Is Kittel's Solid-State Physics Book Understandable?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around Kittel's solid-state physics book, particularly the 8th edition, and the challenges students face in understanding its content. Participants express their struggles with the material and seek assistance in clarifying concepts.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants share their experiences with the difficulty of Kittel's text, comparing it to other challenging textbooks. Some suggest using supplementary resources like lecture notes and other textbooks to aid understanding. Questions about the availability of specific forums for textbook discussions and the willingness of others to help with particular questions are raised.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants sharing their perspectives on the book's difficulty and offering suggestions for additional resources. There is no explicit consensus, but several participants indicate a willingness to assist others with specific queries related to the material.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention the necessity of a solid understanding of basic quantum mechanics to grasp the concepts in Kittel's book. There are references to varying levels of success in courses related to solid-state physics, highlighting the challenges faced by students.

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Homework Statement


Does anyone have Kittel's solid-state physics book? Furthermore, does anyone actually understand anything inside of it? If so, I have tons of questions about it that I would like to discuss/have answered?

EDIT: I have the 8th edition. But other editions are probably similar.
EDIT: Please respond even if you do. That book is really killing me and my professor is no help at all.

Homework Equations


The Attempt at a Solution

 
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Kittel is notorious to be hard... like jackson in E&M the first chapter in that one already threw me off when trying to use it as a reference recommended by my prof... will string theorists ever learn the fact that there are mortals around them...

You might want to try: http://www.bookbyte.com/product.aspx?isbn=0030839939 i heard it is a bit better but more advanced
 
Ok we have a certain forum for textbooks discussions..

Kittel is a bit tricky in the first 2chapters, then you get used to it. You might want to supplement it by lecture notes that you can find on the internet.

But Solid state is a hard subject, in our class only 30% passed the exam and only 10% passed the re-exam.. And many got highest grade, so either you have or not :/

Also our professor was exelent, and we got many good lecture notes and we had great problem solving sessions.
 
malawi_glenn said:
Ok we have a certain forum for textbooks discussions..

Where is the forum for textbook discussions?

Are you saying that you have the book and are willing to help me with specific questions?
 
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I have the book, and I understand quite much of it. But I am not an expert on Solid State just because I got full score on the exam :P And I also have limted of time, so I rather just help people with what's my speciality: Subatomic physics and QM.

And there are tons of tutorials about Solid state on the internet if u just google, they helped me a lot :)
 
Someday soon you'll learn about my user name!

If it's the textbook I think it is, then you should know you need a fairly decent understanding of basic quantum mechanics right off the bat. That's the key thing, otherwise it's like trying to read a textbook on differential equations when you don't know calculus

I found that actually seeing the types of results and things from solid state reinforced my understanding of quantum mechanics

However I just noticed you're apparently in a class and I think I've seen you asking QM questions before so you've had that class. I like the book because it doesn't beat around the bush and assumes you're pretty smart, and I also hate it for that. Just like how I like Wangsness' EM book more than Griffiths...and hate it. There are lots of useful internet resources, and lots of solid state textbooks, go hit up a half priced books and see if you can find an old used one.

If you have a professor doing solid state research(and every university usually has several!)this would be an EXCELLENT opportunity to make a good impression, maybe get yourself a spot helping them, and they'll have all kinds of resources to help you. In my experience professors love students interested in their work(well obviously)
 
I am glad that someone else said they didn't like Griffith's EM either. I couldn't stand that freakin book... We used Griffiths for both EM and QM

Krauss for E&M was an excellent supplemental text...(my father suggested it during the last month of my E&M course)...

I agree that the internet has an enormous amount of information to help in aiding through coursework...and of course...physics forums...
 
blochwave said:
Someday soon you'll learn about my user name!

That was yesterday's lecture!
 
I have Kittel 7th Edition. I quite like it but it does take some thinking about. A good book that is slightly less advanced than Kittel and serves as a good introduction is R. Turton's 'The Physics of Solids'.
 
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