Other What Undervalued Books Have You Discovered?

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The discussion centers around lesser-known yet valuable books in physics that are often overlooked by experts. Participants highlight titles like H. Muirhead's "The Physics of Elementary Particles," Radu Paul Lungu's "Thermodynamics," and Kostrikin and Manin's "Linear Algebra and Geometry," praising their clarity and depth. The conversation also touches on the relevance of historical theories in teaching modern quantum field theory, with some arguing against the necessity of teaching outdated concepts like relativistic quantum mechanics. Overall, the thread emphasizes the importance of recognizing and recommending underrated academic resources in the field of physics.
  • #61
There is another book by John R. Taylor which doesn't get mentioned much anywhere:
Scattering Theory: The Quantum Theory of Nonrelativistic Collisions

I remember it to be really well-written. In principle, I think that it is a virtue that it doesn't include QFT because you don't get sidetracked from the fundamentals of scattering this way. The only drawback is that it has 500 pages so I didn't have the time to read much of it. ;-)
 
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  • #62
kith said:
There is another book by John R. Taylor which doesn't get mentioned much anywhere:
Scattering Theory: The Quantum Theory of Nonrelativistic Collisions

I remember it to be really well-written. In principle, I think that it is a virtue that it doesn't include QFT because you don't get sidetracked from the fundamentals of scattering this way. The only drawback is that it has 500 pages so I didn't have the time to read much of it. ;-)
There are books with way more than 500 pages... :-D
 
  • #63
Yes but it depends on how deep you can dig into a subject during university. Most books on quantum mechanics hardly spend any pages at all on non-relativistic scattering, so 500 pages are a lot.
 
  • #64
kith said:
Not really undervalued in comparison to similar books but I know many phycicists who've never read a single book on its topic:
John Taylor - Introduction to Error Analysis

kith said:
There is another book by John R. Taylor which doesn't get mentioned much anywhere:
Scattering Theory: The Quantum Theory of Nonrelativistic Collisions

I remember it to be really well-written. In principle, I think that it is a virtue that it doesn't include QFT because you don't get sidetracked from the fundamentals of scattering this way. The only drawback is that it has 500 pages so I didn't have the time to read much of it. ;-)

Both of these books are on my shelf. I haven't completely read either, but I have read bits of both. When I was a grad student, my university offered a grad course on scattering, and Taylor was used as the text. I didn't take the course, but a friend did, and she gave me the book.
 
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  • #65
George Jones said:
I ordered these books yesterday from amazon.com and was charged $29.08 and $28.83 respectively. Today, the prices are $116.95 and $115.70. (All prices in Canadian dollars; amounts would be less in US dollars.)
Ah! You might be tempted to resell them and make a hefty profit :-)

I hope you enjoy them, I now feel a bit responsible for suggesting them. Knowing you a bit, I fear the book by Garrity may be a bit too basic, but I still hope you will enjoy some of it.

Talking about QFT (since you mentioned wanting to learn more about it in another post), here is another book that I consider good and undervalued:

The conceptual Framework of Quantum Field Theory by A. Duncan.

He has a very original and deep presentation of the concepts of QFT.
 
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  • #66
nrqed said:
I just got the two volumes by Manioukan, I am looking forward to reading them.

I would also not call Cohen-Tannoudji undervalued, it was even the textbook used in my undergrad QM one year class. Maybe it is less known in English speaking universities though.
Did you like the two-volume textbook on QFT by Manoukian?
 

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