Introduction to Electrodynamics

[I have edited this review twice now. This is the most positive It has been - truly a great book in retrospect. i looked far and wide and could not find a substitute.]Griffiths text is the best well rounded books at this level which is accessible with a modest background and teaches you what you need to know to learn advanced methods in both theoretical and applied fields. Let me explain what Griffiths book IS and IS NOT in my mind:1. A a subject specific, introductory teaching aid on electrodynamics using the SI units that the BROADEST community of Scientists (including non-theoretical physicists) use. The proponents of the CGS and Heaviside Lorentz unit systems may disagree with the choice of units, but again, this is intended to serve a broad STUDENT audience in both the science and engineering fields. It is NOT intended to ONLY serve those who are entering the theoretical community, but also those that take REAL measurements with ACTUAL scientific instruments a.k.a experimentalists and engineers.2. It is intended to be at least the SECOND time a student encounters the subject of electricity and magnetism following a typical year long advanced high school or first-year university course on general physics taught using Halliday and Resnick or equivalent. It is also the intention that course(s) using this book precede course(s) in graduate Electromagnetics (such as those offered to EEs using, for example, Balanis), Optics, graduate Electrodynamics (such as those offered to Physicists using, for example, Jackson), and the many applied fields.3. It assumes some familiarity with differential, integral, and multivariable calculus. Vector calculus is treated in such a way in the first chapter that one need not have previous exposure. It is assumed that the student either has facility with both differential equations and special functions or that they can acquire it as the course goes on. It would be advantageous, of course, if the student had already encountered all of these subjects.4. Follows a traditional approach to electrodynamics similar to the order of discovery - leaving special relativity until much later in the text. As such it is not a MODERN treatment in the sense that it does not have a relativity-first approach. Thus the supporters of Purcell, Elliott, Moon & Spencer, Tai, and Landau will be equally disappointed.5. Starts with static rather than dynamic fields which was encouraged by Haus, Kong, and Shen among others.6. Uses vector calculus over orthogonal fields rather than the coordinate free approach of Landau and Chen.6. Provides a superficial, ONLY THE BASICs viewpoint of the applications of electricity and magnetism. This is actually a benefit as getting into applications could derail the effort at explaining the fundamentals. As a consequence, moving into both basic and applied electrodynamics research immediately after this text will prove a VERY DIFFICULT task without additional reading and study. It will NOT be easy to pickup and understand any REAL applied texts on RF, Microwaves, Antennas, Waveguides, Scattering Theory, Artificial Dielectrics & Metamaterials, Photonics, Fiber Comm, Computational E&M, Nonlinear Optics, Radar, Plasmonics, and Plasma Physics. In addition research-level electrodynamics in physics will be equally difficult.7. It DOES prepare for general study in optics in courses following, for example, Hecht or Guenther.8. Does not discuss Weber's Action-at-a-Distance theory other than in the footnotes. For the interested student see Assiz or O'Rahilly.9. Has fairly straight forward problems that can be completed within the hour. If you want difficult problems see Smythe. You have been warned!10. Does not attempt to teach problem solving methods using a computer which is advantageous in all but the simplest problems. Again this could distract from the goals which are to learn the basics.Anecdotes to share:Griffiths has been used as a GRADUATE level text for Electrical Engineers. Jackson's Electrodynamics has also been used as a graduate level text for Electrical Engineers.Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics has been used as a first exposure to Electrodynamics at the undergraduate level. The reason for using Jackson's electrodynamics seems to be to teach advanced math methods skills that physicists need. I think the community would be better served with a year long course using Bender & Orszag, Stakgold, and Carrier & Pearson. My math methods course was taught from Mathews and Walker.Purcell's book seems to be more popular as a first text among the schools with more advanced students. In some EE programs they will start with Ramo, Whinnery and Van Duzer.At the time of this review it has been 6 (edit: 8) years since I first used Griffiths in an undergrad physics course. Since that time I have been engaged in applied E&M research or electronics in one form or another.During grad school I graded for a course taught from Griffiths for which I had to generate the solution key. Thus, I have worked through about half of all the problems through Chapter 7. Problems I worked in graduate school courses on Advanced E&M covering the material in Chapters 9,10,11,& 12 were more difficult.My favorite Electromagnetist writer is Sergei Alexander Schelkunoff, a Mathematician of Bell Labs fame. His papers are fantastically wonderful. I am convinced that Mathematicians write the best Electrodynamics and Applied E&M books. I am an engineer who was trained in a physics.If I could only choose one theoretical book it would be Theory of Electromagnetism by D.S. Jones. This would be closely followed by Schwinger's book.If I could only choose one applied book it would be Electromagnetic Fields by Van Bladel, 2nd edition. Van Bladel could also substitute as the theoretical book. My definition of Theory leans towards engineering. I prefer the ability to work practical problems over proving the magnetic monopoles do or do not exist.A substitute introductory book for the applied crowd would be Fields and Waves in Communication Electronics by Ramo, Whinnery and Van Duzer. This book is not a trivial introduction especially the first two chapters which equate to 6 in the present book.Although it lacks static fields, Electromagnetic Waves and Antennas by Orfanidis is equally a good substitute introductory text with the benefit it is suited to teaching one on to level needed in today's applied research in most of the applied electromagnetic waves/antennas/optics fields I am aware of. Orfanidis is an applied physicist. I especially like this book as it has Matlab codes that you can modify to your hearts content to see the effect of different parameters. There is not a better learning method than to see the synthesize the effects of changes in real time.I prefer the Socratic teaching method also called the Moore method by the Mathematics community. It is a slow way to learn but the harvest is sweet.In addition to Griffiths, I have copies of Kraus, Ernst Weber, Ramo Whinnery and Van Duzer, Harrington, Smythe, D.S. Jones, Someda, Papas, Jin, and Goodman. I have disposed of most of the other authors in recent years as I found them not to be useful - especially in research. The only book I lack which I have frequently consulted is Van Bladel.It would be a conservative estimate to say I have consulted parts of 100 books on Electricity, Magnetism, Electrodynamics, Electromagnetic Waves, and Optics in the last 8 years many of which I have not listed here. The number of journal articles I have read in this subject area exceeds 2000. This does not count all the related fields which are pure application like electronics.H.H. Skilling, R. Elliott, P. Nahin, B. Hunt & N. Feather's books are all interesting reads on the history of electricity and magnetism. I have not read Whittaker's, but if it is anything like his Course on Modern Analysis it must be terrifyingly thorough.I didn't like Feynman's writing style enough to keep Vol 2 of his lectures. Schwinger's book although quite mathy seems a profitable read.For help on vector analysis read the text Vectors by Moon and Spencer.Industry doesn't pay for you to solve problems by hand nor will research in academia lead to any useful results by this method. Learn Matlab/Mathematica/Python and at least one EM modeling software package like COMSOL or HFSS. Practice! Practice! Practice!

Great as an introduction or reference book.

(Edit: 3/10/07)-- I have visited this review three times now. I wrote it as an undergraduate, edited as a graduate student, and now I'm editing it again as a professional with a little more experience. After reading through this review I fear that an instructor, searching Amazon for a text for the upcoming academic year, might think that I am recommending Jackson over Griffiths for an undergraduate course. Heck no. Griffiths is the best book you will find on the subject for an undergraduate junior/senior level textbook. It is a must have text for students new to the field, as it is well written, quite readable, and worth keeping. The text speaks to the student, not the instructor. While you, as the instructor, might know that there is a lot more to the field than is covered in this text, you must set that aside and realize that this book is the best for your students who are still learning. This book is a foundation that will give them the experience and confidence to eventually tackle more difficult texts like Jackson (though I still wonder if anyone could possibly master that text). My original review follows. --I orignially wrote a review for this book as an undergraduate. In that review, I credited Griffiths with a knack for presenting information in a clever and entertaining way. I still believe this is true. At the time, I also said that Griffiths included precise and complete examples. Looking back, I no longer believe this is true.When I first started using this book, I was under the impression that Griffiths had discovered a method in the way of writing textbooks that was totally superior to all other authors of similar background. Now, after several years of using Griffiths as a reference, I find that his books serve as a wonderful resource for refreshing one's memory, however they lack a certain comprehensive quality that would make them a solid reference text. I am now a student of John David Jackson's text, that legendary text with the impossible exercises (Classical Electrodynamics), and the astounding thoroughness of his book dwarfs the Griffiths E&M text by comparison. Valuable information in the Griffiths text is often left as an exercise. This is very frustrating when one is searching for solutions to much more advanced problems. I contacted Dr. Griffiths and asked him if it would be possible for me to obtain a solutions manual to both his E&M and his Quantum texts, but he informed me that I could not obtain these manuals unless I was an instructor at the insistence of the publisher (Prentice Hall). This is unfortunate. However, it is remarkable that Griffiths responded to my email. I think this is a testament to his character - he wants to help his readers, and this is evident in his textbooks.All in all, the text is a fantastic book for the undergraduate, and a helpful resource for the graduate student. The book is a valuable resource for the intermediate or slightly advanced undergraduate physics student, and I encourage instructors at the undergraduate level to use the Griffiths text. For the physics student, the first exposure to E&M should come from Halliday and Resnick, the second should be Griffiths, and there really should be an intermediate step before they see Jackson, but no one has written that book yet.