Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (2nd Edition) Paperback Economy edition by. David J. Griffiths

After reading some critics, i feel like contributing to defend this text.First, when is this book useful?Based on the American educational system: when you're an undergrad student in physics, that is when you've already been exposed to the origins of quantum mechanics through a class often called "modern physics", and have some basics in calculus and linear algebra. But most importantly: if you intend to study physics further, because if you're just in for a tasting go for Susskind's or something similar.Now if you're a demanding or unusually advanced undergraduate student: relax !!!You will get to read many other books about QM so don't ask this one to be what it's not claiming to be:This is not an advanced text and by no means sufficient by itself if you're really committed to studying physics; it is not completely introductory either in the sense that you won't learn about the history of the subject or won't get a purely axiomatic, rigorous approach either. It is designed to make you USE quantum mechanics, sometimes (yes!) even before it tells you what you're doing, so that part of your deeper understanding is built out of your own experience studying examples or working through problems. This said, it also provides good insights and often takes the simplest route to make a point, with a language that i find as entertaining and clear as in his E&M book.Now studying QM will always be a tricky business because there are so many ways to approach the subject and try to make sense of it, while our brain is truly wired for classical mechanics. You will find the book that does it for you at some point but will have to read several of them no matter what: if you don't get a kick out of this one go somewhere else, but i personally found it extremely helpful and clear. My graduate text was Weinberg, which is fantastic when you're an advanced grad student but almost unreadable when you're not and i heavily relied on Griffiths and some other, popular intermediate books, to help decipher it.So this is a truly intermediate text and will take you to the meatier treatments of such as Sakurai, Merzbacher, Cohen-Tannoudji and others like a charm; if not, then just go straight to them. And if you're a Vulcan or a mathematician go straight to Weinberg!Good luck

Griffiths is a great writer, with a sense of humor that shines through some pretty heinous maths, clearly explained. The discussion of the philosophical realm of quantum mechanics, with wierdness and paradoxes, is accessible and clear while being great food for thought and a stimulating starting point. Like with many physics texts, we get the sarcastic "it is left to the reader to prove", with a deferral to the excercises instead of a detailed proof or explanation. In this text it only happens when it would really be of benefit to do the problems, unlike in some other texts where the omissions in the chapter smell of condescension, or worse, of laziness of omission. This was my college textbook for two successive courses, but it also proved to be fun reading.

I took Quantum as an undergrad and used Gasiorowicz's 3rd Ed. I didn't learn much that was useful and I absolutely didn't gain any kind of physical insight. As a new grad student of Physics, I decided that I needed to take Quantum again. Luckily, we used Griffiths' Intro to Quantum. It was a wonderful experience. He builds the subject slowly and he gives phisical interpretations at every step.This is a great text. Don't believe the 'nay-sayers'. This text is as useful as Griffiths' E&M text. The problems can be difficult, but they are labeled by difficulty. If you start off by working the simple problems, you will be able to solve all but the most difficult. The most important thing to remember is that the professor only assigns a minimum of homework problems. Many more problems should be solved to really understand the subject.All in all, opinions here are immaterial. If you are reading this, it's becuase you have to use this text for a class. So,Good luck!