Best quantum mechanics text for reference in condensed matter theory

[bjnartowt]

Hi everyone, I would like to ask if anyone can recommend a quantum mechanics textbook as reference for a condensed matter theorist. I am reading a book that requires material I do not remember seeing in my (voluminous) grad QM text (Shankar). It seems to me all quantum textbooks have their strengths and weaknesses.

My grad QM class used Shankar's text, which I found to be better suited for an undergrad class; it is too "talky" [which, in fact, is why I am looking for a new reference]. I took 1 semester out of Sakurai in my M.S. school, and really liked it. I hear (the late) Merzbacher's text is ok. I am told that Gottfried/Yan is advanced, elegant, and lucid, but emphasizes scattering theory, which is somewhat-irrelevant to condensed matter.

 

[marcusl]

I never much liked Merzbacher (I used the 2nd ed.). Try Schiff (3rd ed.). It's a grad level text that's mathematical, to the point, and clear. He is sometimes accused of not motivating results physically, but I don't find agree. He doesn't cover applications but ably covers all the QM basics you'd expect.

 

[nonequilibrium]

Are you looking into any specific condensed matter?

 

[bjnartowt]

The field of condensed matter I'm in right now is quantum transport, where I am building a transmission function for a thermoelectric junction and considering various interactions.