algebra and calculus to the essentials - to one which concentraits on physics.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The price is too high, January 27, 1999

By 

Professor Joseph L. McCauley "Joseph L. McCauley" (Austria+Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics (Physics and Its Applications) (Paperback)

I reviewed the manuscript for the first edition of Davies's book for Routledge & Kegan Paul and recommended it fairly enthusiastically. The book was limited, but what it did it did relatively well. It was brief but clear, well-written, did not introduce too much of the usual mythology in discussing 'wave-particle duality' (I liked the discussion of the two-slit experiment), and went on to present the introductory ideas and mathematics of quantum mechanics in an attractive way. I used it in the spring of 1998 to prepare several lectures for my junior-level modern physics class, and recommended that my students read sections of it.

I can not recommend this new edition. At $42.95 the cost is probably about four times that of the original edition. For a book of this size and limitation, a bargain at $10, $40 is ridiculously overpriced. At $42.95 there are too many attractive alternatives.