The discussion revolves around the selection of textbooks for learning gauge theories and particle physics, particularly in relation to the prerequisites of special relativity and quantum mechanics. Participants share their preferences and recommendations for various books, exploring their content and suitability for self-study.
Participants express a range of opinions on the suitability of various textbooks, indicating that there is no consensus on which book is the best choice for learning gauge theories and related topics. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best approach to selecting textbooks.
Participants' recommendations depend on their individual experiences and preferences, and there are varying levels of familiarity with the suggested texts. The discussion does not resolve the effectiveness of any particular book or approach.
These are excellent books. I think that Shankar is sufficient for QM (and Sakurai is really not a great textbook to learn from, in my opinion). But you definitely need to be very at ease with special relativity and with tensor manipulation.Andreol263 said:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1466513179/?tag=pfamazon01-20
This book, so will suffice if i read Shankar? Or i will need to read Sakurai too?
That shows how picking books is subjective. That's why I never say that a book is great or a book is bad, I can only say that something is good or bad, in my opinion.vanhees71 said:I'm not so enthusiastic about Aitchison and Hey. I don't know Shankar's textbook very well. Sakurai, from which I learned QM in my introductory course lecture, is excellent.
Ok, but they also make a lot of effort to be pedagogical, I find.Andreol263 said:I Don't know, i picked up the Aitchison and Hey's book because it appears to have more content and good for self-studying, because this book has two volumes that summed up go to nearly 1000 pages!