Solid State Introduction to Solid State Physics by Charles Kittel

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers around Charles Kittel's "Introduction to Solid State Physics," with mixed reviews noted by users. One participant praises the book for its comprehensive coverage and clear explanations, particularly highlighting the 3rd edition as superior to the more recent ones. Concerns are raised about potential errors in the 8th edition, specifically regarding the representation of crystal structures. Another user emphasizes the historical context of superconductivity theories mentioned in the book, noting the absence of contemporary concepts like Cooper pairing, which limits understanding of high-temperature superconductors. The moderator reminds participants to focus on the textbook's reviews and directs discussions on BCS superconductivity theory to a separate thread.

For those who have used this book


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Hi,

I'm taking a course on Solid State Physics using this book. The reviews here and on amazon aren't very positive. Is there a good book you would suggest as a companion?


Thanks,

A_B
 
I think this is a wonderful book, with wide coverage of topics and nice explanations. Kittel always provides references to experimental results to compliment the discussions. I read many complaints about recent editions, especially the 7th and 8th. I highly recommend the 3rd edition.
 
I'm reading the part about phonons in diatomic bases on pages 95-99 in the 8th edition. I might have confused myself but it seems like Kittel switched the directions for the NaCl and CsCl structure around on page 97. CsCl is a crystal with a simple cubic lattice and a basis of Cs at 000 and Cl at 1/2,1/2,1/2 so I would expect that one to be the one with a [111] direction. This doesn't show up in the errata pages I've found.
 
Nevermind. I took a long hard look at the 3D structures and it seems to be (mostly) correct.
 
Greg Bernhardt said:

Exellent book. Especially 1953 year edition.

Kittel said:
Recently there have been a number of attempts to give a quantum-
mechanical explanation of superconductivity. We mention work by
Heisenberg,28 Tisza,29 Slater,30 Born and Cheng,»1 Frohlich,32 and
Bardeen.32 At the present time all these theories are highly contro-
versial, and the difficulties do not lend themselves to analysis in an
introductory textbook.

It has no subsequent ideas of Cooper pairing, preventing us of from understanding of HTS.

Kittel said:
In every theory the apparent contradiction between the Bloch theorem and the observed persistence of currents in a superconducting ring is explained by the presumed metastable nature of the current distribution.

Anticipating words!
Bloch theorem must be corrected!
 
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