Customer Reviews

Solid-State Physics: An Introduction to Principles of Materials Science (Advanced Texts in Physics)

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I used this book in a course which was supposed to be an introduction to solid state. Know some basic ideas in crystal structure, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, advanced and partial differential equations and Fourier anlysis and then you'll begin to be ready to understand this text. Kittel's Solid State text is slightly more helpful (but only slightly). The book is completely devoid of examples, yet there are sections at the end of each chapter involving current applications and experiments in condensed matter physics and materials science. Exercises require a leap of understanding from the contents of the chapter before them. Some experience with a computer language may also be necessary. I wouldn't recommend this book for most undergrads.

We used this text in an introductory solid state course. Overall, it seems that the text is far too brief and doesn't thoroughly explain the material enough for an introductory course. There are very few examples/applications. The problems in the chapter require research outside of what is in the text. It leaves out a lot of important details. I would really suggest looking elsewhere for a good solid state introduction.

i dont have it in front of me for a more detailed review, but the text is popular with german students and only after it became more widespread was it translated into english and redistributed. it's a fine introductory text (and better than kittel in my opinion, which reads more like a recipe-book).