Modern Physics Textbooks

Don't Panic

This a page to keep track of modern physics textbooks for the standart junior level modern physics course with its smattering of quantum mechanics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, special relativity, and other topics.

The Books

  1. Beiser, Arthur, et al. 2003, 4th edition.
    1. Publisher: McGraw-Hill
    2. Publisher price: $, 560 pages.
    3. Amazon: Beiser. Selling $138.04 or lower for used. Reviews are all over the place.
    4. Physics Today seems to have nothing on this book.

  2. Eisberg, R., & Resnick, R., 1985, Quantum Physics, 2nd edition $133.95, 864 pages.
    1. Publisher: Wiley
    2. Amazon. $124.95. Lots of reader reviews. Generally positive and some very high and a few negative. One makes the point that it is a modern physics book with a lot of QM, not an intro quantum book.
    3. Wilson, Oklahoma State University. Liked it, but thinks it a bit dated and a bit too high a level.

  3. Greene, Brian, 2004, The Fabric of the Cosmos $16.95, 592 pages. Not a modern physics book, but a useful supplement to a modern physics course---until it inevitably dates.
    1. Publisher: Random House (Vintate Books division)
    2. Amazon. $11.53. 192 reviews with 4.5 star average and professional reviews are good and I think it's pretty nifty.

  4. Harris, Randy, 2008, 2nd edition, University of California, Davis.
    1. Publisher: Pearson/Addison-Wesley and taken over from Prentice Hall.
    2. Publisher price: $128.40, 656 pages.
    3. Amazon: Harris, Randy. No reader review. Long editorial description.
    4. Physics Today: review of an earlier book. This book may have been the first edition under another name. Not favorable. This is all on Harris from Physics Today.

  5. Krane, Kenneth, 1995, 2nd edition.
    1. Publisher: Wiley.
    2. Publisher price: $120.95, 608 pages.
    3. Amazon: Krane, Kenneth. Selling 103.32 or lower for used. Amazon reviews are very mixed. Some thought it hit the mark. Some thought it was weak.
    4. Physics Today seems to have nothing on this book.

  6. Lawden, 1982, Introduction to Tensor Calculus, Relativity, and Cosmology Dover, $15.95. It is in stock. This is a not a modern physics book, but a book on relativity.
      Amazon: Lawden: $10.85 Only 37 copies. Favorably reviewed, but the formalism is considered a bit old-fashioned it seems---that goes for me too.

  7. N. David Mermin, 2005, It's About Time: Understanding Einstein's Relativity (hardcover) Amazon, $29.95. This seems to be the update of Mermin's older book Space and Time in Special Relativity which is an excellent popular introduction to special relativity: the necessary arguments and equations are presented with clarity and simplicity.

  8. Pfeffer, Jeremy, & Nir, Shlomo, 1st edition, 2001 and only in paperback for $31.00. An interesting book in some ways. But I think it has too little substance for a modern physics course and the presentation is a bit idiosyncratic. An instructor would have to keep supplementing and apologizing for it.
    1. Publisher: World Scientific.
    2. Amazon: Pfeffer. Selling $78.00 hardcopy or lower for used. Only two in stock. One review. It's a rave.
    3. Amazon: Pfeffer: paperback version: $39.00.
    4. Physics Today seems to have nothing on this book.
    5. Wilson, Oklahoma State University. Liked it, but said for non-calculus level.

  9. Serway, Raymond A., et al. 2004, 3rd edition.
    1. Publisher: Thomson Education, but they have many names. The reviews are all over the place. Modern physics is neither fish nor fowl and so it's hard to please everyone.
    2. Publisher price: ?, 600 pages.
    3. Amazon: Serway. Selling $49.11 or lower for used. No reviews
    4. Physics Today seems to have nothing on this book.

  10. Taylor & Zafiratos, 2004,
    1. Publisher: Prentice Hall
    2. Publisher price: $136, 736 pages.
    3. Amazon: Taylor. Selling $125.40 or lower for used. Reviews are all over and suggest it is low-brow.
    4. Wilson, Oklahoma The one they use.

  11. Thornton & Rex 2003, 4th edition.
    1. Publisher: Thompson
    2. Publisher price: $?, 640 pages. The publisher also does Serway. So which is their favorite.
    3. Amazon: Thornton. Selling $110.86 or lower for used. But some reviewers liked it. But other said a poor choice.
    4. Physics Today seems to have nothing on this book.

  12. Tipler, Paul, et al. 2003, 4th edition.
    1. Publisher: W.H. Freeman
    2. Publisher price: $121.63, 700 pages.
    3. Amazon: Tipler. Selling $107.95 or lower for used. Kieran Mullen disfavored for the same thing as George: too much stuff is omitted and put on-line. But some reviewers liked it.
    4. Physics Today seems to have nothing on this book.

  13. Wikibooks: Modern Physics. Maybe a good supplement.